Once you get your report you now will know where to begin. I say dispute all negative items on your credit report. Companies have 30 days to provide documentation of these items or they must be removed. You may be able to remove a few blemishes this way. Second you need to start cleaning house one item at a time. I say tackle the small things first and make a plan to tackle larger amounts. If you have credit cards in bad standing, I suggest closing those accounts once they are paid off. You do not need to have many retail store credit cards. Their interest rates are way too high and when you mess up on them they can wreak havoc on your credit score.
Also no credit is almost as bad as having a bad credit. So if you need to rebuild get a new credit card (preferably with a very low or 0% interest rate) and put something small on it like a gym membership or an ezpass payment or some other thing that you currently pay monthly and put it on the card and start paying it off ON TIME every month to start rebuilding your credit. You need to prove that you can be trusted with money. Years ago I started rebuilding my credit with a Providian Visa card. I initially my credit limit was only $250 and I had to pay $50 for my first two credit line increases but over time and by paying card on time every month I went from a $250 limit to a $10,000 limit. It can be done but in order to keep you credit clean you have to pay attention to it. (Providian no longer exisits, it was purchased by Chase)
Here are the three credit reporting agencies and phone numbers.
Equifax 800-685-1111
Experian 877-FACTACT
Transunion 877-322-8228
(annualcreditreport.com is the website for those who prefer to do this online)
Personally I prefer to call and have mine mailed directly to me. There are websites but some ask for money and credit card info and I don't want to be bothered with all that.
You credit report will contain info on how to dispute items found on your report online.
