There are several ways to increase your credit score. The easiest and most obvious is paying your bills on time and keeping your credit balances low. That was funny wasn't it, who can really do that in this day and age.

I am writing this hub because I know with today’s economy it seems everyone is struggling with his or her credit more so than in the past. This Hub will let you in on a few secrets that have been used to "bump", sometimes only on a temporary basis, your credit score. Now keep in mind, even though these tips have a very high success rate getting negative credit removed from your report I don't condone the use of these tactics to remove correct information just because it happens to be negative information. There are three major credit-reporting agencies, Trans Union, Equifax and Experian. You will need to get a copy of each one because they all contain different information. You are allowed one free credit report from each place once a year.

Click here to order your 3 free annual credit reports

(This is not a credit monitoring website. I do not make any money posting this link. This is the official credit reporting agency website to go to in order to receive your credit reports. This site will order all three for you at no cost. Remember, each report is free every 12 months.)

Now print them out and go through every line and circle everything that is recorded as negative and circle and highlight everything negative that is older than 7 years.

Now you need to file a dispute.

If anything is over 7 years old file a dispute to have it deleted because of it being old. (7 years is the statute of limitations on most debt)

Any other case when you file a dispute tell them that you do not remember ever having an account with this company. They will open an investigation and will have 30 days to respond

(Once any agency sides in your favor by law they have to report it to the other three)

Here are the three different websites that you will need to file the disputes on.

Equifax

https://www.ai.equifax.com/CreditInvestigation/jsp/ECC_Dispute_Login.jsp

Trans Union

http://www.transunion.com/corporate/personal/creditDisputes.page

Experian

http://www.experian.com/disputes2/

If you don’t get a response within 30 days you need to send them a letter stating that they have not responded within the 30 days and they are ordered to delete the listing and if they do not you will sue them.

If they say that the investigation was verified then you will have to contact the original creditor. Call them and ask what they found in their investigation that proves that the listing was valid, most of the time they will not be able to. Make sure you write down whom you spoke to, what number you called, the date and time and their customer service I.D. or employee number. If they admit they have no proof then you will need to send a letter to their legal department. Basically you the letter will need to say something like:

Dear Legal Department,

This letter is in reference to account # xxxx-xx-xxxx. I spoke with customer service representative ___(name)___ , their employee/customer service I.D. number is __xxxx__ which was provided to me by them about this account listed on my credit report. They informed me that they do not have any information on this account and that it was all sent to a collection agency. How did you investigate this account without any documentation? The collection agency told me that they could not verify the debt either. They have since removed all information regarding this account on my credit reports. If this incorrect information is not removed from my credit reports I will file a lawsuit against your company.

Sincerely,

That’s usually all you have to do. It’s a little time consuming but well worth it in the money you will save on interest.

If your credit is in okay shape and you need a 50-100 point bump ask a family member that has great credit to add you as a “authorized user” on it. They will send them a card with your name on it, tell them to keep the card, you only need the credit history. That way they are not going to worry about you running up the account.

I hope this has helped a few people. This is all legal so don’t feel like you are committing any crime. Good luck and happy fixing.

-SalesScoop