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I know what it’s like to have bad credit and the feeling of being rejected for a loan and kept from the lowest borrowing rates.

It stinks.

Some late credit card payments and one bill sent to collections led to years of building back my poor credit. It took consistent on-time payments and keeping a low credit utilization to reach my current credit score of 769.

The good news is that you don’t need perfect credit to access the best offers and interest rates, and just like I did, you can rebuild your credit if it’s less than stellar.

Stop striving for a perfect 850 score

Here’s a little credit secret: You don’t need a perfect score to get the best interest rates.

In general, a credit score of about 750 is all you need.

Borrowers with that score have above-average credit, and Experian says it will likely give you access to the best financial product offerings and the lowest rates. While there are several different credit rating systems, here’s how the FICO® Score system looks:

Many things can negatively affect your credit score, including (but not limited to):

• Using too much of your available credit
• Making late payments
• Missing a payment
• Applying for too many credit accounts
• Closing credit accounts
• Defaulting on a loan
• Having an account in collections
• Bankruptcy
• Having errors in your credit history

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The good news is that rebuilding your credit is pretty simple; it just takes discipline and time.

How to build good credit

When my credit was poor, I didn’t use any outside service to rebuild my credit or pay anyone to help fix it (some of those businesses can be scams, so be wary). Instead, I just paid my bills on time and didn’t use too much of my available credit.

It was a slow process that took years, but it’s the best way to improve your score. Here are the best ways to begin rebuilding your credit:

• Pay your bills and loans on time
• Don’t use all of your available credit (under 30% is good, under 10% is best)
• Keep your oldest accounts open; a long history helps your score
• Fix any errors on your credit report

If your credit score isn’t where you want it to be, you can get a free credit report at AnnualCreditReport.com to check for errors and dispute incorrect information with the credit bureau that reported it.

My credit score still goes up and down depending on how much available credit I’ve used, and it recently changed a bit after I applied for a mortgage. With my current score in the “very good” range, I don’t think too much about it.

But I still remember my stress and frustration of having a low score and being left out of the best offers and interest rates. The good news is that you can make it through that process just like I did, with a little effort and a lot of patience.

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