Can you build a house in a day? Can you get a college degree overnight? Probably not. Likewise, you can't fix bad credit in 24 hours. Despite what some advertisements might have you believe, repairing a history of bad credit takes a little time. In this article we will give you some common sense advice for raising your credit score fast (just not overnight).

There are two pieces of information that potential lenders will check out before offering you a car loan or a home mortgage. They are your credit report and your FICO score. Your credit report is based on your history with a wide variety of financial institutions. Remember that car loan you defaulted on a couple years back? That's in there. And your late-pays on the electric bill. Yup, those too. The three major credit reporting bureaus take all the information in your credit report and generate a score, sometimes called your FICO score. Any score less than about a 700 and you will probably be paying a higher interest rate on your loans. Earn too low a FICO score, and you'll have trouble even getting a loan through traditional lenders.

The process of repairing your bad credit takes a little time. Start by getting a free copy of your credit report. Go to annualcreditreport.com and you can see it instantly, once a year. Check for any negative or inaccurate information, and then fill out a form to get the bad news deleted. You can do that online at annualcreditreport.com also.

Work at reducing your debt-to-credit ratio. That's the amount of money you owe compared to your high credit limit. Start by paying down the balances on your credit cards. It helps to open a new line of credit, provided you don't immediately start using too much of it. If you don't qualify for a traditional credit source, think about getting a sub-prime merchandise card. Make sure that it is one that provides reports to the credit bureaus, though.

If you are in over your head in credit card debt, try negotiating with the lenders to reduce your liability. You will be surprised at the results you might get from a persuasive phone call or two.

Let's say you were incredibly efficient, and worked hard for a few weeks to fix your credit problems. Now your credit report should be looking good, right? Sorry - not yet. It will take time for the credit bureaus to get the good news from the financial institutions you've made happy. And the credit bureaus tend to weight the reports from the last 12 or 18 months when they generate your credit rating. So you'll have a wait before all the bad credit news has become history.

So, unfortunately you really cannot fix your credit problems in 24 hours. How long will it take for all your hard work to be reflected in a better credit report and a higher FICO score? Experts say that 3 to 12 months is a reasonable amount of time. Anything good is worth waiting for.