How Do I Raise My Credit Card Score ---- Myself!!!!

Credit Repair
Over the last several years, I increased my credit score from 480 to 801. I used several techniques to do this, but the main tactic I used was persistency.
History
About five years ago, my mother and I were trying to purchase a property for my teenage sister to live with my brother. We were not savvy to the nature of credit scoring. My mom applied for the loan, she had been a homeowner several times in the past, and anticipated that there would be no problem obtaining a new loan. We had an appropriate down payment and were both gainfully employed. Come to find out, here credit score was 450. Needless to say she was denied the loan.
Being the good guy that I am, I offered to apply for the loan so that we could still get the property. I assumed that I must have good credit. Boy, was I wrong. My credit score was 480 and I was denied a loan as well. I had missed numerous credit card and student loan payments over the years. I figured that I hadn't had any bankruptcies, collections, etc. so there couldn't be anything wrong with my credit. For me, this was clearly a matter of lack of education on the importance of the credit score.
Fortunately, my cousin saved the day. He stepped in and purchased the house and held on to it for a year until I was able to raise my credit score to a level where I could purchase the house. Needless to say, I was both embarrassed and very motivated to raise my score.
Credit Repair Dispute Letters
I set out to educate myself on how to raise my score. Keep in mind, this was several years ago, and the process to raise your credit score has changed somewhat. I didn't have the money to use a credit repair service, and could not find a single resource that was the end all authority on raising your credit score. I read many different forums to develop my strategy and set out to raise my score. My general strategy consisted of writing letters every 45 days to challenge each and every negative item on my credit report. I would then purchase an online credit report, review how the items had changed, and re-send letters challenging each of the remaining items. This process took over two years. After one year, I was able to raise my credit score to 690, enough to purchase the house from my cousin. Having realized the importance of the credit score, I continued to work to raise my credit.
Credit Cards
I used a couple of other techniques to raise my credit score. One of those was to be strategic in the use of my credit cards. When I started this process, I only had two credit cards, and both had outstanding balances. I quickly paid down both cards. I then rotated the card that I would use on a monthly basis. I also paid off the balance in full each month. What I found was that once I paid of a credit card, and set it aside for a couple months, the credit card companies would either send me a letter telling me that they would raise my limit if I used the card, or just go ahead and raise my limit. Gradually, I was able to increase my credit limits to an amount that helped to raise my score rather than lower it. About mid way through this process, I started applying for new cards that had better terms than the cards that I was using. I tried to do this as early in the process as I could, because only time pulls the detrimental mark off of your credit report that comes with applying for new credit. Now, I have several credit cards with good terms and high credit limits.
Online Bill Pay
The last major piece to my credit repair puzzle was online bill pay. Once I graduated from college, there was never an excuse for not paying my bills. I had the money, just not the organizational skills required to effectively track my bills. Online bill pay changed all of that. At first, it just allowed me to easily add each bill as it came in. Now, you are able to obtain many of your bills electronically, making online bill pay even easier. In the last 8 years, I have only had one late bill. Not only did that raise my credit score. I no longer get all of the late fees that I had become used to. Keep in mind, that most companies don't ding your credit for being late on one bill. It usually take missing two bills in a row for them to ding your credit.

Have Someone With Good Credit Add You to Their Account
And finally, I married a woman who had an incredible credit score. When we bought our first house together, I asked her what she did to get her credit score so high. I told her about all of the work I went through to get my credit score up to where it was at the time (760). Her response was interesting, "I just thought that you are supposed to pay your bills". Well, if only it had been that easy for me. If you are fortunate enough to marry someone with great credit, once you start combining your accounts, your score will raise as well.
Persistence Pays
There is really no easy way to repair your credit. If your's is as bad as mine was, it is going to take a lot of hard work and persistence, but the payoff is huge. I now always qualify for the best interest rate when I apply for credit. If there is one downside, it is that I probably receive 10 new credit card offers a week.