You have applied for credit and suddenly found out that your report showed some things that were totally wrong. Now it is time to clean out the trash and haul it out. If you have not pulled out a credit report and reviewed it, do it now. Pull the report and go through it with a fine toothcomb.  

Once you have reviewed the report, take the time to note which items on the report are incorrect. Then sit down and decide if you have the time to dispute those items or if you should hire someone to handle the day-to-day work for you. It is not embarrassing to know what your limitations are and what you can do. Disputing items with the credit bureaus is something that each of us can do but it will take a lot of time. Is your time and effort best put elsewhere? You can find a good Credit Repair Company to do the daily work for you. This will help you repair your bad credit and get your credit score back up to the level that you expect.  

If you choose to do the work yourself, then don’t be afraid of the challenge before you. It will count on you to be meticulous and exacting in what you see and expect in your credit score. Credit Bureaus will often tell you they have verified the information and it is accurate. But if you know that it is not accurate don’t let anything that you read from the bureaus deter you in getting it corrected. Most good Credit Repair Companies won’t let them and you should not either.  

Dispute your items until they are accurate. It is the only right you have and you should protect it. The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives consumers some protection but it also gives some protections to the Credit Bureaus and the Creditors that report to them. Most companies have found out how to “play” the system and thus keep your information reporting the way that they want it to show. Your only right is to dispute that information until it is reporting accurately. 

Take out the trash and make sure your Credit Report is completely accurate for you.

When the economy starts down, most people start shutting down themselves. This is a common problem and believe it or not, it also helps to keep the economy on the downward spiral.  

When we stop purchasing things because we become concerned with the economy, then that money we were going to spend does not get into the economy. This is why a downturn becomes more dangerous when more and more people keep from putting money back into the economy. Now if you lost your job or you had a major reduction in your income, then it becomes apparent why you did not buy that item you planned to purchase.  

It is important to know that if you want to help the economy you should think about your spending as if you where not in an economic problem. If your financial situation has not changed and you were planning on making a purchase, then make the purchase. If you had planned on buying a new car and you can afford to purchase the new car, then buy the new car. Everything that you had planned on buying before the economy went down can use your help now by you buying that item you had planned on.  

Buying a Home, Automobile and even a new TV can help the economy by getting your money back into circulation. The economy is based on the circulation of money and if you pocket the money, you are disrupting the flow of this money and contributing to the problems with the economy.  

Review your credit and correct any problems with your credit score before making any major purchase (which you should do anytime you are planning on making a major purchase). Getting your credit score to the best possible score is critical to helping you improve any interest rate you would get on a home or automobile.  

Help Boost the Economy buy getting out there and spending money you had planned on spending before the economic downturn.

When it becomes more and more difficult to pay the bills, many Americans dip into their 401k to make the payments. Is this a wise idea? Being surprised by the economic downturn caught everyone by surprise but can we or will we recover.  

Think of the economy as a bouncing ball, what goes up, must come down and so on… The economy always will bounce back up but it may take some time for it to come back up to the point it was before. But here is the answer to the question.  

Most 401k plans do have hardship provisions built into their structure. You will need to speak with the person in your company that is administrating the account. This is the first thing you need to understand is how the account can be used and what you need to do to access it. But you should consider all other avenues before you use your 401k to pay your bills.  

There are penalties and/or other fees that may apply to the account and that will reduce the amount of money you will receive. So this may not be the best place to get money to pay your bills. So take the time to reduce your spending and start looking at your bills in order of importance.  

Start by dividing your bills up into three piles. The first pile is the necessity pile. This will consist of your Mortgage or your Rent, Food bills (meals that you prepare at home because eating out is a luxury). This is the pile you need to survive so it becomes necessary.  

The next pile is your important bills, things like your utility bills, health bills (prescriptions and Doctor visits), and auto payments. This means that you can live within your home and get to your job (or to your interviews if necessary). The only bills that should be paid now are the bills that you need to live and survive.  

The last pile is the luxury pile. Even though most of the things on this list are not a luxury to you, they just don’t fit within the boundaries of the first two piles. These are things like phone bills, cable or satellite tv bills and of course credit card bills. Your credit card bills do become more important if you are looking for a job. So remember, if you are looking for a job, you may want to move your credit card bills up one pile and make minimum payments on time until you resolve your job hunt.  

Every bill you pay becomes a decision in priority and you must become an expert at deciding which bills to pay. Don’t be intimidated by phone calls from creditors, just be honest and direct. Tell the creditor what bills you can pay and why their bill may not be paid right now.  

This may cause you some negative things in your credit report and you must monitor the report for any inaccuracies. If you find that there are errors in what is being reported then you must dispute with the Credit Bureaus. Don’t let any incorrect information stay on your credit report. You will minimize your damage that way and keep your credit score to its highest level possible.