How to Fix the Credit Card Blues

For those smaller business entrepreneurs, in order to help fix the problem, you need to first face your real credit score. Despite free credit report offers, you still have to pay to find out your score, which is a three-digit number ranging from 300 to 850.

Here's how: Go to MyFico.com, or you can get Experian's "consumer education" credit report. Here are some tips towards credit repair:

1) Try to use your credit cards less often if not sparingly. Totaling up big balances can hurt your score, regardless of whether you pay your bill in full each month and on time.

2) Don't hire a service to "fix" your credit. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says "Don't believe these claims: they're very likely signs of a scam. Indeed, attorneys at the nation's consumer protection agency say they've never seen a legitimate credit repair operation making those claims."

3) The fact is there's no quick fix for creditworthiness. You can improve your credit report legitimately, but it takes time, effort, and sticking to a personal debt repayment plan.

4) What is reported to the credit bureaus and calculated into your score is the balance reported on your last statement.

5) Try to pay down or pay off credit cards. The credit-scoring system is based on favorability towards a gap between the amount of credit you're using and the available credit limits.

6) It is a good idea to rotate your credit cards. The older your credit history per card, the better it is, so if you stop using a card, the issuers may stop updating the account at the credit bureaus, and it won't be given as much weight in the credit-scoring formula as active accounts.

7) Make sure to keep tabs on your credit limits. If you are charging the same amount each month -- say $500 to $800 the credit-scoring formula may think you are you're regularly maxing out the credit card. Simply pay your balance down or off before your statement period ends.

8) Accounts receivable factoring is an age old tactic that could help you pay off credit your card debt. You can use single invoice factoring for immediate cash.

Factoring is regaining popularity as a surefire method of financing to improve the cash flow of a business. And in case you still do not understand it -- factoring is when a company decides to discount its accounts receivables, at which time the factor then bears the credit risk for the accounts and becomes the recipient of payment from the customer. Factoring is one of the most effective and efficient forms of financing, or funding a small business with cash flow today.