Day 10 of 30-Day Credit Recovery

Identity Cleanup Day: Remove Wrong Personal Info + Protect Your File + Add One Positive Data Point

By Day 10, we’re doing something that doesn’t feel exciting—but it’s one of the most important steps in credit recovery:

We clean up the “Personal Information” section and tighten your identity footprint.
Because if your report has the wrong addresses, names, or employers, you’re basically letting your credit file wear a name tag that says: “Mistaken Identity Welcome Here.”

Today’s goal is simple:
✅ Remove incorrect personal identifiers
✅ Reduce the chances of mixed files/fraud
✅ Add one positive “builder” move to strengthen your credit while cleanup is happening

Why Day 10 Matters So Much

The personal information section (addresses, names, employers) doesn’t “score” the same way your accounts do—but it impacts everything because:

• Wrong addresses can trigger mixed files (someone else’s accounts appearing on your report)
• Wrong personal info can make disputes harder to process or easier to “verify” incorrectly
• Fraud accounts often connect through old addresses and identity fragments

If we don’t fix personal info, we’re trying to repair a house while the foundation is crooked.

Day 10 Action Steps (Do These In Order) Step 1: Pull your reports and audit personal info (15 minutes)

Go through each bureau report and look for:

• Incorrect previous addresses
• Name variations you don’t use (missing “Jr.”, wrong middle initial, misspellings)
• Wrong phone numbers
• Wrong employers (especially ones you never worked for)

What to flag immediately

If you see:

• Addresses in states you’ve never lived in
• A PO Box you never used
• A name variation that doesn’t match your ID
  Those are priority deletes.

Pro Tip: Keep a simple list like this for each bureau:

• Bureau: Experian / Equifax / TransUnion
• Wrong item: address/name/employer
• What it should be: current accurate info
• Proof attached: ID + proof of address

Step 2: Dispute personal info the “smart” way (10 minutes)

When disputing personal info, keep it clean and narrow:

✅ Dispute only the inaccurate address/name/employer
✅ Request removal/deletion of incorrect identifiers
✅ Attach: government ID + proof of current address

Avoid: bundling account disputes in the same letter as personal info disputes.
Why? It can slow processing and increases the chance your dispute gets treated like “bulk” mail.

Today = personal info cleanup only.

Step 3: Put protection in place (10–20 minutes)

Your credit recovery works better when you stop new problems from showing up.

Pick at least ONE of these today:

• Credit Freeze with each bureau (prevents new accounts being opened without you)
• Fraud Alert (extra verification steps when someone tries to open new credit)
• Account Alerts through your bank/credit monitoring portal

If you’ve experienced identity concerns before, freezing is usually the strongest move.

Step 4: Add ONE positive reporting move (10 minutes)

While we’re cleaning negative or inaccurate items, we also want your credit profile to start building positive momentum.

Pick one approach you can keep perfect:

• A secured card (small deposit, low usage, autopay on)
• A credit-builder plan (small monthly payments designed to report positively)
• Rent/utility/subscription reporting (where available and appropriate)

The rule:

Only add what you can pay on time, every time.
One late payment can undo weeks of progress.

Step 5: Set your utilization “guardrails” (2 minutes)

If you have credit cards, your score often responds quickly to utilization changes.

Targets:

• Best: 1%–9% utilization
• Okay: under 30%
• Avoid: 50%+ (that’s when scores tend to sag)

Quick win: pay your balance down before the statement closing date.

Day 10 Deliverables Checklist (Print This)

By the end of Day 10, you should have:

• Identified all incorrect personal info on all 3 bureaus
• Submitted personal info removal disputes (addresses/names/employers)
• Attached ID + proof of address
• Added a protection step (freeze or fraud alert)
• Started one positive reporting move
• Set autopay + utilization target

What You Should See Next

Within the next few weeks you may notice:

• Incorrect addresses removed
• Fewer “verification” issues when disputing accounts
• Improved stability in your profile as new positive history starts reporting

Day 10 is the behind-the-scenes work that makes Day 15–30 results come faster.