Triage first
Not all negatives are equal. A 90-day late from last month hurts far more than a five-year-old collection. Sort your items by recency and severity, then attack the newest and largest first.
The cleanup checklist
- Remove duplicate accounts (the same debt sold and re-reported by multiple collectors).
- Challenge obsolete items past the 7-year reporting window (10 for Chapter 7 bankruptcy).
- Correct wrong balances, wrong dates of first delinquency, and wrong account statuses.
- Remove hard inquiries you never authorized.
- Freeze secondary data bureaus that feed bad data back into your file.
The Bottom Line
A clean report is the gatekeeper to real capital. Get your free audit and see what is actually removable.