Having bad credit can be an anxiety-inducing situation. It reduces your eligibility for loans and credit cards but may also adversely affect your ability to rent an apartment.

You may be new to credit or may have bad credit because of poor financial moves in the past. Either way, it’s important to find ways to improve your credit and sources of credit that you can rely on in an emergency. Here are a few tips to help you manage the stress of poor credit.

Consider a Payday Loan When You Need Urgent Funds

People with poor credit may often worry about financial emergencies such as unanticipated bills. Bad credit makes it harder to secure a loan when you need it the most. Bad credit loans may be the answer.

Also called payday loans, bad credit loans are short-term, high-interest loans that provide fast access to up to $1,500 at a time. Borrowers must repay the sum plus an additional fee on their next payday. Payday lenders have no credit requirements and do not conduct credit checks. This makes bad credit loans one of the few forms of credit available to borrowers with poor credit.

Work on the Factors Bringing Down Your Credit

One way to reduce the stress of poor credit is to identify the issues keeping your score low.

People with no credit history (such as students and immigrants) may need to build credit using the right tools like secured credit cards.

On the other hand, people with poor credit may need to examine their financial habits. Have you been missing payment due dates? Is your credit utilization high even though your expenses are reasonable?

Late payments can be easily resolved with payment reminders or automatic payments. You may be able to improve your credit utilization by simply increasing the spending limit on your credit card (this applies to situations when you’re spending within budget but are struggling with a low credit limit).

Check Your Credit Report Regularly

Many people don’t realize that errors in their account information can affect their overall credit score.

Incorrect account information, wrongly updated payment information, incorrect balances, or even fraudulent accounts and transactions may negatively impact your credit history and score without your knowledge. This makes it important for borrowers to regularly check their credit reports and monitor them closely for any incorrect information, especially related to credit accounts.

If you find a mistake in one of your credit reports, you can dispute the error with the credit bureau and have it removed from your credit report.

The Bottom Line

Having poor credit can be a big stressor for some people. However, with some research, finding a lender that offers bad credit loans in your province is possible.

In the long term, it’s a good idea to work on your credit and improve your score to have better access to loans and credit cards.