by Victoria Tiegert

Created on: March 05, 2009

We rely on credit for many of our purchases, most often our vehicles and our homes, since these are high dollar items that we do not pay for in cash and typically require a loan. Credit reports are a very important part of your financial stability and your ability to get credit for various items for acceptable fees and rates. A good loan package is worth quite alot more than you might realize when you look at the bottom line of any interest-accruing debt. You may end up paying double the price of your purchase by the time the interest has compounded over the life of the loan. For example a half-million dollar home may end up being a million dollar home when all is said and done. One of the major determining factors will be your credit score and how this affects your interest rate.

Credit scores are also sometimes referred to as FICO (Fair Isaac Corporation) scores. Credit, or FICO, scores range from being in the three hundred range to above eight hundred. The terms used will range from poor to excellent and will be referring to what kind of a credit risk you are. An average credit score in the United States, according to the major credit reporting agencies, is between 620 and 660. Scores below that and you may want to do some repair work to raise it and lower the amount of money you are shelling out in interest payments that aren't profitting you at all.

Many of the things you can do to improve your credit score will simply take time, such as improving your payment history or lengthening you employment history with the same company, but there are several things that you can do to quickly watch your score increase. The following are six steps that you can take to get some fast results and start down the path of credit repair and/or correction.

STEP NUMBER ONE-Get a copy of your credit report.

Order a copy of your credit report. Everyone is entitled to one free report per year. To obtain this, go to www.annualcreditreport.com and request it. It is an easy process that takes very little time or effort. They will give you the reports from the three major United States credit reporting agencies, which are Equifax, Experian, Transunion. If you have recently requested credit and have been declined, you should receive a letter stating the reasons per U.S. law. On the back or bottom of this letter is a number you can call to get the reporting agency's credit report free of charge, as well. However you choose to go about getting it, having a copy of your credit report in

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