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accurately. Credit reports are notoriously inaccurate, with consumers frequently finding listings of derogatory accounts that never belonged to them or that were paid off years ago. If you find any inaccurate listings, you should dispute them with the appropriate credit bureau. The Federal Trade Commission provides a comprehensive guide to disputing items on your credit report, available at FTC.gov . Clearing up inaccurate derogatory accounts may significantly improve your credit score, depending on the number of inaccurate listings you find on your reports.

Next, you should try to pay off any derogatory items that legitimately belong to you. While paying off these accounts will not make them fall of your report, it should improve your credit by reducing the amount of delinquent debt reporting to the bureaus and preventing the accounts from continuing to be reported as delinquent. Contact your creditors to discuss different repayment options available to you, such as monthly payments or settlement. You could also contact a professional credit counseling or debt resolution firm to assist you in resolving your debts. To learn more about the options available to consumers struggling to repay debts, I invite you to visit the Bills.com Debt Help page at http://www.bills.com/debt-help/.

In order to rebuild your credit score after a bankruptcy filing, you will also need to start establishing new credit accounts and making timely payment to build a positive payment history; the fact that you have fallen behind on several accounts opened after your bankruptcy discharge will make this process more difficult. Your payment history accounts for approximately 35% of your credit score, so creating a new positive payment record is essential to rebuilding your credit score. Since you may not be able to obtain new credit accounts with your current credit history, a good option to consider is a

secured credit card. Secured credit cards require you to deposit cash in an account with the credit card bank and the credit line available on the card is equal to the amount of cash you have on deposit. This may sound strange; why would you not just spend your own cash? However, these secured credit cards report timely payments to the credit bureaus each month and should help you reestablish your payment history. Also, small credit accounts, such as gas cards, can be a good option to build credit, but you should make sure that you pay off your balance each month to avoid finance charges and to prevent yourself from starting down the spiral of debt again.

The more time that passes, the less negative impact your bankruptcy filing and your more recent credit indiscretions will have on your overall credit score. However, to build a positive credit rating you will need to counterbalance the negative impact of these derogatory items with positive listings on your credit reports. As time passes, the positive impact of your new accounts will become stronger while the negative impact of your bankruptcy and delinquent accounts should become weaker, thus allowing you to slowly rebuild your credit score. I understand that you have struggled to meet your financial obligations due to events outside of your control; however, I would encourage you to make sure that you are on solid financial footing before you consider trying to purchase a home; if you are already having difficulty in paying your current obligations, a new mortgage will be yet another drag on your already strained finances.

To learn more about credit scoring, I encourage you to visit the Bills.com Credit Score Information page at http://www.bills.com/credit-score/. I wish you the best of luck in rebuilding your credit rating, and hope that the information I have provided helps you Find. Learn. Save.

Best,
Bill
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