If you have ever received credit or have applied for credit, then you realize the importance that your credit score can have on the decision of the lender who is evaluating your credit application.
When the economy is in a downturn, having a good credit score is very important because lenders become more strict when evaluating credit applications and granting loans to consumers. This is just one reason that you should make sure that you have acted appropriately and completed any bad credit repair.
A credit repair service is one option that many consumers are investigating when looking to repair bad credit. These organizations specialize in correcting errors in credit reports and, for a fee; many will even stand behind their work with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
Credit repair services that are efficient and effective can remove discrepancies from your credit report and will pull credit reports, review for errors and send out dispute letters along with documentation to the reporting agencies.
They cannot, however, remove any accurate information from your credit report. If they do promise to remove accurate information, please seek a different credit repair agency as accurate information must remain on your credit report in accordance with The Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Negative credit information such as judgments or liens will remain on your credit report for 7 years, while a bankruptcy will last for 10 years. If this negative information is accurate, no credit repair service will be able to have it removed prior to the time limit required by law.
There is no magic formula for credit repair and there is certainly no quick fix. Through contacting credit bureaus, making your own corrections, consolidating your debts and budgeting, you can improve your own score.
However, if you can’t or don’t want to do these things, then you need to pay someone to fix your credit report for you.
A good credit repair agency will follow the consumer protection guidelines and standards wet forth by the Credit Repair Organizations Act. Formidable companies will explain the rights contained within the act and offer you a contract that outlines the terms and conditions of their services.
These conditions should include the following:
- Cost of the service provided
- Guarantees offered (if any)
- Official name and business address of the company
- Details of the credit repair
- Time period before results are expected
Just as with any other service, there are great companies and there are some suspect ones. Be sure to educate yourself on your credit issues and remember that if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.
References:
Suze Orman’s FICO® Kit Platinum – Suze Orman’s Credit Repair Guide
Get Your 3 Credit Scores Online Free! – From freecreditreport.com