Credit problems bedevil a large number of people. If you have a credit problem I'm sure you know what I mean. Suddenly everything financial becomes much more difficult and it seems that everyone is out to get you. But a poor credit report is not a permanent situation. There are some things that you can do to fix it. Many things in fact. Here are 10 of the most important. Learn these things and everything else will fall into place, in time.

1. Take Responsibility.

Only you can repair your credit, and only you can take responsibiliy for doing so. Don't expect anyone else to do it for you. A good credit report will only result from responsible money management.

2. Learn About Money, and Debt.

The ability to handle money, and debt, is a learned skill. If you don't have the skill now you can learn it. However it takes time and effort. If you are not prepared to invest the time and effort to learn the skills then they won't find you.

3. Don't Expect Immediate Results.

Credit repair doesn't happen overnight, despite what the credit repair companies may like to tell you. It is a slow process and can take years. Credit repair is a process which is ultimately designed to convince institutions to trust you with their money, and they take some convincing. Don't expect a little effort to produce an immediate result.

4. Be Prepared For Some Pain.

Remember the old adage, you can't keep doing what you are doing now and expect different results? This applies to your financial habits as much as anything else. Your past financial habits have got you to where you are now and if you keep handling your money as you have been nothing will change. You must change your money habits, and this will hurt. You must be prepared to embrace the fact that now you will do things differently, and accept the painful consquences. The pain comes before the result.

5. Live Within Your Means.

One of the most common causes of poor credit is living beyond your means. Learn that you can only have what you can afford, and that it is more important to live within your means than to try and have what you cannot afford. Don't try and keep up with your friends. If they have a new car and you can't afford it you can't have it. Period. Learn this.

6. Check Your Credit Report.

You are entitled by law to check your credit report each year for free. Take advantage of this. It is not unheard of for incorrect information to appear on your report, but if you don't check it then you don't know it's there. Once you know you can do something about it.

7. Learn About Credit And Credit Repair.

There are many well known steps to credit repair. There are no "secrets" that others know and you can't. There is a well worn path that usually involves most of the above, as well as a whole series of other things that you can do that are too numerous to mention here. If you know what to do you can do it, if you don't you can't. You need to educate yourself about the individual things you can and must do to fix your credit report.

8. Pay Your Bills On Time.

This is one of the most important habits you can learn. Many people assume that there really isn't much harm to paying late. There is. Learn that a bill is important. It needs to be paid in time. If you can't learn to pay your bills on time then companies who are approached for a loan can reasonably expect that you won't pay them on time either, or at all.

9. Address Specific Lifestyle Issues.

Most people who have credit problems will, if they are honest enough with themselves to admit it, have specific lifestyle issues that aggravate the problem. Are you a smoker for example? Smoking is an extremely expensive habit, and many people cannot afford it. Take the hard decisions and give up, it will give you so much more disposable income each week to apply to the more important things, and make you healthier at the same time. Have a look at yourself and find out which are your lifestyle issues that contribute, and what you can do about it.

10. Don't Expect A Credit Repair Company To Do It For You

Credit repair companies cannot do anything you cannot do yourself. Don't expect a credit repair company to wave a magic wand and fix the problem. Getting a credit repair company to work on it for you may take the immediate responsibility away from you but this is illusory.

If you do not fix some of those things listed above there is no point in trying to fix your credit report because even if you manage to do so it won't be long before the same problems reappear. You cannot have a good credit report if you are not credit worthy.

I'm sorry if you have read some things here that you would rather not read. Credit repair isn't easy, or fast, and there are no simple fixes. Credit repair is all about proving to potential creditors that you are worthy of being offered credit. If you aren't worthy of credit you probably won't get it.

So learn about what to do to make yourself credit worthy and prove to them, and yourself, that you are now responsible with money and credit. And if you do that your credit problems should reverse.