The ability to use credit can be a good or bad thing. Too many of us have money woes because we have had some unfortunate thing happen to our credit situation. We know that we should be saving and investing but, coming up with the money to save or invest is the hard part. Before you can even start thinking about saving, you need to get rid of the credit card debt that you already have because the interest on those cards can take years to pay off and seriously inhibit your ability to save or invest money. One of the best ways to do that is to attack your credit situation with a vengeance. If you have credit card debt, pay off the card with the highest interest rate first. Make this the very first thing that you do!!! Do the same with the card that has the next highest interest rate. Continue this pattern until most of your cards are paid off. If you have several cards, cut up all except one or two. Keep at least a Master card and a Visa. Bring your debt down on those cards to no more than 50% of the maximum credit allowed on each card.

Also, you should obtain a copy of your credit report to see what negative accounts show up on it. If you recently applied for a loan, and for any reason was not approved, you can write or call one of the three major credit reporting bureaus to get a free copy of your credit report. Once you get the report, pay off the most recent blemishes on your report first. Then the next most recent, and so on. Repeat the same pattern as with the credit cards if you have medical bills or any other debts showing up on your credit report. Make sure you dispute any suspicious accounts by either writing or calling the responsible companies to fix or resolve those matters. Once you get these things done, you will be on your way to relieving your debt and rebuilding your credit all in one swoop. Even if you do rebuild your credit, do not go out and get any more cards. Now you know what to do next. Go and get rid of that credit card debt. Once you do these things, you should be able to start saving and investing some of your money.