Previous Residence? Zero to five years, some creditors only go to three years. Then score zero points. You move around too much! Over five years? Good. Score one point.

Years on Job? The longer better. Less then one year at present employer? Sorry, no points for you! One to three years? Give yourself one point. Four to six years is worth two points. Over seven years at same company score three points.

What kind of Job? Unskilled? You still get one point. At least you have a job! Skilled? Two points. Professional? Three points. The creditor decides classification. Use common sense, when scoring yourself.

Monthly Income? Should be obvious, more better! Under $800 a month earns you one point. Up to $1,000 gives you two points. Pull down $1,500 gives you three points. Over $1,800 gets four points. This score can vary quite a bit with different creditors. Depends on part of country you live in, type of job, many other factors.

How deep are you presently in debt? Nothing to $300 per month earns you two points. $301 to $500 gives you one point. Anything over $500 in most cases earns you no points.

Previous Credit History: Very important to all creditors. It's your track record and is a good indicator of how you should pay off debt in future. All creditors belong to at least one credit reporting agency. Information is shared. If you have a good credit history with company you're seeking loan from, all better. Of course they believe their own information more then somebody else's. So if you paid off a loan with them with no problems, most give you four to five points. Good record with other creditors should earn you two to three points.

Other Information: Having a saving and or checking account with a balance over $500 helps, if it's not something you just opened a few weeks ago. Should have been at least a couple years to do you any good. Most creditors give you a couple points. Phone in your name? gets you another two points.

OK now ad up your score. Remember more points you score better credit risk you are. Most creditors have a cut-off around eighteen points. Some will go as low as fifteen points, other higher then twenty. Again, it depends on availability of funds and built-in bias of creditor that you applied to. If turned down try somebody else!

A few points away from cut off? Well, you may be able to cheat a little. Not recommended, but if you're only a couple points away you may get your employer to say you worked longer then you have, or that you earn a little more then you do. If you don't rent or have a mortgage try an improve this situation to earn more points. Also consider building up your credit record by getting a secured loan. You will be usually issued a credit card as well. Not every bank provides this service, but a surprising number do. The only catch is of course you can't touch money in account, and if you don't pay off your credit card balance in full each month you will rack up quite a bit of interest charges on top of whatever you charge with credit card. Secured loans are not based on credit history because you put up funds equal to loan. It's a safe deal for bank and can help improve your credit rating. The catch is it takes time to build up your credit rating.

Another method is to open a regular savings account and deposit $200-$500. Leave it there 30 to 60 days, then get a loan on account. Pay loan off before due date. Withdraw part or all of money. Open another account at some other bank. Repeat process over and over. Your local credit bureau will get good reports on you, and before you know it, your mail box will be stuffed with offers for free credit cards - no more secured accounts, and you should have an easier time of obtaining credit. If all else fails, try to get a smaller loan, or see if someone is willing to co-sign.

Besides regular bankruptcy laws, there's also a little-known and little-used method of getting reorganized with your debt, particularly when you've got a steady job and just need more time to straighten your indebtedness out. This is wage-earner's provisions of Chapter XIII of Federal Bankruptcy laws.

Basically, these provisions allow you to make new arrangements with your creditors and pay off all your debts over a new 3-year period of time. When you filed for indebtedness relief under provisions of this law, nothing is recorded permanently on your credit record. You get to keep all your assets, but you must pay off all your debts. But, so long as Court grants you relief under these provisions, and you pay your creditors according to repayment schedule agreed upon by Court, your creditors cannot bother you. Even if they have begun a suit against you, once Court has given you relief, they cannot touch you! Once you've filed under these provisions, your creditors are immediately restricted from even contacting you, and get only what referee or trustee doles out to them.

Often times, if a creditor threatens to sue you, most effective thing you can do is to tell him frankly that if he sues you, you'll have no other alternative except to file bankruptcy papers. In many instances, this will cause him to take a second look and to do whatever he can to assist you in paying him money you owe, but over a longer period of time, and at smaller monthly payments. The absolute bottom line is that your creditors know only too well that if you do file for bankruptcy, their chances of receiving even half of what you owe is practically nil. Thus, it's in their best interest to do everything they can to help you to continue making payments on amount you owe, regardless of how small those payments may be.

When a creditor does sue you, and gets a judgement against you, he can then get a court order directing sheriff to seize your personal property and sell it, with all monies realized going to creditor to satisfy your debt. When they see this about to happen, many people connive to make themselves "judgement proof." In other words, they hide their assets or move them out-of-state before sheriff or marshall arrives. This is illegal, but is done as often as not.

Many creditors will attempt to "garnish" your wages. This is done by getting a court order directing your employer to set aside part of your wages or salary every pay period and turn it over to him. First, of course, he has to find out where you work; and even then, in most states, there are limits set relative to how much a creditor can garnish your wages.

If you have no job, and no visible assets, or you live in a state where your wages cannot be garnished, your creditors actually have very few ways of ever collecting from you.

Many techniques used by creditors and collection agencies are illegal. A creditor or agency can write letters to you; call you once a day in quest of a payment; and even knock on your door to ask about a payment. but he is forbidden by law to harass you or invade your privacy, or use deceptive means to get you to pay your bills. He cannot use foul and abusive language over telephone, tell anyone other than you reason for his phone call, inconvenience you or in any way threaten your job or your reputation in neighborhood where you live.

Still, best idea for reorganization and settlement of your debts when you find yourself in an untenable position, is in-person visits and explanations of your situation with your creditors, and a desire to explore other possible ways of mutual satisfaction without involving collection agencies or bankruptcy. Give it a try - it's a lot easier than most people realize.