570. I was shocked and disturbed seeing the number that I long neglected checking. Must be some sort of mistake. No, that is what happens when you make a credit card payment SIXTY days late. So much for being approved for that new Honda Accord.

Monitoring your credit score is an extremely easy and important thing you can do to assure your current and future plans involving money transfer of any kind are safe. Less than two years ago, I lapsed on a credit card payment for no other reason than deciding not to open up a credit card statement that I assumed would contain a $0 balance since I had not used the card in well over a year. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that I used that credit card to purchase (how ironic is this) a CREDIT SCORE MONITORING SERVICE a year and a half before that had a yearly recurring fee if left not cancelled. I never used the service after the first week of purchasing it and I forgot completely about its existence.

My score dropped from the low 700's to 570 because of my 60 day late payment. I should probably be happy I discovered I had a payment to make on my own rather than through the receiver of my telephone with a collector on the other end of the line.

There I stood, a 570 credit score, over $5000 in credit card debt, and I actually wanted to invest in real estate. That was why I finally decided to check my score in the first place. I wasn't going anywhere with that score, so I started looking for ways to fix it.

The most obvious thing that came to mind after my search was that I should do whatever I could to pay off that $5000 in credit debt. But I had no money. I deciding against trying to take out a personal loan from a bank since I had terrible credit to begin with. That left me with the solution I dreaded most, borrowing from family and friends.

Before you close out this article while saying to yourself that you could never stoop to such a level, let me just remind you that the reason you are reading this in the first place is because you are looking for a way to fix your credit. I swallowed my pride and borrowed $5000 from a variety of sources close to me in order to pay off my credit debt. I made plans to pay these people off within 6 months, despite the hardship that would place on me. Honestly I wasn't even sure it would help my score much, but even if it didn't, I knew it would be better than having all that debt on my record. I couldn't believe my eyes when I checked my score the following month.

654. Then the next month, 672. Now, 6 months later, it stands at 710. All I did was get that credit card debt off my credit report and transfer it to "private" lenders, namely those close to me who were willing to help. Reducing your credit utilization (how much you owe vs. the total of your limits) is the absolute best way to get your credit recovery plan off to a great start. Do whatever it takes to get your credit cards paid off, and you will reap the benefits in the very near future.

About the author:

Ken M. is an avid credit card information advocate and operates a credit card marketing site at