Cleaning up a credit report can be time consuming. Most of the times you do not even find out about something being on your credit report until you are applying for a new home loan, car loan, or credit card. It always happens when you least expect it. It is not a lot of fun when you are sitting across the table from the finance person either. Most companies will pull a merged credit report from the three major companies and each account in question will say where its being reported. When you look at it you will be able to contact each bureau and start asking about each account.

The first place you should head to is the credit reporting companies themselves. Equifax is one of the three largest companies that handles these types of inquiries. There is a strong chance that if anything is showing it is with them. To be able to work with them you will have to purchase a credit report from them. On the report it will tell you what accounts are putting a negative mark on it. You might get lucky and only have to deal with Equifax because many companies only work with them.

The next place to try would be at My Fico. They created the fico score and work with all three reporting companies. There will be a fee involved to work with them as they are going to handle all of your accounts for you. After obtaining the account numbers they will inform you of who you need to pay to close or cancel out an account. After the bills are paid, My Fico contacts the credit bureaus on your behalf with your closed account documents.

If you want to not only get your credit report cleaned up but have your accounts in question reduced to a lower balance or zeroed out completely then you should call Lexington Law. They are a law firm that knows the ins and outs of credit repair. You will probably pay a little more to work for them but in turn you could pay less to your debtors and let them do all the work. After the balances are cleared they will inform the credit bureaus of the closed accounts and your credit report will reflect the changes.

If you plan on cleaning up your credit report then take the time to start with the three companies above. Each can tell you a lot about what you need to do. The further down the list you go the more expensive it might be. In the long run it will be worth it to repair your credit because you will not have to pay higher rates on things you buy and now can get approved.