How to Improve a Bad Credit Score

Everything in life seems to revolve around your credit score. You need to have a good credit score to get a place to live or even a cell phone to talk on. These days even new employers will check your credit score before they hire you. Is your credit score less then perfect? Would you say that you have a bad credit score? Do not worry. You are not alone. Most people that you pass everyday on the street have a bad credit score. To get ahead in life you are going to need to improve a bad credit score. With a little determination and work, you can improve your bad credit score.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Obtain a copy of your credit report. You need to know exactly what your credit score is before you can improve upon it. According to law, you are entitled to one free credit report every 12 months. This report will tell you your credit score and what bills you have and money that you owe. You will need all of this information to improve a bad credit score.

2. Bring all of your bills up to date. One of the biggest things that affects your credit score is being late on bills. Every time that you are even a day late on a bill a notice is sent to the credit agencies. This mark will stay on your credit report for some time. Make sure that you pay all of your bills on time. The best way to do this is to pay your bills online if the opportunity exists. By paying your bills online, the payment will post faster then through regular mail. Regular mail can take anywhere from 5 to 7 days to get to the place that you are sending it to. Paying your bills on time is the most important thing that you can do to improve a bad credit score.

3. Pay down your credit cards and any loans that you may have. Work on getting these amounts down and paid off, you will be able to improve a bad credit score. Make sure that you are paying more then the minimum payment, especially on your credit cards. A minimum payment on a credit card barely pays the interest that is incurred every month. As you pay these lines of credit off, do not close them out. This looks bad on a credit report. To improve bad credit, you need to keep these lines of credit open but do not use them.

[noenoe]

on 1/8/2009 Okay - but what if everything on your account are chargeoffs - and you cannot get new credit to help you re-establish?