Don't Assume Credit Is Doomed: Steps to Boost Your Credit Score

Don't assume your credit score is doomed and there are steps you can take that can boost your credit score.

Pay recent past-dues: The first thing to do is to pay the past due payments on the accounts that recently fell a month or two behind, that's because the more recent the late payment, the more it will lower your score.

Request good faith adjustment: After bringing past due accounts current, contact the creditors who report late payments on your credit report and ask them to make a good faith adjustment to remove the late payment information from your credit report files and no all creditors will do this but if you ask politely and remind them that you will continue to be a good customer, you may find a few that will work with you.

Pay collections that agree to vanish: Pay off accounts where the collection agencies agree to remove all references to the accounts from the credit bureau files, make this a requirement of your offer to pay off the account.

Spread debt evenly: Evenly spread your balances over your cards with the lowest interest rates and the highest credit limits, and the objective is to have not more than 50 percent of the credit limit used on any one card.

Report credit limits: Some of your credit accounts may not report the credit limit to the credit bureaus and this reduces your score because when that information is missing, the score counts the account as being maxed out.

Keep the right credit: Major bank credit cards, held for a long time, with good payment histories help boost your credit score and also, don't close down your cards that have the longest history and the highest credit limits available because these help boost your score.

Limit new credit accounts: Many people open new department store credit accounts during holiday shopping seasons, lured by offers for an additional 10 percent off, just be aware that opening these new credit accounts hurts your credit score two ways: It raises your debt usage and lowers your average credit account age and after you use the card to get the discounts, promptly pay these off and close them.