Healthy Credit in Five Steps by Paul Stabler

It is time to admit that you need to take the credit card accounts that you have opened and begin to get them into shape so that they are no longer damaging your credit and preventing you from getting good interest rates and terms. It is no longer possible to use a passive attitude concerning your finances. You cannot ignore your bills or handle them in a haphazard way and expect nothing negative to happen.
Taking the time to implement the steps below will help you begin to put your credit back in order.

Pay off small credit cards. Get rid of your department store credit cards. This means paying them off and no longer using them. Keep them open however so that you do not experience a drop in your credit score. The only reason people have these is because they have been offered them when they are shopping in the store or they might have a rewards program. The best rewards programs are those that are on the major credit cards. Plus, you can use your major cards at these stores as well. So the reasoning for keeping them does not make sense.

Pay off balances. Get rid of the balances of as many cards as you can. Again, you do not have to close the accounts, just pay them off and then destroy the cards. Keeping the accounts open for a period of time will not hurt your credit. However, you will want to eventually close them. As your credit history goes, they will eventually become a liability because of inactivity, but you can safely leave them open and then consider closing them in about a year or so.

Negotiate terms. Call your credit card companies and negotiate lower interest rates. You will have varying degrees of success with this based on how good you have been in making your monthly payments, but it is worth the attempt. Now is a good time to call and try to get better rates, because card issuers realize that consumers are struggling and so they are taking steps to be able to help.

Focus on keeping your cards with the highest balances current. By keeping these cards current, you avoid bad marks on your credit score and history.

Perform a balance transfer. This is now more difficult to perform, but if you can make it happen, it will buy you some time until you can get some of the smaller cards paid down and then take that money and begin to pay these down as quickly as possible. Look at it as a temporary move, however. Do not get caught up in transferring balances just to try to keep your head above water. You eventually have to pay your balances, so work hard on that as well.

Using these five steps you will see your credit score and history begin to improve in small increments. That will help you begin to control your credit instead of watching it control you.



About the Author
Paul Stabler, Associate Editor for CreditCardFlyers.com

CreditCardFlyers.com is a consumer's haven for credit card balance transfer information and offers. We help you find the right balance transfer card to meet your financial needs and you can compare and apply for your 0 apr balance transfer card online.