Yes, credit repair companies can actively help you to repair your poor credit report. How much they can impact your credit is dependent on the severity of your poor credit, the type of entries that are on your report or lack of. However, improving credit can take time.

If you’ve been refused credit due to a thin file or poor credit report, there are plenty of options available for helping you to repair your credit.

Most credit repair companies will require you to pay a monthly fee, the amount this will cost will vary depending on what plan you have, how long you intend to repair your credit and the severity of your report or lack thereof.

How fast you’ll be able to build or repair your credit will depend on a number of different factors. Minor mistakes, entries, or multiple credit applications in short space of time repair relatively quickly in as little as 3.

Whereas more significant issues such a County Court Judgements (CCJs), Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) and bankruptcies will take longer and can stay on your credit report for up to 6 years.

Credit repair companies cannot remove things such as bankruptcies, CCJs and IVAs from your credit report. These will stay on your credit history for six years before they are removed. Nevertheless, credit repair companies can still actively help you to improve your credit, making your report appear more creditworthy to lenders.

Here is a list of different things that impact your credit and how long negative information stays on your report;

• Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs): 6 years
• County Court Judgements (CCJs): 6 years
• Bankruptcies: 6 years
• Late or missing payments: 6 years (impact on your credit score will decrease over time)
• Notices of Correction: Until you ask a Credit Reference Agency to remove the notice
• Previous and Current Addresses: Indefinitely
• Financial Associates: 6 years or until you ask Credit Reporting Agencies to remove the association (once any accounts have been closed)

Repairing your credit score is a process which can take time and effort to improve. How long it will take varies on the severity of your bad credit. There are many different ways that you can positively impact your score and rectify information on your report to make you more appealing to lenders and credit reference agencies. These include;

• Registering on the electoral roll.
• Checking your credit report for fraud or mistakes.
• Paying your bills on time and in full.
• Using credit, such as loans, overdrafts and credit cards responsibly.
• Removing negative credit associations.
• Take out credit if you do not have any.

Registering on the electoral roll:

Registering yourself to vote, is just one of the many ways that you can improve your report. As it will be very difficult for you to apply or borrow credit if there is no record of you at your current or any of your previous addresses. You can register to vote via the government website.

Checking your credit report for fraud or mistakes:

Before you apply for any credit, you should ensure that all the information presented in your report is correct. That means ensuring that the information is up to date and that there is no unrecognised activity. If you do spot something you are unsure of, get in contact with the Credit Reference Agency to make a notice of correction.

Paying your bills on time and in full:

You want to prove to potential lenders that you can manage credit responsibly, the best way for you to prove you are creditworthy is to demonstrate that. Ensure that you keep up with your instalments, avoiding late or missing payments which will be noted on your reports. If you have problems remembering repayment dates, you can set up direct debits.

Using credit, such as loans, overdrafts and credit cards responsibly:

Using credit responsibly means to stay within 20% of your credit utilisation limit and avoiding applying for multiple forms of credit at the same time. If you max out your overdraft limit or if you apply for lots of credit cards in a short space of time, these will leave entries on your record. Lenders will see these entries when you apply for credit.

Removing negative credit associations:

If you’ve had a joint bank account with an ex-partner or ex-business partner who wasn’t great at managing their debts then this could be negatively impacting on you. As long as the account has been closed or you have not been living with that person for 6 months, you may ask Credit Reference Agencies to remove these financial associations from your record.

Take out credit if you do not have any:

Another serious problem aside from bad credit is what is called a ‘thin file’ or essentially having taken out no form of credit before. If you haven’t taken out credit before then it may be a good idea to. You can apply for many first-time credit cards with low limits and interest to get you started. However, ensure you use it sparingly and make the repayments each month.