If you are asking this question, it is probably because you have at least one black mark or bankruptcy on your credit report that has caused your score to plummet.
Recovering from bad debt is not easy, but it can be done over a period of time. Depending upon what type of black mark you have, recovery can happen rather quickly.
Regardless, though, it is important to start the road to recovery as soon as possible.
The first step is in actually securing a copy of your own credit report. Pull reports from all three major agencies in order to check for accuracy.
Make note of any accounts which you are not sure about on the report. If they are not your accounts, whether they are in good standing or not, notify the credit agency to have them removed.
Different types of debt take various amounts of time to disappear from your credit report. For instance, credit inquiries remain on a report for two years, whereas a bankruptcy can remain on the account for up to ten years.
When recovering from bad credit, it is important to know when negatives are due to fall off the account. Upon expiration, pull another credit report to ensure that it has indeed been removed from the account.
In addition to keeping your credit clean during the rebuilding process, it is also important to rebuild your credit. One of the best ways to do this is by re establishing credit via a low limit bad credit credit card.
In all honesty, the rates are not going to be favorable, but this is why we recommend a lower limit. The temptation to run up a card can be rather inviting to someone that had not had credit in some time.
By keeping a card that has a maximum limit of £250 to £500, getting yourself back into difficulty can be avoided.
Once you start to rebuild your credit, make sure you continue to make all payments on time and monitor your credit report. When subscribing to a service, you can pull a report monthly as part of the fee.
This report will not count as a hard inquiry; therefore, it will not affect your credit score. Avoid applying for extra cards to have more hard inquiries hit the report.
It may take several years, but eventually the black marks will fall off and your credit rating will be restored.