Your Options
There are several options to improve credit and the one that works best for you depends on your level of debt, your level of discipline, and your prospects for the future. Consider these options:

• realistic budgeting
• credit counseling from a reputable organization (like NCCF.org)
• debt consolidation
• or bankruptcy

Credit Repair
You’ve seen the ads and may have even received calls from telemarketers offering credit repair services. They all make the same claims, but only time, a conscious effort, and a personal debt repayment plan will improve your credit report.

Contacting your First Home Mortgage Loan Officer is a great first step to understand your options. For some, a home equity line of credit or refinancing are smart ways to free up cash to pay off high-interest consumer debt.

Inaccurate Credit Reports
Both the consumer reporting company and the information provider (the person, company, or organization that provides information about you to a consumer reporting company) are responsible for correcting inaccurate or incomplete information. That’s your right under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

To take advantage of all your rights under the FCRA, contact the consumer reporting company and the information provider if you see inaccurate or incomplete information. If you don’t know whether your credit report is accurate or not, request a free credit review by contacting a First Home Mortgage Loan Officer. They’ll walk through it line by line with you to ensure everything is in order and makes sense.