ATLANTA -- The credit crisis and credit freeze has cash-strapped banks and lenders doing whatever they can to limit their risk.

So when the loan market opens back up, you may have a hard time borrowing money if your credit score isn’t extremely high.

In Kim’s Cash and Credit Clean-Up, consumer reporter Kim Fettig talks about getting your hands on your report and raising that score.

Bad credit can happen to good people and judging by the record number of calls answered at the national headquarters of the Consumer Credit Counseling Service, bad credit is no longer just a problem plaguing people with low incomes.

“Today it is people in the middle class with annual incomes of $50,000,” said Scott Scredon with CCCS.

So these days it is more important than ever to know your credit score, also called a FICO score.

“Your credit score leads to exactly the kind of rate you are going to get from a lender when you do go get that loan 3 months from now or 6 months from now,” said Steve Ely with Equifax.

With banks and lenders in trouble, they will be more likely to lend to folks with credit scores 660 and above with best interest rates going to folks with scores of 700 and above.

Here is how you can get your credit report for free.

The first step to paying off and cleaning up your credit is looking at your credit report.

Step # 1: Get copies of your credit report from Equifax, Experian, and Transunion.

“Everyone is entitled to a free credit report every year. In Georgia you are entitled to two,” said Ely.

Step # 2: Get your free report from all three agencies at www.annualcreditreport.com.

Steer clear of companies who want to charge you for the service.

Your credit report will list all of your open accounts, the status and anything you have in collections. Check it for inaccuracies. Dispute any inaccuracies. You can do it online 24 hours a day. It usually takes 30 days for the reporting agency to investigate. A site that may help you is www.learn.equifax.com.

Step # 3: Avoid companies who claim to fix your credit fast.

“You do need to be leery of these people because most of these are not certified organizations,” said Ely.

Step # 4: Know your rights.

You can get reports from all three agencies at once, or you can spread it out over the year. Also, you are entitled to an extra free report if you have been denied a loan, insurance policy or job based on your credit score.

Now you are ready to work on your actual credit score and that starts with paying down the debt and with banks and lenders in trouble now can be a good time to negotiate your debt. A site that might help with that is ww.cccsintl.org.