Many who are dealing with credit issue do not understand the rules to follow when trying to improve their score. Here are a few additional tips:

*The FCRA entitles each consumer to one free credit report annually at annualcreditreport.com.

*Sites with free reports may ask you to pay to obtain your credit score. Keep in mind that the score produced will not coincide with the score you will receive from a mortgage lender because there are different scoring models used by lenders.

*If you have judgments, collections or other large credit blemishes, it is important to get our advice before paying these off or negotiating with the creditors. Pay off an old bad debt can lower your score in the short-run and debt negotiations are likely to lower your score in the long-run.

If you have major credit issues which cannot be resolved, sometimes it is best to get a legal opinion as to whether a bankruptcy, credit counseling or even the help of a credit repair firm is the right approach.

We advise you to thoroughly check out any firm you are working with. For example, there are non-profit counseling firms which will give advice for free.  Ohers are for profit which are focused upon negotiating with your creditors to lower your bills. While that may be the recommended alternative, we emphasize again that these negotiated debts can show on your report as significant blemishes which will cause further damage to your credit record.