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Until recently, there was an instant credit repair scam in place that allowed people with bad credit to pay an agency around $2000 to assume a credit card belonging to a holder with good credit, which boosted the bad credit holder's credit score. The agencies would pay the good credit holders a pleasant sum of money in exchange for their participation.

The credit agencies, however, have caught on to this method of credit "cheating", tweaked the system to prevent it, and the instant credit repair trick is dead.

There are still similar, in some cases more legitimate, offers on the market for instant credit repair. Play it safe and be aware of what you actually can and cannot do as a consumer to quickly repair your credit rating.

- No company can instantly wipe the slate clean, so avoid any companies that claim they can. You will get ripped off for quite a bit of money (as in the aforementioned $2000 range) and not only won't their actions help your credit, but they might actually you're your credit in the process.

The credit bureaus determine your credit score, and the only acting bodies that can change this information are other credit agencies and issuers. They're not the most agreeable of bodies to work with, especially when you have an outstanding debt through them, but quick changes to your credit report run through them.

- Though there are services that can quickly alter your credit score, you cannot access any of these services directly. You need to go through those credit agencies, brokers and lenders. Anyone offering direct service to your credit score is also ripping you off.

- For many, errors on their credit report do the most damage to their credit score. Fix them: Get your credit report and give every line a good look. Make sure you recognize every account and every incident. If a card company's saying you missed a payment when you know you've paid them on time every month, do what you must to clear that up. You can't erase all your bad history, but adjustments can improve your credit score within 72 hours.

However, you can't clear away factual information that damages your score. If you really got sent to collections over three missed payments on a credit card, or you really defaulted on a loan, that's factual information that you can't undo. All you can do about it pay your bills on time and try to rebuild your rating with enough of a positive record to overshadow your negatives.

Learn more about this author, Steven Gomez.
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