​How One Person Repaired Her Credit And Turned Her Finances Around 

When Emma moved from Europe to the U.S. as a young adult, she didn’t have a credit score. She couldn’t get a credit card, and with no income, she had trouble paying for larger expenses. Her American husband didn’t have the best credit, either, and the young couple had to rent with a roommate.Emma (whose last name has been withheld for privacy reasons) quickly set out to improve their credit and finances. Thanks to her efforts, the couple are now homeowners with savings in the bank. We sat down with her to talk about the steps she took on her credit repair journey and her advice for people who want to follow in her footsteps.She learned how credit worksEmma’s credit repair journey started soon after she arrived in the U.S. when she noticed a past-due bill addressed to her husband. Curious about what was going on, she says she started “doing lots of research, reading content from companies like Bankrate.”Through her research, she quickly learned how important credit scores are for people who are looking to rent a new apartment or buy a home. “And at the time we were living with a roommate, which is not optimal when you’re a married couple, so I knew that eventually we wanted to get another place,” she says.She checked credit reportsWith her new knowledge of credit, Emma helped her husband sign up for an online platform that provides access to credit reports. Several companies offer this service, and you can go to AnnualCreditReport.com to request free weekly credit reports from the three major bureaus.Together, Emma and her husband reviewed his credit report. It turned out that there were overdue accounts on his credit report that he didn’t know about, including unpaid medical bills. “As many young Americans, he didn’t have the best credit score because he just wasn’t really aware of it,” she says.She settled past-due billsWhen Emma called medical providers, she found they were often willing to work with her to resolve the unpaid bills. She says in many cases, companies immediately offered her a payment plan. Others were willing to accept a portion of the amount owed as payment in full.“If I offered to pay it off today, there would be a completely different price,” she says. With time, she got better at asking for discounts and was able to settle old bills for a quarter of the original amount or less. Creditors are under no obligation to settle past due bills, but some choose to take a lower amount rather than risk the bill remaining unpaid.She disputed credit report errorsLike many Americans, Emma’s husband had an error on his credit report. Despite making on-time payments on their car loan, the account was marked as delinquent. After doing some digging, she discovered the loan had been moved to a new servicer, and the original lender had mistakenly marked the loan as unpaid.“I did have to call the original company and sort that out with them and make sure that they fixed that and updated that record,” she say