How to DIY repair your credit

1). Get copies of your credit report from all four agencies.
Equifax
Experian
Transunion
Innovis

Never heard of that last one? It is the "secret" credit reporting agency most people don't know about. Innovis is not included in your basic 3-way online credit report service, so you will have to contact them separately.

It is nice to have access to your credit report online. Online reports can show contact information for each company that has a line entry in your credit report. Technically it is not necessary to pay for monthly credit alert service, but it will give you the ability to check your credit scores every day.
2). Read your reports. Read them again. First check your identifying information. This will include your name, address, phone, date of birth, and the last 4 digits of your social security number. Make sure this information is correct. If it is wrong then write a letter to the CRA (Credit Reporting Agency) asking them to correct this information. You will need to send supporting documentation of your demographic information. Usually this will be a copy of your driver license and a utility bill.

I have a scanner and I scanned these records into my computer and erased my license number and account numbers from the records before I sent them to the CRA. They have plenty of information about you, no need to give them freebies.
3). Identify the negative entries in your report. Every line is not negative. The negative entries are listed first. There are many kinds of possible problems. Charge offs, collection accounts and late payments.
4). Usually people advise you to contact the CRA and dispute the negative entry. 99% percent of the time, this changes nothing even if the entry is in error. When CRA's receive a dispute, they check to see if the company in question sent them this information on you. This is all automated. The company that offered you credit reports the status of your account on a monthly basis. It is stored online. Basically, all the CRA does is run your credit report online (just like you did). NOBODY REALLY READS OR VERIFIES ANYTHING.

There is a theory of credit repair that involves catching the CRA's violating federal law and threatening/suing them into correcting your report. Let me tell you now, one or all of the CRA's will violate federal law while you try to repair your credit report. You will take it personally but just focus on fixing your credit.

I believe that the best thing to do is contact the company directly and dispute the negative information. There are number of good templates for credit disputes available online. Read the templates carefully and personalize them for your problem. Send the company a letter by Certified Mail with Return Receipt. It is important to include the identification number for the certified mail in your letter. This is the legal proof necessary to establish that letter was sent. The USPS tracks the letter online and you can download and printout this information. Technically, you only need to use certified mail, but I find that the having the green return receipt is a good visual. Generally, it is necessary to send several letters and you can include copies of your return receipts in subsequent letters.
5). Sometimes (almost never) a Credit Granting Agency (company responsible for the negative entry) will immediately send you an apologetic letter stating that this entry has been deleted/corrected and all three/four CRAs have been notified. If so, congratulations, move on to step 7.
6). If the CGA ignores/denies your dispute, then discover the regulating agency for this company. For instance, most credit is granted by banks. Banks are regulated by several federal agencies.

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
Office of Thrift Supervision
Federal Reserve

Dentists, Doctors and other service providers are licensed by state, city or federal agencies of various types. Look it up on the internet and contact them with your complaint. This is the area where some creativity is needed. This will generally get things moving.

The desired result is a letter from the CGA stating that although the company admits no wrong doing, the negative entry has been deleted/corrected and that all three/four CRA's have been notified.
7). Write a letter to the CRA disputing the entry in your credit report and send a copy of the aforementioned letter in this dispute. You will ask that credit report be corrected immediately and a copy of your corrected credit report be sent to you immediately.