How do you catch up after your credit tanks

Well, once a negative entry hits the report it stays on it for seven years. I'm telling this to you before hand 'cause the companies which promise to repair your credit report overnight are scams.

Anyway, you can go through the following article to know about the cures of your debt problem.

http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/diy/

It sounds like you could afford your payments now, but just need a little help getting things rolling. I would call each of your creditors and try and get on a hardship program. You can just ask for the hardship department when you call.

Many of them will offer programs such as reduced interest and reduced minimum payments for a fixed period of time (6 months, 12 months, some even 5 years). Some will also volunteer to re-age your account after 3 months of on-time payments. This means they will go back to the months you were late and remove those negative marks. If they don't bring it up, ask them if they can re-age.

But you have to make sure the payments stay on time every month on these hardship programs. If you are late even once, they can revert back to sky-high interest, etc.

The good news is if this is something you can manage, and you have decent creditors willing to offer it (many do ...I am on a program with Chase right now for example and Discover has offered one as well), your credit can improve very quickly. Many creditors are understanding right now because so many people are defaulting.