• You hear the credit repair companies boasting on late-night radio shows and on cable TV infomercials. They promise to boost your credit scores overnight. They say that they can erase bankruptcies and housing foreclosures from your credit report. Problem is, none of this is true. The secret to credit repair is this: Boosting your credit scores requires little more than common sense and patience. But it does take time.
  
  

Pay Your Bills on Time

• The best way to repair your ailing credit scores is a simple one: Pay all your bills on time each month. Making late payments, or skipping payments entirely, will cause your credit scores to plummet. Making them on time each month will cause them to gradually rise.
  
  Don't expect immediate results, though. You'll have to pay your bills on time for several months before you notice improvements in your credit scores. Committing to do this, though, will show lenders that you have become serious about honoring your monthly debt obligations.
  
  

Pay Down Your Credit Card Debt

• High credit card balances will negatively impact your credit scores. Lenders view consumers with high credit card debt as being higher risks for eventually defaulting on their car and mortgage loans.
  
  If you want to see your credit score steadily improve, set aside as much extra money as you can each month to whack away at your credit card debt. This, again, will show lenders that you are taking steps to become a more mature consumers.
  
  But, once again, don't expect immediate results. You'll have to steadily chip away at your credit card debt to see your credit scores rise.
  
  

Use Your Credit Cards Wisely

• If you want to give your credit-repair efforts a boost, learn how to use your credit cards responsibly. This means charging items on them, but also paying your credit card bills on time. It also means refraining from building up huge amounts of debt.
  
  Lenders view the way you use your credit cards as a test for how you'll react to larger debts such as mortgage and auto loans. If you prove that you can handle your credit cards, you'll go a long ways to showing other lenders that you're more likely to repay their loans on time.