How rebuilding credit is like losing weight.

Getting healthy credit score is a lot like getting a healthier body. Both come with the same challenges, the same headaches, and the same rewards.

Consider:

Everyone is different. People get into trouble with credit for different reasons: job loss, identity theft, inaccurate reporting from the bureaus, or simply poor credit management. Some people may have just a handful of collections and inquiries to clear up, while others have all that plus bankruptcies, foreclosures and judgments. And not all of these credit report items are handled in quite the same way.

You have to do your own part. There's no magic bullet. Even if you get good professional assistance, you still have to practice good credit-managing habits, like paying your bills on time (even a little ahead of time, if you can) and managing your accounts properly.

You can get misled. Just as there are countless ways to lose weight, there are also countless ways to deal with credit. Since the bureaus don't want to give away their "secret sauce" recipe for calculating credit scores, an entire industry has sprung up to help people with their credit, and not all service providers are the same.

Ignoring it won't make it go away. Just as an unhealthy body affects you every day of your life in ways you may not know, so does an unhealthy credit profile, and you may not know the extent of it until you suddenly need to make a major expense or you lose your job. Even people with great credit have to be vigilant, because they are more vulnerable to identity fraud and other cons that could ruin their profile.

It's not just a temporary fix, it's a lifestyle. Once people see an improvement in their credit score, the temptation is to fall back into old habits and quickly find yourself back in debt with collectors calling you. You have to make good credit a way of life for the restoration process to make the biggest difference.