Your credit score is comprised of both negatives and positives items. Removing the negatives is a good start at rebuilding your credit, but more work is required. Just removing the negatives and derogatory items (debts paid or debts disputed) may not lift your credit score. But adding new positive accounts can raise your credit score in combination with removing the negatives will raise your FICO score.

A positive account is an account maintained without any negative actions on it.

It is not easy to open a new credit account when you have negatives on your credit report. But it’s a necessary step and can be quite easy if you go about it correctly. There are lots of secured credit cards out there.

A secured credit card is one that has a deposit made and your credit limit is the amount of your deposit. Note: It can take upwards of six months for a new credit account to show as a positive, so this should be undertaken right away.