A bad credit report can adversely affect your ability to get loans, credit cards and the like. If you have bad credit, you can clean up your bad credit and rebuild your credit record.

Your credit report contains information about you, your job and how you pay your bills. Credit bureaus compile and maintain information on millions of consumers. They receive your personal information from retailers, banks and others with whom you do business.

If you are armed with the correct information, there are many things that you can do to rebuild your credit report within the law.

One way to remove negative information from your credit file is to contact the credit bureau and dispute the information. Each item item on your report must be proven or it must be deleted. If the credit bureau cannot verify the item when investigated, it cannot remain in the report - it must be deleted.

The credit bureaus delete negative notations from credit reports every day. By law they are required to do so whenever a particular item reaches a certain age. If you dispute an item on your report, they must investigate and delete information that cannot be reverified.

You need to know what's in your credit report. Order a copy of your report. When you get your report, review it and note all the errors you find. Then send a written request for an investigation to the credit bureau.

When you dispute an item on your report, the credit bureau must reinvestigate and if the item cannot be verified within a reasonable period of time, it must be deleted.

Another way to smash negative information that appears on your credit report is by adding a "100-Word Consumer Statement" to your file. The law allows you to tell everyone who obtains your report the reasons for the derogatory status of the account.

After removing the damaging entries, the next step is to add positive credit information to your file.

Getting a secured credit card is one of the important ways to help you build or rebuild your credit record.

To obtain a secured card, you are required to open and maintain a security deposit account at the bank that issues the card.

You can also apply for a charge card at a local department store. Once your application is approved, a charge account will be opened for you.

Another proven way to build positive credit is to take out a secured loan from a bank and pay it back promptly. In other words, the loan is backed by money you deposit and keep in a bank account.

If you ever wanted to erase your bad credit and establish a good credit record, now you can. Thousands of people have rebuilt their bad credit record and are enjoying the good life. And so can you.

Once you solve your credit problems, you can start enjoying the benefits good credit has to offer.