What to do if your credit is bad

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Many people have learned the importance of having good credit over recent years. Prior to the credit crunch that affected countries around the world some ten years ago, many people were totally unaware of why they needed good credit. This was because getting finance from lenders was very easy even if your credit wasn't great, which resulted in a huge amount of people ending up with debts that they could not repay.

These days, getting finance from lenders can be very difficult and if your credit is bad it can make matters much worse. Many regular lenders will not entertain the idea of offering finance to those that have bad credit, which is why you need to try and keep your credit in check. If you want to get finance such as credit cards, mortgages, car loans, or any other type of finance, you need to maintain good credit otherwise you will pay a fortune for your borrowing – if you manage to get any finance at all.

Advice for those with damaged credit

Of course, many people these days already have damaged credit so the only action you can take is to try and fix your credit. This is not an overnight miracle and it will take effort, commitment, and determination. You will find plenty of resources ranging from the credit bureaus to provide support and advice through to the best credit repair companies to help you get back on track. However, the first thing you need to find out is what your credit score actually is and what is wrong with your credit file.

Now, it is worth noting that in some cases, your credit score can take a knock through something that was not your fault. This could include someone attempting identify theft or fraudulent activity on your account or someone that has simply made an error and failed to update information on your file. Things like this can affect your credit adversely, so the first thing you need to do is make sure you check all the information on your file is accurate. In addition, you need to make sure that it is all up to date and there are no suspicious transactions that you have to worry about. If there are any errors or suspicious activities, you need to make sure there are reported to the credit bureaus.

The other thing to bear in mind is that there are various ways in which can get a low credit score. One of the most obvious is to make late payments on bills and debts, as each time you do this a black mark goes on your credit. The same goes for missed payments. If you have a lot of credit, such as credit cards, and you max them to the limits this can also have a negative impact on your credit score. In addition, if you are turned down for finance by a lender and continue making applications within a short period of time, this will further impact on your credit.