If you have bad credit and are not sure how to improve your credit score you could buy a credit repair guide from the Internet or follow some basic steps that a credit repair guide will tell you to follow. In the following article you will see a credit repair guide and learn how to repair your own credit.

On your credit report will be a list of all your creditors with numbers and addresses. If you find negative information on your credit report, it is wise to work with a credit repair consultant who can expedite the process of getting the negative information off of your credit report, ie, 30 day late payment, lien, judgement, etc.

If you find false or in accurate information on your credit report you can dispute that information with the credit bureau's. To dispute false credit information you can either send the credit bureau's a credit dispute letter or dispute the errors online on the credit bureaus websites.

Pay your balances on your credit cards down to below 50% of your credit limit. Any cards that are maxed out, or even have a balance over 50% of the limit, usually categorize you as "higher risk" and your credit score won't be as high as it could potentially be with lower balances below 50% of the high credit limits.

The first step to repairing your own credit it to obtain a copy of your credit report. The best place to obtain a free copy of your credit report is from annualcreditreport.com. With your credit report you will be able to analyze your credit, review for errors and inaccuracies and see exactly what is showing up on your credit reports.

A simple step in repairing your own credit is not close any old revolving credit trade lines. An example would be a credit card that you have had for years. This shows credit history to future creditors and is a factor when calculating your score.

It is also important to limit the number if credit inquiries. This includes responding to "pre-approved" offers in the mail or online. Any time a lending decision is made, there is almost always a credit inquiry which can lower your score.

Be sure you understand exactly what your credit monitoring service is offering you. Some services even offer credit scores, but they may not be based on the scoring model you need (FICO score for a mortgage as an example).

A guide for repairing your credit should include making payments on time to your existing debt. Late payments can have a negative effect on your credit.