If you’re in the market for a bike rack for your car, you’re probably wondering what brand you should get.  You will also most likely come across two main brands, and several other lesser known brands, as you do your research.  Probably the two most well know manufacturers of bike racks, or actually car racks for everything from bikes to kayaks to canoes, skis, snowboards, windsurfers, surfboards and the list goes on and on, are Yakima and Thule.  Thule bike racks were born out of necessity in the 1970’s when a Swedish windsurfer realized he needed a good way to transport his board.  And in those days windsurf boards were the size of a small bus!  From these beginnings, the reputation for strenght and durability led to incorporating more outdoor activity accessories for the car rack, and today it is one of the best recognized car rack brands in the world.

When you’re faced with bad credit, and you’re trying to get more credit, you might consider trying some of the credit repair services out there that claim to get your credit score back up in no time, just a matter of weeks or a couple months. Don’t believe it, it’s usually a scam.

The hard truth is that repairing your credit takes time, but it can be done. You have to start slow, by bringing your debts up to current status, and then paying everything, EVERYTHING, on time. After months of current status - and a couple other things you can do - you’ll start to see your credit score move higher.

Here are a couple other quick tweaks you can do:

1. Make sure your credit report is current. Get a copy of your credit report and let the credit bureau know of any errors right away. Cleaning up mistakes can help your score by removing negative items that dont’ belong there.

2. Don’t keep too many cards open. If you have multiple Visa, MasterCard and store cards open, that can hurt your score if you keep them all maxed out. Pay a few off, and pay the others down, to keep balances under 50% of your credit line.

3. As hard as it might be in this economy, try to get better credit terms, or for things like student loans you can consolidate to help lower your payments. This makes it easier to stay current if you lower your payments.

It might even be a good idea to learn to live without credit. Don’t immediately reach for credit cards when you want something, and don’t immediately think of another credit product as the way to get what you want. That’s kind of how we all got in this mess in the first place. Learning to live within your means can lead to personal wealth, so it’s worth giving it a try.