When my brother was seeking to buy his first home, he asked me for help in two specific areas. He asked how to fix his credit report and how to raise his credit scores. Well, as I mention to all of my clients during our initial consultation, it's not necessarily hard to do, it's just hard to know how to weed out the unethical, or outdated advice on the Internet. In fact removing errors and raising your scores can be simplified into the following three steps.

1. Order your free credit reports
2. Analyze your reports for errors
3. Send in account dispute letters to the credit bureaus

Sounds easy, but why all the confusion on the web?

The main reason is that people have personal values and ethics, and while you and I might enjoy a set of ethical standards, it certainly doesn't represent a large population of those in the credit repair industry. You really have to be mindful of who you listen to.

Having said that, let me remind you also of where you are entitled to a free copy of your reports over at http://www.annualcreditreport.com So please don't pay these companies for what you're rightly due.

Following the above three simple steps you can indeed fix your reports and make them free of errors. Once you accomplish step three, wait about 30-40 days and you should get replies from each of the credit bureaus. If you find no answer back, make sure to send a follow up warning and copy the FTC so they will think twice about ignoring your requests again. Remember, always send correspondence with the credit bureaus "certified mail, return receipt requested".