Credit repair costs nothing if you take care of the process yourself. Maybe you're dealing with sky-high interest rates, oppressive fees, or you just can't find the loan you need because of your bad credit. But with a legitimate credit repair company, such as those listed below, you can correct any inaccuracies reported to a credit bureau and get your credit rating in better shape. Each credit repair service below will charge a monthly fee for its services.
The services you receive will vary depending on the credit repair company and the level of service you choose. While all of these companies will file disputes with each credit bureau on your behalf, some also offer credit monitoring, credit counseling, identity theft detection services, debt validation letters, goodwill letter submissions, and dispute letter writing, among other services. While both levels provide you with a professional credit analyst, the basic level only takes into account dispute letters and follow-up. The premium tier will give you credit score monitoring, goodwill letter presentations, unlimited challenge validation letters, and a final recommendation letter.
This agency states that many clients see results within 15 to 30 days because the firm immediately begins sending validation letters of disputes and debts on their behalf. The credit firm offers a reasonably comprehensive service for one of the lowest monthly costs on this list. Clients are assigned a credit repair specialist who is supervised by a licensed attorney. New customers have a five-day money-back guarantee to try the service.
If they are not satisfied, they can receive a full refund of the initial fee. Each month, the credit repair service you hire will file a set number of dispute letters on your behalf. Credit reporting agencies have 30 days to investigate and resolve each dispute. This means that your credit repair process can take several months to complete, depending on the number of disputes you need.
And since there is no way to know how long your disputes will last, most agencies charge per month. In most cases, you can cancel your service and stop making payments with a 30-day notice. No company in the credit repair industry or any credit repair software currently available on the market can completely erase your credit profile. If you have legitimate negative elements on your credit reports, such as late payment, default, or bankruptcy, you will have to wait until those items expire on your reports.
This can take between two and 10 years, depending on the type of negative element. A credit repair company can only dispute the inaccurate elements of your credit report and challenge its creditors to verify the legitimate elements. It is illegal to claim that a legitimate item is inaccurate when submitting dispute letters. In some cases, a repair service may file a letter of goodwill on your behalf requesting a debt collector to withdraw an accurately reported negative item.
This is not a guaranteed process and it is entirely up to the debt-holder to accept or deny the application. The time you'll need to repair your credit will depend on the amount of work you need to complete. For example, you may find that it takes a month or less to remove some inaccuracies from your credit report. Deeper disputes may take longer.
When you file a dispute through a credit bureau, that agency generally has 30 days to investigate the claim and issue a judgment. Most credit repair services limit the number of disputes they will file on your behalf each month. This means that you may have to wait several months to file all the necessary disputes. A credit repair service can legally request the removal of any inaccurate information from your credit report.
This can be as simple as misspelling your name, address or Social Security number or something much more complex, such as accounts added to your name due to identity theft. You should doubt any credit repair service that claims they can remove legitimate items, erase your valid debts, or completely clean your credit history. This is usually a sign of a credit repair scam and rarely leaves you with a clean credit rating. Instead, these fraudulent companies often clean your bank account and execute.
If you have negative elements on your credit report, it may be helpful to hire an experienced credit repair company to handle this complex work for you. The credit repair industry is usually full of reputable companies that can help you repair your credit. However, some bad apples claim that they can erase your credit history or promise that you'll leave with an excellent credit score. In the end, these services always turn out to be a credit repair scam.
The cost of credit repair services is a small price to pay to hire a legitimate credit repair company that takes into account your best interests. These companies want their credit rating to improve through legal means. While the monthly payment may seem high, it's a minimal cost compared to the amount you'll pay in interest, fees, and charges if you live with bad credit. Consider credit repair as an investment in your future.
Your Best Alternatives to Lexington Law Credit Repair. Take advantage of this offer and check your reports for errors, if any, dispute them or consider hiring a credit repair company to do it for you. When evaluating credit repair companies, you should compare the services they offer and their initial and monthly charges. Credit Saint also gives you access to a credit rating tracker and monitors changes to your Experian report.
But the lower cost makes sense when you realize that this service allows you to perform your own credit repair tasks. While credit repair companies can save you time, they don't have any secrets and can't do anything you can't do. This could save you some money on upfront fees, which most credit repair companies charge every time you start using the services. The credit repair industry is strictly regulated and must comply with the provisions of multiple federal laws aimed at protecting consumers.
Under the Credit Repair Organizations Act, only an attorney licensed to work in your state can file disputes on your behalf. As the Federal Trade Commission explains, there is nothing a credit repair company can do for you that you can't do on your own. Pyramid Credit Repair is a rare agency that files unlimited disputes on behalf of a client every month. Bureaus must also provide you with a copy of the “Consumer Credit Filing Rights Under State and Federal Law,” a document intended to inform you of your right to request credit reports and to dispute inaccurate information yourself.
The best credit repair companies will track the progress of your disputes and inform you frequently about the status of each disputed item. Before signing with a credit repair company, make sure you understand what services you will receive and how much these services cost. That guarantee is great peace of mind if you're new to credit repair and aren't sure if a service can help you. While there are legitimate credit repair companies, the countryside is also fertile territory for scammers.
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