07/11/2025
---
# # # 🧽 Interesting Facts About Cleaning Your Credit
1. **You Can Remove Legitimate Items (Sometimes)**
Even accurate negatives like late payments can be removed with a *goodwill letter* or a *pay-for-delete* agreement (mainly with collections).
2. **Late Payments Hurt Most After 30 Days**
Late under 30 days? Probably won’t be reported. After that, each 30-day mark (30, 60, 90…) damages your score more—and stays for up to 7 years.
3. **Disputing Errors Can Boost Your Score Fast**
Removing just one major error (like a duplicate debt or false collection) can raise your score by **50–100+ points** quickly.
4. **Old Debts Don’t Hurt Forever**
* Most negative items: fall off after **7 years**
* Chapter 7 bankruptcy: **10 years**
Cleaning your credit often means *monitoring and waiting*.
5. **Paying Collections Doesn’t Always Help Immediately**
Paid collections may still show up—unless you request a deletion. But newer scoring models like FICO 9 and VantageScore 3.0+ ignore paid collections.
6. **Credit Utilization Makes Up \~30% of Your Score**
Using more than 30% of your available credit lowers your score—even with perfect payment history. Lower balances = quick boost.
7. **“Piggybacking” Can Add Good Credit History**
Being added as an *authorized user* on a responsible person’s card can improve your score—without using the card yourself.
8. **Hard Inquiries Are Minor and Temporary**
Each credit check drops your score only **5–10 points**, and the impact fades after **12 months**.
9. **You’re Entitled to Free Credit Reports**
Visit **AnnualCreditReport.com** for a free report from all 3 bureaus. Since 2020, you can even get **weekly reports** for free.
10. **Credit Repair Companies Can’t Do Anything You Can’t**
You can dispute errors, request deletions, and negotiate debts all by yourself—for free.
✅ **Bonus:** Good credit = lower rates, cheaper insurance, smaller deposits, and even better job prospects.
---
💡 Want to clean up your credit? Start with:
* Disputing errors
* Paying down cards
* Asking for deletions
* Monitoring your reports monthly
---
Let me know if you'd like this in a PDF, social media graphic, or checklist format too!
ACR Home Page