When you’re ready to clean up your credit report, it can be confusing to know where to start. Depending on how bad it is, you may find yourself struggling to figure out whether you need to call the creditors yourself or just ignore it hoping that it’ll go away. Cleaning up your credit report will give you a higher FICO score, so ignoring it isn’t the best option.

That’s why many find themselves turning to credit repair agencies in hopes of letting someone else handle the problem for them. Credit repair agencies are okay, but be careful. There are several scammers out there ready to prey on those who are desperate to clean up their credit. Scammers will charge you expensive upfront feels and in return promise to remove the following items:

• late payments
• foreclosures
• bankruptcies

They tell you that in 6 months to a year your score will be back to 700 when in reality, nothing ever happens.

A better credit score means better interest rates on mortgage loans, car loans and personal loans. So, do what you can to improve your score, but be careful how you start.