If you are going to improve your credit score, then logic has it that you must understand what your credit score is and how it works. Without this information, you won't be able to very effectively improve your score because you won't understand how the things you do in daily life affect your score.

If you don't understand how your credit score works, you will also be at the mercy of any company that tries to tell you how you can improve your score - on their terms and at their price.

The three major credit bureaus are important to contact if you are going to be repairing your credit score. The major three credit agencies can help you by sending you your credit report. If you find an error on your credit report, these are also the companies you must contact in order to correct the problem. You can easily contact these organizations by mail, telephone, or through the Internet...

Once you have your credit report and your credit score, you will be able to tell where you stand and where many of your problems lie. If you have a poor score, try to see in your credit report what could be causing the problem:

• Do you have too much debt?
• Too many unpaid bills?
• Have you recently faced a major financial upset such as a bankruptcy?
• Have you simply not had credit long enough to establish good credit?
• Have you defaulted on a loan, failed to pay taxes, or recently been reported to a collection agency?