With pre-credit crunch offers of credit cards or loans at an all time high it was almost inevitable that many of us would run up debts. There are ways of cleaning up your act but it may take some time to get your credit rating back to a creditworthy level.

There could be a very valid reason as to why you have credit history problems: missed or late payments; loan defaults; county court judgements. This will be recorded on your file for 6 years and is likely to lead to rejections for credit but the situation is not hopeless and there are ways to get your credit score back on track.

If you are being turned down for applications, do not keep re-applying for credit with one company to the next as each time this process happens it shows up on your file. In the eyes of a lender this can indicate that you are over stretching your finances and this could affect your chances of getting finance. Lenders could also be suspicious of potential fraud involved.

There are 3 main credit reference agencies within the UK and it's important that you get copies of your credit report from each as they may hold different information regarding you as well as different causes that need addressing. It's possible that your rating could be affected by an ex-spouse or partner or somebody who lived at your address previously. It is possible to get a disassociation notice added to your file if need be which enables you to filter any unnecessary information from your credit file.

If none of this is applicable to you or you feel you have taken all the required steps to resolve your credit problems, always query the reason for the rejection. Some companies have stricter lending criteria than others and higher levels of credit rating may be required but most creditors will tell you the main reason why they refused your application for credit and failed their credit score test.

The credit score test known as customer or predictive scoring is used in conjunction with behavioural scoring to assess your credit score. Behavioural scoring is automated and works out how you run your finances; it is usually based on patterns of activity that are seen to be passing through your accounts. This is generally regarded as a better method of identifying acceptable and unacceptable risks to the lender

One of the credit reference agencies, Equifax, suggests that your credit scoring will automatically improve as your credit picture improves if you can show that you have being paying bills and using your credit cards sensibly.

There are several tips to focus on to try and improve your credit rating.

1.  Pay your bills promptly as late payments can have a serious detrimental effect on your credit rating.

2.  If you have missed payments ensure that you get up to date and once you've done that, endeavour to stay there.

3.  Always contact your creditors immediately if you are struggling to make your payments. They may be more understanding then you think.

4.  Always attempt to pay off your debts rather than pass them around.

5.  Another way of improving your credit rating is to re-establish your history by opening new accounts and ensuring you pay them off in time, this will help to raise your score.

6.  Only apply for new credit accounts when they are necessary as multiple applications are detrimental to your scoring.

7.  It is fine to request your credit history rating report from one of the official agencies. This does not your credit score as they are the official companies set up to deal with this.

8.  Always manage your credit cards and store cards responsibility because, used sensibly, having these types of cards actually increases your credit scoring.