When people ask for my credit repair advice, I always start with one important piece of information: Consumers should never pay for free credit reports.

Surprisingly, many consumers do unwittingly pay for credit reports that should be free. Sites such as the misleadingly named FreeCreditReport.com have come under fire from consumers and their advocates for ads that critics say are misleading.

Visitors to FreeCreditReport.com can sign up to receive their three free credit reports – maintained by the credit bureaus Experian, Equifax and TransUnion – from the site. However, they’ll first have to provide their credit card information. They’ll then be signed up for a free trial of the site’s credit-monitoring service.

If these visitors forget to cancel the service after their free trial ends, they’ll find a $14.95 charge on their credit card statement. That charge will pop up again for every month in which they forget to cancel their subscription to the service.

Critics say that it would be far more honest to require consumers to give their consent to sign up for the service when the free trial ends. Of course, Experian, the company behind FreeCreditReport.com, would then not receive all those extra $14.95 payments.

Free Credit Reports Should be Free

My credit repair advice is to order your free credit reports instead from AnnualCreditReport.com. This site is maintained by the three credit bureaus. Under federal law, you can order one copy each of your three free credit reports from here once every 12 months. There are no charges to do so.

Once you receive your credit reports, you can then check them for any mistakes. This is the first step in the credit-repair process. You don’t want your credit reports to state that you missed three car payments in 2008 when you know that you made every payment on time. You don’t want it to say that you have 10 open lines of credit when you know that you’ve closed most of your open credit card accounts.

These mistakes can lower your credit score significantly. And today, it’s difficult to borrow any money from conventional mortgage lenders if you have a weak credit score.

Credit Repair Basics

If you’ve found errors, correct them in writing. This is inefficient, but it’s the only way the credit bureaus accept corrections.

Removing incorrectly filed negative information from your credit reports will boost your credit scores. But if you need to put in more work, you’ll have to go through two more steps.

First, pay all your monthly bills on time – never miss a payment or make a late payment. Both actions will cause your credit scores to suffer. Secondly, don’t run up your credit card debt. Lenders consider borrowers with high amounts of credit card debt to be credit risks. Set aside whatever money you can to pay down your outstanding credit card balances. The less credit card debt you have, the better it is for your credit scores.

And, of course, avoid filing for bankruptcy. Chapter 7 bankruptcy filings remain on your credit report for 10 years, while Chapter 13 ones stay there for seven. During this time, your score will certainly suffer.

Good Credit Repair News

The good news is that this credit repair advice is so easy to follow. Boosting credit scores really requires only that you act like a mature consumer.

• Don’t overspend
• Pay for your purchases with cash instead of running up credit card debt
• Pay your bills on time
• Eliminate as much debt as possible.

These are all tips that will help you live a less stressful life. It’s an added bonus that they’ll help you improve your credit scores, too.

HomeBuyersAssistant.com is a national company with a dedication to helping people achieve their goal of owning a home regardless of their current credit situation. My Credit Repair Advice programs are available for anyone who has a serious commitment to improving their situation. We can help you rent to own a home anywhere in the USA, even if you’ve been denied in the past. You can go from renting to owning the home of your dreams sooner than you ever thought possible!