You found yourself with bad credit. While it is important to realize how you got there, the real question should be how do I get my credit score back to a solid rating. Despite the current economic situation it is still very easy to get a credit card these days. How you use your credit cards will determine your future credit score.

Here are five easy tips for rebuilding your credit score and raising your FICO score.

1) First thing you need to do is ensure you have an active checking AND savings account. If your worried about not being able to get a checking account start looking for second chance checking or bad credit checking accounts at local banks. Check out online savings accounts like Ally and ING Direct for easy savings accounts with no fees or minimums.

2) Second thing is to get an unsecured credit card. You will find that you are getting credit card offers in the mail. Read these carefully because they are designed to take advantage of people with bad credit. Some people claim to start with secured cards, but most secured cards report as secured and therefore do nothing to help rebuild your credit score. Also, be aware of the First Premier credit card and the Continental Finance credit card offers as these are nothing more than high fee/low limit bad credit cards that are horrible deals. We highly recommend the Orchard Bank MasterCard or Visa to start your bad credit repair. Orchard has the lowest interest rate and no junk or monthly fees. This is an excellent deal with interest rates that can be lower than some prime credit cards. Get more info on the MasterCard here and the Visa credit card here.

3) Never make another late payment. 30% of your credit score is based upon your payment history. If you have been late, start making your payments on time now and your credit score will start to improve within 6-8 months of on time payments. Sounds like common sense, but you will be surprised at how this common sense and simple tactic is often overlooked.

4) Monitor your credit. You have to stay on top of your credit. TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian all have monitoring plans where you can get monthly updates on your credit report and score. While expensive, you need to have this access to start cleaning your credit reports. This will allow you to easily monitor your current credit situation and see your score increase as well.

Since your just getting started, go to annualcreditreport.com and get your free credit report to start out. You then know what your working with and which report is in worst condition (no they are not all the same). I recommend that you print out each report so you have them sitting right in front of you and can make notes if needed.

Now the time consuming and frustrating part begins. You need to start going through your reports in fine detail. Start with the simple things

- Is current address correct?
- Are there any addresses listed on the report that aren’t mine?
- Is my name and other personal information right?

Start disputing and correcting these items.

Then move on to the more difficult

- Are there any credit cards/loans that aren’t mine?
- Are there duplicate accounts
- How many accounts have gone past the 7 year reporting limit
- How many are near the 7 year reporting limit.

Start disputing these entries as not mine.

5) Keep at it. There is a light at the end of this long tunnel but it takes time and hard work to get there.

Now here are a couple of tips that most people will not tell you.

1. Do not pay old collection accounts. A collection is a collection and a paid collection does not look better than an unpaid one. In fact, paying the account can re-age or start the 7 year reporting clock over again. The only way you should agree to pay is if the original debtor agrees in writing (all correspondence should be sent certified return receipt mail and do not trust anything not in writing) to completely stop the collection process and remove the debt from collections and remove all traces of the debt (collections and orginal) from all three credit reports. If they do this, then you should immediately pay as agreed. If they do not, then you should forget about the debt and let the 7 year clock elapse. It is important to remember to never admit the debt is yours. What you need to say is that the debt is on your credit report, you do not know who it belongs to, but your willing to pay to have it removed form your reports as it is damaging your credit score
2. Dispute as not mine. This tactic can work wonders and you can dispute old accounts (near the 7 year limit) as not mine and a lot of the times they will fall off your report.
3. Be Nice! A lot of forums, resources say you should be a jerk and start quoting laws with the very first letter. Try a different approach and be nice saving the legalese for the second and third requests for deletion/removal.
4. Know Your Rights. Make sure your know the credit repair laws in your area

The key to rebuilding your credit is hard work and patience, it’s not going to happen overnight. Make smart calculated moves and move on to a better financial future.

Check out these resources – Credit Cards for Bad Credit