Page 36 - The Latest Homebuying Guide

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ITEMS YEARS ON REPORT
Hard Inquiries 2 years
Late payments 7 years

Charged off accounts 7 years
Collections 7 years
Civil judgements 7 years
Chapter 7 bankruptcy 10 years
Chapter 13 bankruptcy 7 years
Open, positive accounts Forever
Closed, positive accounts 10 years

If you pay your bills on time, owe below 30 percent of your credit
limit, and you have no more than 3 cards over time, then you should
have an excellent credit record and score. You will only need to
check and worry about what is on your report for fraud purposes.
If you have been careless in the past, then you have some work to
do. Generally, most items stay on your credit report for seven
years. The list above will give you a better understanding of the
most popular items that get reported.

Your first order of business to fix your credit, is to order copies of
your credit report from the three bureaus. By law (FACTA), you are
entitled to a free credit report each year from
www.annualcreditreport.com or when you call 1-877-322-8228

Fixing your credit means cleaning your report of items that do not
belong there. These errors can be there for quite a number of
reasons. Here are some of the most common errors:

● Incorrect personal information. These include your name,
social security number, birth date, and address.

● Incorrect accounts. Check to make sure the only accounts on
your file are the ones that belong there.
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