If you have a credit card make sure you have at least 30% in available credit limit. If you have more charged then pay it down to the 30% mark, I have seen reports improve as much as 25 points in doing this. If you have limited credit, apply for a card and make monthly payments on this card on time each month to get current activity. If you have a negative mark on your credit you can contact that company and try to make a deal that if you pay them what you owe they will remove the debt from your credit. You will need to get this in writing. If they refuse to remove the debt then it would not be beneficial to pay an old collection because it would actually lower your score because the payment would spark recent activity on the account.

I achieved success with a credit repair program I found online. Check out the free evaluation form at the source website. Goodluck.