In the first two parts we laid out a plan to provide financial stability through organizing payments and maintaining the uninterrupted flow of income.
Now it is time to look at an option to start rebuilding your credit.
The sooner you start to rebuild your credit the better.
Credit history is like wine and becomes better with age.
This means having accounts in good standing that are active and older are more important that new accounts because they have more of an impact on your overall credit score.
The reason is that an older account in good standing shows a longer consistency of one paying one time.
One thing that has to be put to rest is you have to have an honest talk with yourself on you present ability to pay things one time.
There is no point in establishing another financial commitment if you do not pay it one time when trying to establish your payment history.
If you do have issues you may want to ask for help from either a close friend or family member.
You would choose someone you trust and has a strong ability to keep commitments.
They would not be doing this task for you rather they would help keep you on track by checking in on you regularly.
Ideally they would slowly remove themselves by checking in on you less and less until the habit is formed and you are self sufficient.
Using a credit card to re-establish your credit is a way to prove your intent that you want to pay things on time and do.
The type of card you will probably be looking for is a secured credit card that requires a deposit that is like a retainer.
If you do not pay your balance the deposit is used to pay off the amount that is owed.
The deposit can range from the enough to cover the entire limit on the card to ten percent of the card limit.
There are a number of companies that provide this service and you do have to qualify like any other card but this is usually to determine the limit and deposit amount.
It is important to note not everyone is qualified and they will be looking at your credit in addition to your income or ability to pay back what you charge.
Using the card to build your credit history is pretty simple.
There is more than one way to do it but for simplicity it makes sense to consider the following strategy.
Use the card to pay your regular bills you have already budgeted for and shortly after you pay the bill use the money that would have paid the bill to pay your credit card.
Do this about one week after you have charged the amount on your card.
This way it will show on the card companies' computer system and a statement will be clear and simple to follow.
Make sure you understand the cycle of your account and make the payment within the same cycle as the when the charge happened on the card.
You do not want to appear to be late with a payment ever.
So stated before this is one way to start to build your credit history and can be effective if done properly.
Again, it is important that the sooner you start the sooner this good payment history will start to age and establish on your credit record.