If your credit has suffered in the rough economy, you may be able to repair it more quickly than you think. And if you're in the midst of trouble, you can minimize the damage.
It should come as no surprise that more consumers filed for bankruptcy or lost their homes in the past three years. Many are in line for a similar fate as the economy flirts with a double-dip recession. At the end of it all, consumers are left staring at what remains of their once-great credit scores and wondering when they can get credit again.
The good news is that a badly battered credit score isn't a life sentence.
"If you do nothing at all, except nothing bad, it will take seven to 10 years before your credit is better," says John Ulzheimer, the president of consumer education at Smart Credit. Becoming delinquent again could set you back.
But why sit around for a decade? Take steps to fix your credit, starting before your credit crisis.
If default looks imminent, cushion the blow to your credit score by defaulting on just one account. "There is a component in the FICO score called prevalence," says Ulzheimer. "That means having five collections is worse than having one."
Let the account with the highest monthly payment fall behind, he says, to free up more money every month to pay your other debt obligations.
If you have to choose between debts to pay, skip the credit card bill, because it's unsecured and a creditor can't repossess anything. Luckily, credit card delinquencies hurt credit scores less than bigger debts such as home or auto loans, says Sarah Davies, senior vice president of analytics, product management and research for VantageScore Solutions.
If you can't mitigate your credit crash, don't despair. Take a breather after the event, says Rod Griffin, the director of public education at credit bureau Experian, before mapping out your re-emergence into the world of credit.
If you have other outstanding delinquencies, catch up on those payments. If you still face looming debt, work on reducing it. The key, Griffin says, is time.
"You won't be able to qualify for credit for a while," he says. "Wait weeks or months so you have time to stabilize, to regain control of your current finances."
It's also important to know how to fix your credit using new credit accounts. A secured credit card is typically the first and only type of credit available to someone with a badly blemished credit history. These cards require a security deposit, usually a minimum of $500, to activate. The deposit is placed in a savings account, money market account or certificate of deposit.
If you consistently make on-time payments, your bank might convert the card into an unsecured card after a year, says Barry Paperno, consumer affairs manager at myFICO.
The secured card is treated like a regular credit card by the FICO score, Paperno says. Just make sure the issuer reports to the credit bureaus. Otherwise, your efforts will be for naught.
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