"If you start doing all the right things again, even if your credit score doesn’t dramatically increase because that defaulted payment is there [for seven years], you will have lenders who will look past that as time passes. Actions speak louder than words. It’s not going to be the first time a lender has seen this, but what they want to see is that you’ve fixed the problem and have figured out how to pay your bills on time," McLay says. "Anything you do to your credit financially can be undone. I’ve seen clients with scores in the 400s end up in the 700-range. Sometimes it’s going to take a little more work, and more time, but you can always fix it."