How to improve your credit:
There is no way to increase your score quickly, and the best way is to establish responsible credit practices over time.

• Pay bills on time.



• Do not apply for credit frequently. Although a few inquiries do not hurt your score significantly, many inquiries do.



• Reduce balances on your credit cards. Being maxed out or having a majority of the credit used will worsen your credit.



• Obtain more credit if you have very little. If you do not have sufficient credit, this can negatively impact your score.



• Often it takes seven years for most negative information to be removed from your credit report, so follow these guidelines and be patient. Bankruptcy information remains on the report for ten years. Also, keep in mind that the most recent information is factored more heavily than old information.

Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA):

Public Law 91-508

On the basis of "completeness and accuracy," the FCRA allows a consumer to challenge information on his or her credit report. If the credit bureau finds through reinvestigation that the disputed information "is found to be inaccurate or can no longer be verified, the [credit bureau] shall promptly delete such information."

The credit bureaus are required to complete the investigation within a "reasonable period of time," which has been set at thirty days.

The credit bureaus do not have to reinvestigate the dispute if they have reason to believe that it is "frivolous or irrelevant." The FTC cites, as an example of a frivolous dispute, a dispute in which the consumer challenges all negative items on his credit report without providing any allegations regarding specific items in the credit file. However, "A [credit bureau] must assume a consumer's dispute is bona fide, unless there is clear and convincing evidence to the contrary."

If the dispute a consumer challenges is based on extenuating circumstances, such as health problems, divorce, job loss, etc., the credit bureaus are entitled to ignore that dispute.

When the dispute which is neither frivolous nor irrelevant by credit bureau standards, the credit bureau must "at a minimum... check with the original sources or other reliable sources of the disputed information and inform them of the nature of the consumer's dispute." In some cases of consumer dispute, "Reinvestigation and verification may require more than asking the original source of the disputed information the same question and receiving the same answer." If, within 30 days, the credit bureau has not received verification from the creditor, then the credit bureau must promptly delete the credit listing.