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Most people are aware of the importance of a good credit score. Not only is it necessary for better rates when getting loans, but the application of the credit score as a measure of how "good" someone is has been extended to employees, renters, medical positions and so on. As such, it is vital to maintain a good credit score. However, a large percentage of people are unable to do so due to a number of reasons:

- General irresponsibility.
- A sudden emergency, such as medical bills.
- A miscommunication leading to charges from collection agencies and so on.
- Making mistakes financially without realizing that they affect your credit score.

You can easily restore your credit score to good graces by applying the following:

1. Pay your bills on time - This is an obvious one, and also very important. Avoid holding off paying your bills. Not only do over-due bills show up in your credit history, but bills that are sent to collection agencies show as negative remarks on your credit history and can severely affect your credit score.

2. Maintain credit cards without using them - The credit score takes the difference between available credit and used credit to calculate the credit score. As such, it is recommended that you keep the cards you have (don't cancel them), but do not use them either.

3. Pay off credit card loans immediately - Instead of paying the minimum on your loans every month, pay off the entire loan in one go. This indicates that the user is responsible and takes out only the loans that he/she can pay. As such, it is a good idea to use the credit card to pay small bills like gas and groceries and pay it off immediately when you get home. This can help increase your credit score fairly quickly.

4. Start making extra payments on your loans - As before, this gives the impression that the borrower is responsible and is willing to make extra payments if needed to completely pay off the loan before time, making it a low-risk investment to lend money to the particular person.

5. Stop shopping for loans with applications : Applying for multiple loans lowers your score dramatically. In fact, this is often the single biggest reason that the credit score of a person is wildly lower than what they assume it is. Shop for loans BEFORE turning in an application. The mistake many people make is that they apply for numerous loans first to see what they are approved of, and then choose to accept the ones that they get the best deal from. This results in multiple lenders going through the credit history of the applicant, thereby reducing the score. Many people fail to realize that every time a lender accesses the credit history, it is lowered by a few points. Therefore, it is important to choose and narrow down the places that you are going to apply to the loans for.

These are 5 simple methods that can be used by anyone to start increasing their credit score, or fixing bad credit history. Consistently applying these ideas will help anyone increase their credit score to respectable levels soon enough.