The present economic conditions are causing countless people to struggle with low credit scores and bad credit reports. With the problems that the banks are having and other economic disasters the rules of the past are becoming obsolete and many people do not know what to do about credit difficulties and weak credit.

A credit score is a numerical rating that relates to a person's creditworthiness. However important these scores are, numerous people are not even aware of what a credit score is composed of. Not many people realize how important debt to credit ratio is or that inquiries into your report can promptly drop your score. The truth is that if you have credit and really use it you are considered a high risk and if you shop for credit you are also considered a high risk. To capitalize on your credit score you need to keep your debt at 15 to 35% of your available credit and do not allow anyone to inquire into your credit.

Congress enacted the Fair Credit Reporting Act or the FCRA in order to shield consumers from untruthful and inaccurate reporting on their credit. Under this law you have the right to obtain one free credit report from each of the major credit bureaus each year. Taking advantage of this is a sensible thing to do so that you can track your credit and make sure that it is being reported truthfully.

It is likely that as many as 75% of all credit reports or even more than that include mistakes and inaccuracies. These mistakes can cost you when you are trying to get credit so if you get a report every year and make certain that it is clean you can avoid many of these problems.

The FCRA gives you the right to dispute mistakes and inaccuracies on your credit. After a dispute is received the credit bureaus have 30 to 45 days to prove that the reported credit is accurate and true. It is estimated that as much as 45% of all disputed credit is not verified within the time frame and thus it must be removed from the report. Consumers can use this to their benefit if they are willing to go to the effort to issue a dispute.

There are also other things that you can do to improve your credit score and credit rating. Given that the debt to credit ratio is so important you can get your credit limits increased or you can pay down your balances so that your debt does not exceed 15 to 35% or your available credit. You must also completely avoid any inquiries into your credit. If you must shop for credit be very selective and only shop where you know you will get the credit and then have the creditor combine the inquiry into the loan reporting. That means you will not be showing inquiries.

You can take the steps required to repair your credit on your own or you can hire a professional to aid you. If you hire a professional make sure you do your groundwork and go with a reputable business with a good track record. Having credit problems is bad enough without losing money to a scammer too.

Credit repair can be accomplished. It is not a myth. Congress passed the FCRA to allow consumers to defend themselves against inaccuracies and discrepancies on a credit report so take advantage of that piece of information and do everything you can to increase your credit report.

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