Now that spring has arrived in all her glory it seems only natural to air out our cupboards and cast some light on our domestic affairs, including the financial ones so we can really see any damage done. No longer in the dark, your household affairs; from the bills to the base rates, and the PCP to the PPP health insurance can all be seen fully.

With no credit areas kept hidden in the dank, dark recesses of our financial food store now is the time to sweep out the cobwebs, blow off the dust and get down to really cleaning out your credit’s crevices and crannies!

A recent study carried out by uSwitch has shown that the average credit card holder is currently owing an outstanding £1,812, couple that with “one in 10 cardholders only paying off the minimum amount each month, an estimated 3.5 million people will take almost 30 years to pay off their credit card debt”. This is not something that anyone owing the relatively low amount of £2000 would ever anticipate.

However it is the very nature of the amount that keeps so many card holders in a passive choke-hold; it is a ‘tiny’ fraction of their yearly income and for others still it is a fraction of their monthly pay cheque! Allowing this kind of approach to your finances to fester will place you uncomfortably in amongst the 3.5 million that take an obscene 30 years to pay off a meagre £2k!

Surely you would rather be amongst the individuals that regularly reflect on the state of their credit cards, which invariably leads them to reflect on the current market and how its fluctuations could be affecting their financial affairs. This responsible approach is arguably the best way to maintain a healthy credit scoring.

The current question however is; how does one go about cleaning their credit up now? First off as long as your credit scoring is not utterly offensive, shopping around for a card that has a better rate will benefit you in both the long and short term.

In the short term it will reduce the amount you are being charged for the benefit of borrowing from your current lender, if you shop around however, you may be able to find a credit card with a better rate than you're currently paying.

With many credit card providers offering 0% periods on their cards where you won't have to pay the interest on your balance for anywhere from 3 months to a year, it is a wise option to pick up your slumbering credit and move it into a state of financial frugality, where the payments made to clear your credit card balance have a huge impact because they’re not being placed under the attack of ‘interest’ and his evil efforts to thwart your payment’s progress!

Finally your efforts will be rewarded with larger amounts being chipped off your outstanding amount you will be on an impressive roll by the time the period has ended and it is time to do credit-card-cartwheels around all the providers until you find a lender that has the credentials you feel will help and not hinder your ability to both bring your outstanding balance closer to zero and improve your credit scoring.

Remember to make a note of when the special-offer period comes to an end so if you have not brought your account balance up to zero at most a week before the conclusion of the interest free term it is time to start shopping around for a new credit card company.

Once again you are on the look-out for a credit card company that is currently offering the longest interest-free period. After a number of credit card shopping trips you will become an ‘old hat’ at ensuring your credit card is both current and clean.