[Alvinized52]

My wife had terrible credit when we first met... she went into bad debt and was suckered into credit consolidation while in college. This really messed her up. It was so bad that she couldnt even open a checking account at any bank. Needless to say, she had to go to credit counseling ...and we attended many seminars to help raise her credit.

These are the main things and tips that we’ve learned which raised both our credit FICOs to 800s:
1) Building a good credit history is the name of the game. Its like your report card in life!
2) keep no more than 2-3 credit cards. Stay away from opening up too many Store Cards. Having too many cards open and revolving credit are actually bad for your credit. That said, if you have unused cards... its actually best NOT to close them yourself. These will eventually close on their own... this gives you better credit history. Especially those where you have had Past Due. Just pay those off but let them play out and close on their own.
3) keep monthly balances under 30% of credit limits.
4) do not be late on monthly payments. Paying minimum doesnt harm your credit but it doesnt raise your credit either. Paying balance off every month builds credit history much faster.
5) big asset building purchases like houses and having mortgage payment helps build credit history faster. Just make sure you are not late on payments. Avoid going into Short Sales or Foreclosures.
6) one trick Ive learned was to bounce the balance from one credit card to another via balance tranfers ( some credit cards actually offer lower finance rates through balance transfer. This is often lower than purchases)
7) you can call most credit cards and ask to lower finance charge rates. Often, most cards have promotional rates that they can offer you for a limited time in order to keep your business.
8) its a good habit to check your own credit every year. This also to Make sure no one else is using your credit or have fraudulent account.
9) Having Too many credit inquiries... is bad...very bad! If you pull your own credit online, it actually does NOT count against you. When applying for thing that needs credit check, ask if they would consider your most recent credit check/ FICO score you personally pulled first before they pull a soft/hard inquiry.

Hope it helps... Good luck!