It's something not all consumers are familiar with, but thanks to the Fair Credit Reporting Act you can legally repair you credit history. The process consists of disputing errors, old, and questionable items that appear on your credit report. When an items is disputed the credit bureaus are forced to investigate the item to prove it either belongs, or should be removed.

So if you find yourself in a position where a low credit score is holding you back from getting and doing the things you want. Or you want to be proactive and manage your credit report so you don't ever find yourself in a bad situation here are the steps to follow to repair bad credit on your own.

Step 1: Get up to date copies of your Credit Reports
Note I said Credit reports. There are 3 credit reporting agencies, Experian, TransUnion, and Equinox. Each collects payment history, legal information and other data about you. They in turn sell this information to creditors, employers and other companies.
You want to be sure you get a copy from all three bureaus, this is a smart thing to do once a year or so for anyone just to ensure you're keeping a health credit history.

Step 2: Analyzing your Reports to Spot Errors to Dispute
It does happen, credit report errors and/or old data gets left on your credit report sometimes when it should be removed. Possibly an account has been paid down to zero but it still sits as active, or a completely incorrect item is listed and you don't know how it got there.
You'll want to analyze all three report to spot items such as these. These will be the basis for your credit repair campaign.

Step 3: Disputing Credit Report Errors
This is when the dispute process actually happens. You'll write a letter to each credit bureau disputing the items you identified in the step above, one at a time. Send all correspondence via registered mail so you have confirmation of delivery etc. Also keep copies of everything you write, send and request. It's always good to have a paper trail with something like this.
As mentioned, the credit bureaus have 30 days to investigate your claim. After this time is up they'll determine whether to delete or leave the item. After approximately 60 days you can request another credit report to measure you success of the dispute.

Step 4: Wash, Rinse, Repeat
Since you can only dispute one item at a time, if you have multiple items it will take some time to handle them all. After you've completed your first dispute and checked the results, you can begin another dispute following the same process.
This is a birds eye view of the process of bad credit repair. For many they choose to learn the system and go at it alone. There are also professionals that manage clients disputes following the exact same steps outlined above. You only need supply your credit report, and the credit repair specialist will handle the rest.