Your credit rating is more important than any other time in the history of America. There is less available credit than any other time in recent history.

Credit card companies launched a massive wave of cut backs. You may have noticed your available balance was slashed overnight. It is much more difficult to get a mortgage. The minimum score needed rose by an average of 40 points and the minimum score required for reasonable rates is up 28 points.

The bottom line is that you can expect it to be downright difficult – if not impossible – to get new credit if you’ve let your credit slip.

What this means is that you need a plan to get your credit in top shape.

I spent several hours last weekend writing down my financial goals for this year, which included my FICO score goal of 775.

I assume that you also have some goals for this coming year. Whatever your goals may be, you’ll need a strategy. Your credit strategy should include a plan to erase any negative items from your reports, improve your score, and achieve your financial goals.

Below you’ll find an easy formula to achieve those goals:

Credit Strategy #1: Remove any questionable negative item from your reports. If you have a questionable charge off, collection, late payment, repossession, bankruptcy, or any other derogatory information, it needs to be disputed and removed asap!

You can do this yourself with a regular dispute letter or with the help of a credit repair service.

Often some items can be quite stubborn. Charge offs, judgments, and repossession are especially “sticky”.

You may need to get more aggressive than just a standard dispute letter. You might consider a process called “debt validation” where you demand that the original creditor validate a debt. (It’s a lot different than disputing with the bureaus – yet super effective for removing collections and charge offs).

I would not trust myself to properly execute the debt validation process. In fact, I messed it up so badly when I did try it that creditors began ignoring my letters.

It was a different story when my attorneys at Lexington helped though. They got a big bad collection agency (Midland Credit) to contact the bureaus and have them remove all the charge offs and collections.

Lexington Laws services are not for everybody. It is more for people who are deadly serious about their credit and have some immediate financial goals.

If you are one of those people you can get on the phone with a paralegal today by dialing this number: 800-298-4297.

Credit Strategy #2: Build Good Credit The good news is that this is easy to do if you already have an unsecured account.

Keep paying those accounts on time. In fact, I suggest setting up an auto payment system so you never slip up. Plus, this saves postage so you are saving twice!

The bad news is for people who don’t already have an unsecured account – like a visa/mastercard account. It is tough to even get a card if your score is in the 500 range.

Credit Strategy #3: Stay the Course Stay persistent. This will take time. If you get started today you can consider yourself ahead of the game.

Keep a detailed log of what your score is today and track your progress. Odds are that if you follow these tips your score will continue to climb each month.

* We were so impressed with Lexington Law that we decided to become a sponsor and put up this website.

Don’t get discouraged when things don’t go your way. There are usually different ways to tackle a problem. Get a FREE credit consultation with credit repair experts by calling 1-800-298-4297