Everyone knows that if you have a bad FICO score, you're not going to be able to get a loan for your next home, auto, or even a personal loan. Since most of us can't just throw down a few hundred thousand for a house, it's important that we get a mortgage. Now having a bad FICO score doesn't mean you can't get a mortgage ever again. There are just some steps you need to take in order to improve your FICO score so that you can get that loan once again.

Get a credit report – If you haven't received a credit report yet, you should go out and get a copy of your credit report to look it over. Make sure that you get a free report that the government allows you to get every year. When you get a hold your credit report, look it over and see if anything looks wrong or shady. If something looks fishy, you'll want to fix it as soon as you can. There are many steps you can take; the first step I suggest you take is by calling the credit bureaus and seeing what you can do from there.

Pay your bills – No matter what you do with your bills, make sure you always attempt to pay off the minimum at least. If you don't pay your bills, you're going to get hit with late payment fees and this will affect your credit score a lot. Make sure that you pay at least the minimum. If you can't afford to pay the minimum, I suggest you go out and find another ways to get money. There are many part time jobs out there that you can pay you a few extra hundred dollars a week like pizza delivery or working a retail store.

Get rid of your balances – When you're trying to get out of debt, make your number one focus to pay off your credit card balance. Try and put as much money toward your debt as possible. This means you'll want to cut back on the leisure expenses and focus on debt. So, instead of eating out for thirty dollars, make a five dollar meal at home and put that twenty five toward the debt.

Close a few accounts – If you have a few accounts laying around that you don't use anymore, call up the credit card company and close them. Make sure that you know what you're doing thought because some of your old accounts may be helping you. Credit companies love to see older established accounts. If your report shows nothing but new accounts, the companies will be a little suspicious of this. Make sure that you close a few accounts that aren't as old as your oldest one.

If you can focus on paying off your debt and making a lot of money, fixing your debt shouldn't be that hard at all. As long as you're focused and determined to pay it off, you should have a problem at all.