By consistently paying your bills on time, whether they are credit cards or utility bills, insurance premiums, parking tickets and even library fines, your credit score will be further enhanced. Late bill or loan payments generally cut as much as 100 points from your credit score, which reduces your chances of availing loans and other forms of credit. Creditors are in business because they earn a profit from their lending services, and if you don t pay your debts, the creditor will also feel the pinch, and his bottom line gets hurt as well. It would be better if you sit down and negotiate with your creditors, since most of them are willing to understand your difficult financial condition, and may be more than willing to offer an easy way out of your financial mess. The truth is that the major credit bureaus, from Experian, Equifax to TransUnion all have a different term for the same score. TransUnion for example, calls it the Empirica, while Experian calls it the Experian/Honest Isaac Risk Model. While these major companies have different names for the credit score, they still use the same formula for coming up with it. Put Your Other Creditors On Hold If you re in a financial crisis, it would help if you call some of your creditors, and negotiate If you may be able to put on hold some of your payments. Under the right circumstances, it would be better if you ask for permission, instead of asking for forgiveness from your creditors, since these individuals can actually punish you with late charges and black eyes on your credit score. To restore your credit worthiness, you will need to add new trade lines to your report, as well as take on other forms of credit, like a small appliance loan, so that your credit score will not stagnate. Late, Or Missing Payments Credit scores generally monitor how a person manages his or her current and past credit obligations and payments. Try to do a cluster of loan inquiries within a proper period of time, like one every two weeks, so that your credit score remains strong, and won't have to suffer major drops in credibility with lenders. According to credit experts, a credit score of 300 to 580 indicates that you'll only get approved for loans which offer very high interest rates.