Applying for credit is the best thing to do if you don’t have cash on hand to pay for it. But you can’t just get it so easily since the lender will first do a background check. If everything checks out then it will be approved but if it is low, you might have to pay it back with a higher interest rate that could have been avoided if you knew how to increase your credit score.

Here is how you do it.

Get a copy of your credit score and review each item to find out if there were any errors. If there are, call the crediting agency where you got this from and send them the supporting documents to strengthen your claim. If the investigation shows an error on the part of the creditor, they will remove this from your record that will increase your credit score.

However, if there were no errors and this is caused by excessive spending, then you have to find ways to fix it.

Since money is root cause of this problem, you should learn to spend cash only on the essentials. This means food. Surely you can do without a new pair of shoes, clothes or jewelry for the time being. You may be out of fashion for awhile but you can be trendy later on when things are better.

If it not cash, it’s probably the credit card that got you in this mess. If you have many, pay off the credit card that has the highest interest rate first then work on the rest. The objective here is to be debt free. When that happens, you can cancel some of them and keep two or three and to maintain your credit score, make sure you only use up 25% or less of the maximum limit.

For those who make a lot of long distance calls, now is the time to reduce them. You can also cancel your subscription to one provider if there is another one that is offering lower rates. The same goes for cellphones as some companies charge lower or have free air time.

Ever heard the saying “energy conservation?” This does two things. First, you help the environment and second, you save cash. If you don’t have money to pay for debts, taking this step can also help.

Other ways to come up with the money to improve your credit score include selling some valuables, working overtime and getting a second job. Naturally, you will be saving some money for daily needs so any excess should be placed in savings account so creditors will know there is cash stashed somewhere.

It is going to be tough when you are in a hole but this is the only solution to increase your credit score. If you have a few accounts that you don’t really need, close them. Only when things do improve can you can do some of the activities you used to do before like going on a trip or doing some shopping.

Is there a certain credit score you should strive for? The answer is yes and this should be above 700 because this is what creditors see as ideal. If you are able to reach that, you are in good standing and be able to get a loan at a lower interest rate.