How to Fix Credit Health

Your credit report and score determines your credit health. And having bad credit can result in higher finance fees, bad loan deals and credit rejections. You can improve your credit health and become a desirable loan candidate. This requires good credit habits and wise decisions. Once you've reversed a bad situation, you'll be able to walk into any loan office and apply for a home loan or vehicle loan with few hassles.

Instructions

1

Walk away from credit cards. Using credit cards keeps you in debt, and high debts reduce your FICO credit rating. Cut cards in half and only carry cash in your wallet.

2

Begin paying off your credit card balances with higher payments each month. If you routinely send $20 payments each month, increase this amount to $50 or more a month to start knocking down the principal and improving your credit health.

3

Pay debts when they're due to avoid late fees and a damaged credit score. Late payments can ruin your credit score. Always send payments days before the due date to make sure they arrive on time.

4

Use credit counseling to manage your debts if you can't seem to manage your own debts or pay them on time. Send one payment to the counseling agency every month, and the agency will make bill payments to each of your creditors.

5

Visit AnnualCreditReport.com (see Resources) to retrieve your free credit report once a year. Do a thorough inspection of your credit and alert creditors to any mistakes or outdated information. Errors and/or outdated information can lower your credit score and damage your credit health.