Workshop Six

Once you’ve started cleaning up the past, you’ll need positive new history to rebuild. The key is choosing safe, starter-friendly accounts that report to all three bureaus.

Options include secured credit cards, credit-builder loans, and carefully chosen retail or gas cards. You want low fees, fair terms, and reporting to all bureaus.

Avoid subprime traps with sky-high fees or aggressive marketing. If the offer sounds desperate, it’s usually designed to profit from your situation—not help you out of it.

Over time, a mix of on-time payments across a couple of well-managed accounts can rebuild trust with lenders and steadily boost your credit profile.