Quite a lot of people have a problem with keeping a good credit score these days because of the state of the economy and sometimes things simply are not the fault of the borrower. There are a few basic things that you can do to safeguard your credit score and make sure that you always get the best rate possible when you go to borrow money.
If you are living paycheck to paycheck every month like most people are, the first thing you will want to do is balance your budget and determine what expenses you have. Figure out what you need (need = really cannot live without) and discard the rest. Magazine subscriptions, eating out at restaurants regularly, going to the movies, casual shopping, junk food, and anything else you do not need to live should be discarded until you get your financial situation back on track. You may feel like you are sacrificing living for survival and you are, but sometimes sacrifices have to be made if we truly want to live our lives the way we want to later. Who really wants to live paycheck to paycheck and dodge bill collectors when you could sacrifice for a few months or a year or 2 and be where you really want to be?
After you get your budget figured out, stick to it. Make your bill payments on time and if possible, put any extra money you have into a savings account instead of spending it. This will help you out if you have something unexpected happen and would not normally have the extra cash to cover it. Try to build up a few months of extra income. It might be hard, but it will be worth it in the long run.
Try to keep your credit card balances under 50% for each card that you have. Each individual card should not exceed 50% of the card's total limit.
The last one is the most important. Never borrow more money than you know you can pay back. If your job is in a shaky state right now, like if lots of other people in your industry are losing their jobs, it would probably be a good bet not to borrow anything. Borrowing money now would be a bad idea, since not repaying any kind of loan on time can damage your credit record and it can take a long time before the incident goes away.
