There’s a lot of frustration right now about repairing credit, and part of it is brought on by the uncertain economy that we all live in. Things are taking a long time to get better, and it’s probably going to be a while before the market comes back. This isn’t good news for your credit…or is it?
Yes, it is — there is always time to fix your credit, because the “rules’ of personal finance apply no matter what the market looks like. Of course, when you have bad credit and you’re seeing tons of ads on late night TV promising that you can have your credit fixed overnight, you might feel even more frustrated. After all, why isn’t your credit being fixed quickly?
Take our advice — repairing your credit is not a sprint — it’s a marathon. It means that you’re going to need to push forward and not try to compare yourself to other success stories. There is a very popular financial expert, Dave Ramsey, who does a Friday Debt-Free call. Is it the end of the world if you’re not able to do the famous “We’re Debt Free!” scream? Not at all — it might take you a lot longer to get out of debt than other people. That’s not the end of the world, and that’s nothing to be upset about.
You just need to make sure that you keep things into perspective. It’s very similar to someone that has 100 pounds or more of weight to lose. They can’t get sad because the weight is coming off slowly — it took time for the weight to get on there, so that means that it’s going to take some time for the weight to come off of them.
It’s the same within the world of personal finance. It’s probably taken you some time to put all of that debt on there, so that means that it’s going to take some time for that debt to come off. It’s going to take time for your debt to come off, and it’s also going to take time for you to put good credit on your record. It doesn’t happen overnight.
Secured credit cards, small credit union loans, and other items that report to your credit bureaus are going to come in handy for making your credit look better. This is not something that happens overnight, but it will happen eventually.
You just need to keep positive and most importantly — be consistent with your overall debt elimination plan. Don’t let your emotions throw you off track — fight hard and you’ll find yourself winning more often than you lose!