You really do need to take your credit score very seriously, because it’s the key to so many financial aspects of your life. It will determine if you can buy a house, buy a car, start a business and myriad other things.
For example, someone with a 550 credit score is in the “poor credit” range. But, if their goal is to get a low-downpayment FHA loan for a house, they only need to get it to 580. It may not take that long to lift a credit score by 30 points.
However, other credit scores may be lower due to things like previous bankruptcy. In that case, such a person may have to wait a full 7 years before that bankruptcy falls off of their credit report.
Wherever you fall in terms of “bad credit,” you need to realize that rebuilding that credit may likely to take years…sorry. It’s a marathon and not a sprint. But I’ve got some recommendations below for rebuilding your credit as quickly as possible.