How To Clean Up Your Credit Without Paying Anything Off

Having a bad financial history can affect people in many ways.
This includes employment opportunities and buying a home.
Not surprising, many people want to get improve their finances but cannot afford to pay anything off.
Use a few strategies to clean up your credit without experiencing more financial difficulty.
Get a copy of all credit reports.
It is important to know exactly where you stand before undertaking any sort of plan.
Look over the reports to see if any entries are scheduled to be removed from the report within the next three years.
Also, look for entries that may have been included in the reports in error.
Assess your situation.
Make a list of all household monthly bills and expenses.
In addition to necessities like rent, utilities and groceries, include things such as the amount spent on dining out, entertainment and subscriptions.
Look at the monthly household income that you earn to figure out how much you can reasonably afford to put toward reducing debt without falling into more financial hardship.
Contact your creditors.
For unsecured debt, ask if as a courtesy if the company could lower the interest rate.
If the debt is out of control, consider asking if they offer any particular payment plans for people having trouble making monthly payments.
Other creditors may offer similar arrangements in certain situations.
Contact the reporting bureau.
If you saw an error on the reports you received, go to the website of the bureau to get directions on how to have it removed.
Only spend time pursuing this step if you have supporting documentation as it most likely will be requested.
Try cutting expenses.
Look for ways to make more money available to pay down debt.
Examples of this could include canceling some subscriptions, limiting the number of meals ate a restaurants and taking advantage of grocery sales.
Make a plan.
A good plan can be simple or intensive.
For example, you may have worked out a payment plan with a credit card company and the plan may be to make all of those monthly payments on time.
Or perhaps, you have decided to aggressively cut expenses for a few months to make a significant payment on a credit card, thus lowering future monthly payments.
Stick to your plan.
In order to clean up your credit history, it will take time.
However, by sticking to a plan you will begin to see results faster than if you did not follow through with a plan.