Perhaps the best way to improve your credit rating is be realistic about what you can afford. This means not taking on more payments than you can manage. Make sure whatever you agree to pay with your lender, it is something you can manage consistently over a period of time until you re-pay the amount in full.

It’s not impossible to get a credit card when you have a bad credit history, but it will cost you. In offering bad credit credit cards, lenders generally target people who have a history of not meeting their repayments, so they need to insure themselves against this happening.

When looking for a bad credit credit card, you should expect to be offered a pretty high interest rate. You may also be offered cards with an annual fee – don’t turn them down straight away as the fee might bring your typical Annual Percentage Rate (APR) down.