Being turned down for a mortgage or being saddled with a high interest rate is all related to your credit score and whether the lender thinks you can afford to make the loan payments.

If you are planning to buy a home, work on improving your credit score before you apply for a loan. Give yourself at least a year to get your credit back on track and then visit your lender.

If you raise your score before visiting your lender, you will have a better shot at qualifying for a loan and getting a good interest rate. Start by getting a copy of each of your three credit reports.

Then check them carefully for any wrong information that will hinder your efforts to get a loan. If you find an error, contact the credit agency to try and fix it. If there are any negative issues that are correct, you need to address them by paying off your creditors, as quickly as you can.

Your efforts to pay down your debts on a regular basis will demonstrate to your creditors that you're serious about repaying your debt. Once they notice your efforts, they'll be more likely to report regular payments to the credit bureaus, ensuring that your credit scores improve.

A somewhat shady practice used by some is to dispute a negative item that they know is actually correct. If the credit agency isn't able to substantiate within a set period of time that the item is, in fact, legitimate, they are obligated to remove the item from your record.

This is completely legal, however if it is removed from your credit report, it could reappear later. If at a later date they prove the debt is yours, they can put it back on the credit report.

It's important that you maintain all of your credit accounts and regular bills in good standing. The odd late or missed payment will appear on your credit report and impact your score negatively. You want to build up as much positive information as possible, so that your lenders will be impressed with your credit performance.

Sad to say, certain items will be difficult to delete from your credit scores. But don't let that get in the way of your efforts to clear up the negative information. Be persistent and ask the credit agency to reinvestigate any debts that you are sure are not yours.

If they do not remove the items, work on getting more good payments reported. A lot of positive items may raise your score even though the negative items are still there. After you have tried everything you can to raise your scores, shop for a lender to put in an application for a home loan.