If you had a dollar for every time you told yourself you’d make that credit payment, you would have the money to pay off your bills. Alas, that’s not how life works and now you’re stuck with a bad credit score and you may see no end in sight. Well, there is an end to it all. If you can follow this practical and helpful advice, you can free yourself of the bad credit burden.

Pay off your bills before they are due. When you make credit card and bill payments ahead of schedule, it allows you to reduce the amount of interest you accrue while simultaneously strengthening your overall credit score. Even paying your bills a mere week early can make a drastic difference.

Before choosing a credit repair company, research them thoroughly. Credit repair is a business model that is rife with possibilities for fraud. You are usually in an emotional place when you’ve reached the point of having to use a credit repair agency, and unscrupulous agencies prey on this. Research companies online, with references and through the Better Business Bureau before signing anything.

If you have many credit cards and are looking to improve or repair your credit, you should pay off the credit cards in order of their credit utilization. Credit utilization is basically the percentage of credit you have used. For example, if you have a balance of $500 on a credit card with a $1000 limit, your credit utilization would be 50 percent. Ideally, you will want your credit utilization to be under 30 percent on all of your cards. Having a low percentage will improve your credit score.

Whatever you do, try not to file for bankruptcy. Credit repair is much more difficult after you have filed, so make every attempt to consolidate your debt and pay off as much as you can before you take this step. People think it’s a credit cure-all, but it ends up being a huge black mark on your record instead.

If you need to file a dispute over an error on your credit report, consider filing it through the credit bureaus’ websites. Electronic filing has become the preferred way to file disputes because consumers have found this method to be more efficient than traditional mail. They found that credit bureaus usually respond faster to disputes filed online.

Congratulations! You have just taken your first step toward repairing your credit just by reading this article. Now the onus is on you to put this advice into live action and work to change your credit score. It’s not going to happen right away, but it will happen, if you’re willing to stick with the plan and work your way out of debt.