Who Can Help Me Raise My Credit Score?

A business may claim it can raise your credit score, but these claims are often false. Learning how to spot credit repair scams can save you hundreds of dollars, as can learning to repair your credit score yourself.

Signs of a Scam

A legitimate credit repair company will never make outstanding claims about its ability to raise your credit score, according to the Federal Trade Commission. If a company claims it can fix any type of credit problem, it's likely a scam. Avoid any company that encourages you to engage in illegal activity, such as falsifying your social security number or contesting true information on your credit report. Also avoid any company that requests money from you before providing any service -- that is against the Credit Repair Organizations Act -- or that doesn't advise you on how to repair your credit for free.

Investigating the Business

If you have doubts about a business, research it through the Better Business Bureau, BBB, which assigns letter grades to businesses based on customer reviews. The BBB explains the reason for the grade it gives any company, such as failure to provide service as advertised or refusing to give refunds, for example. Enter a credit repair company's name or contact information in the search on the BBB website to find out more about its history with customers.

Checking Your Credit Score

Before deciding that you need to repair your credit, find out your current credit score. As you open and close credit accounts, accumulate and pay off debt, your credit score fluctuates, so the credit score you had when you applied for loans three years ago may not be the same score you have now. Request your credit score from one of the three major credit reporting agencies: TransUnion, Equifax or Experian. You can keep track of your score for as low as $14.95 per month, as of 2011, depending on which agency you choose. If you find any mistakes on your credit report, contact the credit reporting agency about it immediately as it may affect your score.

Raising Your Credit Score

There is no quick way to raise your credit score, but there are sure ways to raise it yourself for free. Since your payment history makes up more than one third of your credit score, always pay bills on time. Write the due dates on a calendar, sign up for a reminder service through the creditor or do both. Pay off your debts, but keep credit accounts open after you pay them off to increase the amount of credit you have relative to debt. These actions may take as many as seven years to affect your score, but they are more reliable than many credit repair schemes.