Battling to get your credit cards paid off? Paying more interest than principle? Make this the year you get your credit in order. No matter what your incentive is, become debt free and raise your credit score, or just make your payments more manageable, these tips for handling your credit can help get you there.

• Talk to a loan officer – If you’re planning to buy a home anytime soon, a call to a lender can clarify what you’ll need to do in order to qualify.
• Check your credit – You can pull your report once a year for free.
• Dispute anything that’s wrong – It may take some time and effort, but removing incorrect items from your report can have a great impact on your score.
• Don’t waste your time trying to get collection accounts off your credit report – Be aware that paying off a collection account will not remove it from your credit report, it will stay on your report for seven years.
• Set small goals – Paying off a large balance can seem overpowering. Setting weekly or monthly goals to pay down your credit can make it feel more manageable, and also help keep you on track.
• Pay off the negligible accounts first – It may seem smarter to attack the larges balances first, but getting small balances paid off will lower your monthly output and allow you to redirect those funds to other balances once they’re paid off.
• Contact your creditors – It might be that they have a program to help you pay your debt.
• Negotiate your rates – A call to your creditors may yield a lower rate.
• Open a balance – transfer credit card – This allows you to move expensive debt over to a new card, with a low – often 0% – APR for a set time period.
• Get a secured card – If you’re trying to reestablish credit after a bankruptcy or after paying off old delinquent accounts, a secured card from a bank can help you build it back up.
• Even if you can’t wipe out all your debt now, pay down your balances – One of the major factors in your credit score is how much revolving credit you have versus how much you’re actually using. The smaller that percentage is, the better it is for your credit rating.
• Pay your bills on time – It’s the easiest and most effective way to keep your score good – or improve it.
• Set up reminders – If you’re the sort of person that forgets or overlooks payments, make sure you’ve got it covered. Setting a reminder from the creditor or putting a reminder on your phone can help.
• Set your accounts on auto pay – You’re less likely to miss a payment if you have it set up automatically to draw from your account.
• Use cash for everything – Experts often recommend this tip to keep us on track about what we’re actually spending.