How to Fix Your Credit in 30 Days

Over 30 million Americans are living with massive amounts of credit debt and poor credit scores under 620, according to MSN Money. Poor credit scores below 600 limit your ability to apply for additional credit. Potential employers often check applicants' credit scores to learn about their fiscal responsibility. Following a few easy steps will improve your credit score.

Instructions

Correct Your Credit Report

1

Obtain a copy of your credit report. Many private companies advertise their credit-reporting services for consumers for a monthly fee. Your bank is also a reliable source of credit monitoring, without worrying about identity theft.

2

Make sure credit-card limits shown on the credit report are accurate. Credit-card companies and banks may not adjust the credit limits they report to credit bureaus. If they indicate that you're spending more than half of your credit limit, your credit score will lower over time.

3

Keep bill-payment receipts and compare them to records on your credit report to ensure accuracy. If your records show complete and on-time bill payment while a credit report does not, notify the company reporting the inaccuracy and it will be corrected.

4

Dispute old negative impacts on the credit report. When health-insurance companies bill patients remainders of large bills that they fail to pay, the bill is put in collection status. Credit Info Center reports victims of these charges can be removed by claiming that the charges are not theirs, and the collection account would be difficult for credit bureaus to locate. Smaller collection amounts are easier to get removed from credit reports.

Pay Off Debt

5

Use any saved or extra cash to pay down or eliminate the balance on your credit cards. The three major credit-reporting bureaus weigh credit-card balances most heavily out of all criteria used to determine a credit score.

6

Pay off any missed payments on large loans, including student loans or mortgages. Missing one payment can be resolved quickly, but excessive nonpayment will take longer.

7

Continue to pay bills as scheduled. When paying off an entire credit-card bill is not possible, simply making minimum payments as demanded by creditors will not hurt your credit score as much as completely missing a payment. Most creditors do not consider a payment late until 10 days past due.