If you want to repair credit scores and open up more doors for your future, here are four relatively simple ways to approach credit report repair. First of all, checking your credit score is the only way to get real. Often, we spend months lying to ourselves. "I'll pay myself back next month," we say. Or "I don't have the money to pay these bills so I'm not going to even look at them."

At www.annualcreditreport.com, you can get a free copy of your official financial report from TransUnion, Experian and Equifax, which are the three major credit bureaus. Initially, you may be surprised to see that they don't all have the exact same
information. That's because your creditors are only legally required to send your payment information to one of the three companies.

You may also be surprised to see items from a long time ago, as by law, delinquent payment history must remain on your record for seven years. Additionally, you may find errors, which could boost your credit overnight if you catch them and take action to dispute the claims by sending a letter to the credit bureau.

Secondly, you may want to negotiate with your creditors for a lower interest rate. While this won't repair your credit outright, it will certainly give you all the benefits you're entitled to. If you have a credit score of 720 or higher, then you should have no problem finding a card with 0-5% interest rate for at least the first year. You can compare credit card offers at www.cardratings.com.

Remember that when you pay less interest, more of your monthly payment goes toward your balance. If you have shoddy credit, then you'll have to settle for an interest rate no lower than 9.9%, yet keep in mind that if you pay your balance in full each month, you won't have to pay any interest at all. Making timely, complete payments on an unsecured credit card is one of the best ways for people with bad credit to create a new, positive payment history.

The third way to repair credit history is to start a fresh history of good credit. Credit repair companies experts say that a healthy credit portfolio includes both the unsecured credit card and secured loans, like an auto, home equity, mortgage or student loan. On average, most people have two or three credit cards they regularly use. Your balance should never be more than 30% of the maximum credit offered and should be paid on-time and in-full each month.

While past mistakes will remain on your record for seven years, the good news is that the past 48 months carry the most weight, so within a year you'll see large improvements if you keep up with all your payments. Some people take out self-financed loans by taking $1,000 out of their savings and repaying themselves each month, while the bank reports all these timely payments as good credit history to the bureaus.

One last way to repair credit is to check your free annual credit report for important omissions, as well as inaccuracies. If you have a new job, then have that income added to the credit bureau reports. By law, you are allowed to send in additional information that may repair your credit report. If you've repaid a loan in a timely fashion, if you've received a raise or if you have a good standing with your bank, then you can report all of this to add some substance and stability to your report.

While looking for bad credit repair, many desperately want there to be a band-aid that will fix their broken lives. "There must be some quick and easy insider way of fixing things," some think. After all, there are so many advertisements online, on TV and in newspapers offering 100% guarantees and removal of the worst kind of blemishes, including bankruptcies, liens, judgments and bad loans. But are they legit?

According to the FTC, there are many credit repair scams out there. Many of these companies request as much as $3,000 upfront to settle your accounts, negotiate better debt repayment deals and erase all blemishes on your credit report. Credit repair companies have become a $7 billion/year industry, but not all parties can be trusted.

You should never have to pay before you receive any services, as the Credit Repair Organizations Act mandates that bad credit repair companies only charge when they have completed the services promised. As well, you should not trust someone who will not give you practical advice on what you can do on your own to repair your credit.

If the company recommends that you not contact the credit bureaus directly, suggests you can get a new credit identity through an "Employer Identification Number" or advises you to fraudulently dispute even the legitimate information on your credit report, you should steer clear of their operation.

• Not all parties can be trusted
• Never pay before you receive any services
• There are many credit repair scams out there

Here are some do-it-yourself tips for repairing bad credit. If you feel up to the challenge, then you can use your sales and negotiating skills to get items deleted or amended on your credit report. First, never make arrangements over the phone. It's always best to craft a well-written letter instead and be sure you write this letter before you give the creditor any money or you'll have lost your power to negotiate!

If you have a "charge-off" listed on your account, then you can sometimes offer to adhere to a monthly payment plan and get creditors to replace them with "paid as agreed and on time." If you can't get that, then try for "account closed, account paid or account settled," all of which are more desirable than a charge-off.

The best case scenario you could ever hope for is a creditor to completely remove their account from your credit report, although it's certainly a rare best case scenario. Often with medical bills, the creditor will remove the bad credit debt if you agree to pay immediately, in full, with an additional fee or two, which will improve credit scores overnight.

In your bad credit repair correspondence, you cannot expect a complete removal of a debt if you are not willing to pay the full amount. If you've responded to a settlement letter to pay a fraction of the debt, then you will have to wait to set amount of time.

You may dispute information on your credit report and if the creditor doesn't respond to the credit bureau's attempts to verify the account, then it will automatically be removed or amended to match your records. Often, creditors are so inundated with requests they just ignore them, which means you'll improve credit scores overnight.

All of us are feeling the crunch of the economic down turn as of late. Thank goodness we are getting some relief from the gas prices, but I am still getting killed at the super market. I have 3 children and my grocerery bill has increased by 40% in the last year.

We have all been looking for ways to tighten are budget. I recently ran across this video and thought it was worth putting on the blog. It talks about how a poor credit score can cost you money in ways that will probably surprise you. Enjoy.

Click on the link to find out more about improving your credit score and bad credit repair.