You might find yourself in a bind as a consumer when you’re overburdened with debt from your credit cards, but have no money to spend except what you can keep putting on your card. That’s a true catch-22, and it’s happening to a lot of Americans these days. How can you repair your credit and pay down your debt if you have to keep using your credit cards?

Well, the simple answer is that you don’t. To get your credit back on the right track, and stop building debt, there are some simple but effective ways you can start repairing your credit. For one, stop using your credit cards. If you have a card to begin with, chances are you’ve also got an income. Sit down with a banker or credit repair agent and hash out a plan to stop using your cards, and break down your monthly income into manageable segments. Some of this must be dedicated to paying down your debts. Other parts can be put towards necessary monthly expenses. In the end though, it’s absolutely critical to stop spending on your credit if you ever hope to get out of that hole.

Next, you might try sending out for a free credit report. You can get three of them once every twelve months for free from each of the national credit bureaus—Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. Take a look at what’s on there, and make sure there aren’t any errors. If there are, you can either contact the credit bureaus and have them deleted, or for a small fee hire a credit repair agency to do this for you. An agency will oftentimes help you figure out just what’s wrong with your report, things you might miss on your own, and because they’re more familiar with the ins and outs of the trade, can sometimes be a better choice for getting negative and damaging items removed from your report.

Next, start making sure you’re paying off all your bills. Even if it’s just the monthly minimum, it will bring your credit back up, and keep you from being on the blacklist of your credit agencies. Nothing is worse than needing to rely on your credit, only to find out that you don’t have any. That’s a scenario for high interest loans and lenders to take advantage of you.

If you can manage these simple steps, it won’t be long before your credit is on the mend. If your bills currently amount to more than you’re making every month, don’t apply for another credit card or put more on your charge accounts. Instead, contact your lenders and let them know that you’re overwhelmed, and there’s a good chance you can reduce your debt, or just your monthly payment. Creditors are more than happy to get some money, rather than none at all.

G.P. Sharp regularly writes about quick credit repair. For more details, visit the website http://www.accurise.com/