Obtaining Your Credit Report - The First Step in Credit Repair.

Your credit rating is one of the most important things in determining your economic status. With a good credit rating, you will have no problems obtaining loans, mortgages, credit cards, etc. . . But if you've missed payments with a creditor in the past, your creditor will report this to a credit reporting agency, which will make a note of it on your credit report. Once you have a bad credit rating, many doors will be closed to you: you'll be unable to obtain most kinds of loans, and without a credit card you won't be able to shop online, or rent a car. For these reasons it is important that you attempt credit repair as soon as possible.

The first step in credit repair is to obtain your credit report from your credit reporting agency. There are only a handful of credit reporting agencies in Canada and the US. You can determine which one holds your credit report when you are turned down for credit: your decided credit card application, for example, will indicate which agency provided the report.

It is always your right to obtain your credit report free of charge. To do you can visit the agency website and download an application, and then mail it, along with photocopied ID, to the agency. You should receive your credit report though the mail in a timely fashion. Credit reporting agencies also allow you to obtain your credit history instantly online, though a fee is charges for this.

Whatever route you choose, in terms of credit repair it's essential that you examine your credit report closely once you get it. You should be looking for any inaccuracies in your report. If you find any, you have the right to request an investigation in writing from the agency. Once you have requested that a particular item in your credit history be investigated, the agency must respond within 30 days providing documentation of the entry in question. If they fail to do so, the entry must be removed from your credit report.

When requesting that something on your credit report be investigated, you should send any supporting documentation if you have it. Although it is not common, in some cases the agencies make outright mistakes, or confuse your information with another customer with the same name. If an entry in your credit history is being investigated, you may also request that the agency mark the entry in question as "under investigation" on your file.

Although it can seem like a cumbersome process, it is absolutely imperative that you obtain your credit history before you attempt credit repair. Without your credit history, you won't know exactly where you stand, only that your credit is "bad." What you need to know is how bad credit is, and why. For example, are you dealing with a single outstanding issue or multiple ones? How long has the problematic mark been in your credit history, and for long will it remain? Knowledge of these things is essential in order to begin the process of credit repair effectively.