How to Find a Legitimate Credit Repair Service

According to The Fair Credit Reporting Act, you can dispute your credit report errors for free, but this process takes time. You need to apply for your credit report, review and file errors, and send dispute letters to creditors. An alternative is to hire a credit repair firm, which does all the work for you. But, chances are high that you may end up with fraudulent companies promising 100 percent bad credit remedy, including removal of bankruptcies, which is just not possible legally. It is important that you know you are hiring a legitimate credit repair service to solve your credit problems or you end up with more problems than before.

Instructions

1

Ask your friends or relatives about credit repair companies they approached when they had similar problems. A simple Google search can also get you several firms in your area.

2

Research the company before you approach it. Check with the Better Business Bureau to see whether any consumer complaints have been registered against the company. Find out if there are any pending legal cases filed against the company through your state attorney general's office or state-level consumer organizations.

3

Check the fee payment policy of the company. According to the Credit Repair Organizations Act, you are not entitled to pay the company until they deliver on all their service guarantees. If the company asks for any upfront payment, shun it.

4

Ask them how they go about repairing credit. If they say that they would dispute all negative information on the credit report including accurate and inaccurate, then just ignore the company. It is not possible to remove accurate negative information of bankruptcies, bad loans, and lawsuits, from your credit report. Bankruptcy cannot be removed from the report for 10 years, judgements and lawsuits stay for 7 years or until the expiry of the statute of limitations, under law.

5

Ask what information the company provides on its contact form. A contact form should give the company name and address, complete details on the services to be offered, total cost of services and payment policy. It should also include information on the time period required to achieve the target and other service guarantees, if any. Further, there should be a grace period of three days after signing of contract until which the company cannot start their services for you. You have a right to cancel the contract during this period without any payment of fees.