Rules:
1. The lower your credit scores the higher the interest on your payments.	2. Job agencies, banks, apartment rental, utilities, cellular companies, child support, hospital bills, mortgages and credit cards are not only tied into your credit score but may make reference to them for approval or change.
3. Your score can determine your eligibility for employment with some companies.	4. Higher scores yield lower interest, allowing you to maintain what you were paying but having greater effect on principal (what you actually owe aside from interest)
5. Credit Bureaus have a process by which you may file a complaint or make any contact.	6. Minimum payments are used toward interest on what you actually own and have little to 0 effect on the principal.
7. Credit history is necessary in order to finance/lease a vehicle, secure a loan or buy a house/apartment and lowering future interest.	8. Payment is better than consolidation, consolidation is better than settlement, settlement is better than bankruptcy, and each has its own credit score rating associated with it.

Strategies:
1. Too many credit history requests in a short time period will affect your credit score and history. Try to limit the amount of requests to no more than 1 every 6 months. Fees will be minimal or non-existent.
2. Each credit worthy application (i.e credit card or loan) should you be denied, allows you to request a free copy of your credit report from a credit bureau without affecting your credit history.
3. Contact the credit bureaus and file a complaint against anything you feel should not be on your report. Identity theft is prevalent and not as difficult as you think. Make sure everything on your report was initiated by you.
a. Send copies of any supporting material-such as receipts, cancelled checks, making duplicates of your correspondence to the credit bureau for your records, and always send it certified or get a return receipt as proof that you sent it.
4. Make payments on time. Make use of free bill pay systems. (Often through your bank).
5. Develop a budget that includes your credit bills and keep track of it to ensure you don’t bite off more than you can chew.
6. Use internet, there are resources, instructions and even letter templates out there to assist you in contacting the credit bureaus listed below.