Credit Scores

• All credit scores are based totally upon the information contained in a person's credit report that relates to his credit history. The more positive information contained in this report, the better the individual's score; the more negative information, the lower the score. A person can rebuild his credit by performing actions that place more positive information in the credit report.
  
  

Paying Off Debts

• The first thing a person can do to raise his credit score is to pay off his outstanding debts, particularly his delinquent debt. The more delinquent debts that a person has, as well as the higher his overall debt load, the lower the person's credit score will go. By paying off his debts, the person will be able to eliminate some of the more negative information on the report.
  
  

Taking Out New Credit

• After a person has bandaged his score by getting rid of his old debts, he can begin the rebuilding process by taking out new lines of credit, taking out new loans and paying these loans back on time. By demonstrating that he can take out credit and pay it pay on time, the individual will show credit reporting agencies that he is creditworthy, and, ultimately, his score will rise. However, paying late will cause his score to decline further.
  
  

Considerations

• Rebuilding credit is a long process. Although there are some quick fixes a person can do---paying off debts being foremost among them---credit reporting agencies have long memories. Negative information on a credit report can stay on there for a maximum of seven years---10 years in the case of a liquidation bankruptcy---during which time this information can continue to drag down a person's score.