Credit Counseling Tips to Improve Credit Scores

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• Automate bill payment. Some companies will give you discounts if you agree to pay bills by automatic account withdrawal or recurring credit card charge. Even if the companies you do business with do not offer this type of discount, making bill payment automatic can help prevent late payment notes on your credit report.

• Cut back on spending. As soon as you notice your credit report start to slip, you should cut out non-essential spending, channeling the extra money from cable subscriptions and magazines to repaying your bills.

• Budget. On a piece of paper or computer file, note what you need to pay and when - and then do everything you can to meet those payments. Creating a budget helps you control your money more effectively and can help dig you out of debt.

Sneaky Do-it-Yourselfer Tips

• Call companies yourself to get credit relief. If you are having trouble paying a bill, you can call companies yourself to arrange a payment schedule. You can even ask to have the late or partial payments left off your credit report. While companies are not obligated to keep your late or partial payments out of your credit report, many will do this when asked in order to get your good will and payments. You can even call companies to ask for old credit report dings to be removed. If you had trouble paying your credit card bill a few months ago but have had a good repayment history with your card, for example, you can ask for the offending items to be removed by calling your credit card company.

• Look to credit relief tools that are free. Customers can shop around for their own consolidation loans or refinancing to make existing loans bearable again. In fact, looking for your own refinancing or consolidation loans can help you get the best deals and lets you stay in full control of your money.

• Look to banks for money help. Today, banks offer their customers a wide range of free help. You can often meet with bank financial officers for free counseling and help. Some banks even provide money management tips and e-newsletters to patrons. All these free tools can help you develop your own credit counseling plan.

• Work on paying down, not paying off. Many customers assume that they need to eliminate all debt in order to repair their credit report. This is completely false. Even by paying down your debts to no more than 80% of your total credit limit you can often improve your credit score.

• Get more income. Many debtors find that getting a second source of income helps them avoid debt and helps them to pay off existing loans much faster. Whether you rent out a part of your home, work overtime or start up a part-time business, even a few hundred dollars a month can help you get a near-perfect credit report that much sooner.

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