If you find yourself in overwhelming debts, it is advisable that you seek help from debt management companies and agencies like Freedom Debt Relief (FDR). They provide debt settlement and negotiation services as well as credit counseling so that you can rebuild your life financially even after going through the worst financial situation you could possibly think of. My friend Jake was too far behind in his debt payments that his credit score went from bad to worse. He knew that he had to do something to re-establish his credit so he enrolled with FDR and went to credit counseling every week until all his debts were paid off. FDR assisted him in rebuilding his credit score so that his future financial activities will not have to go through many obstacles.

Once Jake got his credit score back up, he knew he would have to make sure that they stay good, if not better. Rebuilding his credit score was one thing. Maintaining it was another different matter. Although he had help from FDR in rebuilding his credit score, keeping the score within an acceptable if not excellent range would depend solely on him. So he decided to make several changes in his financial habits. One of which was to always pay his bills on time. Previously he would always put off paying his bills whether they were utility bills, telephone bills or any other bills. He would use the money for other purposes and only use whatever money he had leftover to pay his bills. That was why he never paid his bills in full. Now every time he gets his paycheck he sets aside some money to pay his bills first and as much as possible. The aim is to not owe anyone any money.

Jake also opened up savings and checking accounts. Although these accounts may not be directly related to his credit score, he knows that the balance he has in his account would show financial stability which is what many lenders would look for. They are not necessarily credit related but by maintaining an active account he would be demonstrating that he can manage his finances just fine. Lenders may run background checks on his finances and when they see that his bank accounts are consistently maintained with reasonable monthly balance they may not consider him to be a big credit risk. Jake also knows that he would be establishing a relationship with the bank where he opened his savings and checking accounts. This would work to his advantage should he require a loan to purchase a home or a car because he has already been their customer. Generally, banks offer lower interest rates to good customers.

The most difficult thing Jake had to work on maintaining was his credit cards. It was difficult but not impossible. He made sure that the balance on his credit cards was always on the low side. This is because a high credit card balance would lower his credit score. Although the normal practice is to maintain a balance of within 30% of a credit limit, Jake went the extra mile and made sure that none of his cards has a balance of more than 15% of his credit limit. Another thing that Jake did was to limit new credit. Basically he put a stop to his habit of applying for new credit cards every time there was a new one in the market because he knew that opening new credit accounts would lower his average credit. That would defeat his goal of maintaining a good credit score.

Maintaining a good credit score was not an easy road for Jake to take. Sometimes he would slip up and was late in paying his bills but he would often make up for it in other aspects of his credit. He often tries to minimize any slip ups that can cost him his credit score so that his future financial activities may not be at jeopardy.

Author Bio: freedom debt relief

Category: Finances
Keywords: freedom debt relief