Bad credit often comes from bad habits. You may have gotten out of control with credit card spending, or you may be careless at remembering to pay bills on time. Maybe you are bad at managing your checkbook so you bounce checks? All of these are bad habits that have serious long term ramifications to your credit rating. When you are working to improve your money management, remember to work on your bad habits. If you need to keep credit cards at home to avoid using them, than do that. If you need to set up automated payments, then do so. Work on the problem, not just the symptoms.