ATLANTA — The COVID-19 pandemic has brought stress to the family budget along with potential damage to your credit score.
If you’re one of the many who had to borrow money — or you were late on a credit card payment, your credit rating may have taken a hit.
With the help of financial expert Andrew Poulos, here are some tips that can help you repair the damage.
It’s important to know exactly what’s on your credit report.
Prior to the pandemic you could check with the major credit bureaus once a year for free. Now, it’s once a week.
You need to make sure everything that’s on your report is accurate.
“There’s going to be situations where people will have things that are misreported,” Poulos said. “By pulling your free credit report and seeing what’s in there, you can dispute that particular item.”
You’ll need to dispute any bad information with each credit bureau individually. Meanwhile, focus on any debt you’ve accumulated.
“Typically, the rule of thumb is you want to have your credit card balance at 30% or less of the available credit,” he said.
Don’t make matters worse by borrowing or applying for more credit cards. That will trigger lenders to check your credit report and potentially harm your credit score.
Weekly checks of your credit report through AnnualCreditReport.com will be free through April of next year.