There are a lot of ways to damage your credit score, from falling for a credit card scam to just being unlucky with the recent economy. Fortunately, there are quite a few ways that you can reverse the damage and increase your credit score.

How to fix your credit

When you want to fix your credit, you need to start somewhere.  The 3 most basic steps are:

1. Have a realistic plan and stay with it. You need to change your past habits and build new, better approaches to credit.
2. Only purchase something if you cannot live without it. Put each potential purchase to the test: is it within your means and is it something that you really need?
3. Make sure you you pay your bills on time

Increasing Your Credit Score

One thing people don’t focus on enough when trying to improve their credit score is rebuilding their credit. Make sure you have a good variety of new, positive tradelines.

Types of credit you should try to obtain:

• Real Estate – if you have a mortgage make it a point to pay on time.  If you bank with the same company that holds your mortgage, set up automatic payment.   if you rent, use a company like Rental Karma to add your rent to your credit reports
• Secured / Bad credit unsecured credit cards –  Since you can’t tell the difference on a credit report between a secured credit card or unsecured bad credit credit card.  We recommend you take out the secured.  They have higher approval rates, lower rates and fees, and you get your security deposit back, usually within 2-3 years of good, on time payments.
• Gas / Retail cards –  If you have bad credit, ASK FIRST what their minimum credit score is for approval.  There are bad credit gas cards available.
• Installment loans – A properly managed installment account will work wonders on your credit rating.   A good place to find bad credit loans is your local credit union.  Having worked for 5 years with several credit unions.  I know they go above and beyond to help their members obtain financing.  You can also find some good bad credit personal loans by clicking here.

Removing Negative Information

One thing to watch out for when trying to fix your credit is scammers who say that they can get any negative information deleted from your credit, regardless of its accuracy. It seems unfair, but accurate negative information will stick around for seven years. It is true, however, that you can remove inaccurate information from your report.

Lower Your Debt

Your debt to income ratio has a big impact on your credit score.  The more debt you have, the lower your score.  There are several ways to lower your debt

1. You can create a budget
2. You can look into apply for a debt consolidation loan.
3. You can get a 2nd job or start your own small business from home to increase your income and have more money to pay towards your debts.
4. Hire a credit counseling company without doing some research, so as to ensure they are a reputable organization. Some credit counselors offer real help while others have more dubious things in mind. Some credit services are nothing more than fly-by-night scams. You should always find out if a credit counselor is the real thing.
5. You can try debt settlement.  Before you decide to go through with a debt settlement, you should be sure you know how it will affect your credit. Some debt settlements are better than others. Do your homework and find out how your score will be impacted before agreeing to anything.

Restoring your credit rating looks at first like an uphill battle, but with a lot of effort and the right advice, that battle can be won. Take the advice that has been provided in this article to start making positive steps towards increasing your credit score.

Need help?  We recommend FES for legitimate credit repair.