Credit repair is commonly needed in this economy. You may need minor help or a major overhaul, but the following advice can help you get your credit back on track.

Hit up the three major credit bureaus for copies of your credit report before you do anything else. You will find many sites online where you can get your report, and a couple that will give you one for free. Get your credit report, study it, and then figure out how you are going to go about getting it to a healthy place.

Contact your creditors to find out if they offer payment plans or postponements. There is a good chance that you can save a lot of money by avoiding penalties and interest when you put a plan in place. Make sure to begin paying off the bills that come with late charges or have a high interest first.

As you read through your credit report, take notes on any negative information you find. Be sure to alert the credit bureau and the issuer of the report if you find an error. If you find negative marks that are your fault, submit a statement to the credit bureaus so that people who pull your credit can see it.

Make sure to read up on the laws that protect you from collection agencies behaving badly. For example, it's illegal for collection agencies to verbally threaten a person over the phone, and you cannot go to prison for missing payments. Although state laws differ, the majority of them prohibit threats and other forms of verbal abuse. When it comes to collection agencies, you should always actively protect your rights.

Make sure that your credit card balances do not exceed 30 percent of the limit. By maintaining your balance at that level, you'll be better able to make the monthly payments. If your balances go over 30 percent this may make it hard for you to pay, and reflect poorly on your credit report.

Try to negotiate a payment plan for any bills that have entered collection. You should plan ahead and do this before collectors enter the game. Do not put off speaking with the collection agencies, or you could make the problem bigger than it needs to be. They can help you out, but you have to talk to them to figure out the best way to pay them. Be direct and honest, even if you can't pay anything at the moment. They may be able to help you lower the amount you owe or set you up with a payment plan that you can manage. Oftentimes, creditors will forgive a portion of your debt if you make a bona fide offer to pay the remainder.

You can better manage your credit portfolio by following the tips mentioned above. The advice is easy to implement without any outside help and you should start to see an improvement in your credit score almost immediately.