Having poor credit may seem a little like you are stuck in quicksand, no matter how hard your struggle you just get sucked in deeper. Dealing with your credit issues is the only way out of the quicksand once and for all and the first step is to find reputable credit repair programs. There are simple things that can be done that can improve your credit almost instantly, and other things that will work but it will take months to see the results.
Having a poor credit record affects so much more than just whether or not you'll be able to get a loan or how high your interest rate will be if you do get one. A low score can increase your car insurance premiums and even prevent you from getting a new job or a new apartment. It's time to get proactive about your score and do everything you can to raise it.
Of course, just paying your bills on time will help enormously, and not just your loan payments. All your bills can be reported to the credit bureaus if you don't pay on time. Utilities, cable, your satellite dish company, etc. Pay everything on time every month. If your circumstances have changed and you just don't have enough money for all your bills monthly you will have to find a way to make more money or get rid of some of your bills, such as cutting back on the number of channels you get from your cable provider or increasing the deductible on your home owners insurance.
There are a lot of issues involved in making up your credit score and that's where a program can help. If you are able to sit down with a trained professional who knows all the ins and outs of rebuilding your credit they can help you accomplish more than you could on your own. Just be careful before you sign on the dotted line that you've read over everything very carefully. A credit specialist won't help you much if all they want you to do is to get a loan and take on additional payments.
Something as simple as checking your credit report for mistakes can be done by you for free and it can show up on your report in as little as a month. You can realistically (if you correct a lot of mistakes on your report) raise your credit score by a hundred points just by sending a letter to the credit bureau along with proof that the item on your report is a mistake.
If you do find a mistake and report it to the the credit bureau, they have 30 days to repair the mistake on your credit report and your new score should reflect that correction. If you find more than one mistake your score might go up quite a bit in just one month. That may well be all you need to do. From that point on just pay all your bills on time and you should be able to maintain your great credit score.
A lot of credit repair can be done by you fairly easily. Just cut back on your debt or increase your income or both and just keep paying all your bills in full every month. If you need more help take your time finding credit repair programs and make sure you fully understand what they offer and how much, if anything, they will charge.