One of the things that lenders will look at is the amount of debt you have relative to the total amount of credit you have. If you debt is close to your total credit, you are consider high risk as the chances of you not being able to meet your debt obligation are high.

For example, if you have a $5000 limit on your credit card and you regularly carry a balance of $4700, you will consider riskier to lenders than someone who has the same credit card but carries a smaller balance of $700.

In general, you should aim to use no more than 60% of your available credit. If your credit card has a limit of $5000, you should try to pay it down to about $3000. You should also avoid adding more debt to the current balance as much as possible.

It is even better if you can pay off your credit card in full each month. However, this can be difficult if the amount of debt is too large. No matter how big the debt is, you can eliminate it as long as you continue to pay down the balance consistently.

If your debts are spread over a few credit cards, you can start with the smallest debt first. The rationale is simple. Eliminate the smallest debt can provide the motivation you need to continue with the debt elimination process.

Once the smallest debt is eliminated, you can put that credit card away and move on to the next smallest credit card debt. With this process, you may be able to eliminate the debts for two or three credit cards. You will start to see the result of your debt elimination process faster.

If you prefer to start eliminate the largest debt first, that is fine too. You will need strong discipline to see yourself through the debt elimination process, as it takes much longer to see positive result.

While working to pay down you debt, you should also start cutting down your expenditure. You can cook more often at home instead of eating at the restaurant, buy less clothes, rent DVDs instead of going to the movies and so forth.

At the same time, you should think of ways to increase your income. This includes taking up a part time job, do freelance works or set up garage sales.

Another thing is to improve your financial education. There are many personal finance management books in the library that you can borrow. If you have some spare cash, you can buy a couple of them from Amazon online store or you local bookstores.

Paying down your debts to a minimum will definitely help elevate your credit score. However, good financial habits such as saving and investing will go a long way to help you avoid debts and keep you credit score high.