ET1(SS)

We recently had to do this.

First get someone to turn you down for a loan. [Yes I know this sounds stupid, but really it is what you need to do].

Second go on-line to Trans-Union, fight through their website to find the Free credit report form.

By law they must offer a 'free' credit report once each year to everyone, and once you have been turned-down they must offer you a free report, as often as you need one, until you get approved. Request your free credit report, and when the form asks you for who turned you down, now you have a company to answer with.

You will recieve a many pages long document that explains everything. Every good credit event, and every bad credit event will be listed, some will go back for many years.

Read each line carefully. Each company that says they still have a line of credit open for you, needs to be called and told to shut it down, to notify Trans-Union, and to send you a copy of the notification. Many will say that they have already made notifications, but just quote the report back to them and obviously they did not report it to everyone.

Each line that reports that you failed to make a payment, or whatever bad thing is there, just call them: get them to agree that you are 'good' and get them to agree to notify Trans-Union, and send you a copy.

When each copy arrives to your home, fax a copy back to Transunion also.

Once each month start at the beginning and do it all again. [request a new trans-union report, read it, and go down the list calling each creditor that still has not notified Trans-Union that your 'good'] Slowly each bad thing will be removed, with some creditors you will have to speak with them multiple times, and get them to agree to give you a good rating multiple times before they will actually get off their dead asses and to do what they have agreed to do.

But keep it up, once a month and eventually everything 'bad' will be gone. And none of this will cost you a cent.

Now that we have gone through this, I would really advise EVERYONE to do this, at least once every five years or so. Just to keep the junk off your rating.

:-)