With the way the industry is going, it's becoming more and more difficult to get any type of loan. Credit scores range from 300 to 850, the higher the better. But what if you go to a mortgage broker or bank and they tell you that your credit is to low and they cannot do a mortgage for you. What are the steps you can take to start improving your scores? There are a few things that you as a consumer can do yourself! It just takes a little time and dedication to get you back on track and going strong.

1. You want to pull your credit at least once or twice a year for your own records to make sure there are not any strange debts on your report. There are the freak accidents that occur with people having their identities stolen. You can pull a free credit report at www.freecreditreport.com. This also gives you an idea on what totals your loans are looking at.

2. Credit cards should be kept low. I know as well as anyone else that sometimes it is difficult to do. But the amounts based on what I have researched is that you want to keep your credit card limit between 50-70% of the line amount. The less the better.

3. Stop applying for all the store credit cards! Unless you use it often, do not get it! Those who own 10 of those cards, you have to realize that it makes your total line amounts look really high to a lender. It shows that you have all these lines available to not pay back in the lender's eyes. Good rule of thumb is to have two credit cards. Personally I have two credit cards and a store card that always has a 0 balance and if they offer to up my balance I tell them no. There's no way that I'm going to need a larger balance otherwise it would incise me to use it!  

3. Every time you apply for anything relating to credit cards, they pull your credit. Pulling credit too many times damages your scores. A lender looks at this as why does this person need these many lines of credit? Is there something deeper that the person is trying to hide?

4. Do not be late on any payments. If you are late on something it makes you less credit worthy. If you cannot pay on something, contact the company and see if they might be able to work with you on it.

5. Collection and judgment accounts,  they stay on there for 7 years, pay them off to get them off your account. If you want to dispute that stuff with a company, you need to get it taken care of. 

6. Try not to have an Unsecured line of credit. There is no collateral to back it and it's a higher risk loan. If you have one, try to pay it off as soon as you can.

7. The last option that I try to assist people with is to dispute their accounts. If you have late payments, collection accounts, profit and loss that should not be on there, anything that is incorrect, you can write to the credit agency claiming this information and the credit agency will research it and either remove it or keep it on and they will send you an explanation. I suggest that you at least attempt to dispute your claims and see what will and will not be removed and work from there.

Credit is essential in the market today. You want to keep your credit strong all the time so you do not run into situations where you cannot get a home mortgage or you qualify for a very high rate. As a broker, I want to help people accomplish some of the biggest purchases in their lives, I want to give advice on how to make their dreams come true. Hope that this information helps people out there. Not to mention that if people can keep their credit strong, it will help the economy and make you feel better about your finances!