One of the first things to learn about personal finance is that anything that seems too good to be true is. A “get rich quick” scheme is either a scam or has very high risks involved. There is no instant remedy to credit problems. Anyone that tries to sell you “credit repair” that is easy for you is scamming. Credit counseling is not necessarily a scam, but any true credit counselor will give you the same advice as me, it takes time.
My credit score (as of today) is 735. The FICO score (Fair Issac Corporation) is the most commonly used credit score, and it is generally supplied to a lender by one of three major score companies: TransUnion, Experian, or Equifax. You can get your credit report for free and your credit score for free. Don’t fall for a sleezy company like freecreditreport.com just because they have catchy commercials. (I will give examples of how to do this soon, keep reading).
The first step in improving your long term score is to make sure you are doing things right today. If you have a credit card balance, pay on time. If you have a loan, make at least the minimum payments every period. You should know if you have a problem in your history. If you do, it will take 7 years to drop from your report. That is why doing the right thing now is so important. You are starting on your path to perfect credit today. You will be there in 7 years.
What is a bad mark on your credit report? Any on time payment is noted as a good month. Any thing else is bad. Your report 
will differentiate late payments at 30 day, 60 day, 90 day periods and so on. The worst thing that can be on your credit report is a bankruptcy. Close behind are collections and write offs. Check your credit report to find anything bad. Do this by visiting annualcreditreport.com. This is the government approved site for getting your report. You can do this once per year at the three major credit reporting companies. I stagger mine 4 months apart so I can see my report regularly throughout the year.
Do you have any questions? Let me know in the comments.
Next time we will talk about your credit score and how to track it.
