Best Credit Repair Services – Do They Really Work?
The best credit repair services set realistic expectations, while taking much of the drudgery out of fixing your credit score. While none of them can perform magic, the best credit repair services can help improve your credit score.
Hundreds of companies offer credit repair services today, but according to the Federal Trade Commission, most of them are scams. If they claim that they can erase bad credit, or guarantee to raise your credit score, you should be very wary.
According to the FTC, “No one can legally remove accurate and timely negative information from a credit report.” Many of these companies will advise you to dispute all negative entries on your credit report. In most cases, this is illegal, just as following illegal advice is.
The best credit repair services don’t sell you your own credit reports. The federal Annual Credit Report laws make everyone is entitled to a free copy of their credit report, one from each of the three credit-reporting agencies (TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax), once each year, or in a twelve month period.
You can do a lot of what these companies do yourself, however for those who aren’t aware of all their options, it can be very helpful. You might be able to lower the fees a company charges by doing some of the “work” yourself, or you can opt to do everything yourself.
It is important to differentiate between credit repair services and “debt consolidators”. A debt consolidator does not try to fix your credit, but rather works to help you bring your outstanding debt under control.
Debt consolidators do this by contacting your creditors on your behalf. They will negotiate a ‘settlement’ agreement, usually just a fraction of the actual amount owed. The debt consolidator will combine these settlements into a single amount. They will give you an amount within your budget to send them each month, and in turn they send a portion to each creditor.
The best credit repair services can only help those who want to help themselves. They aren’t a “bailout” that erases bad debt like bankruptcy filing, however they can help set you on the road to improving your credit score, and in turn your financial future.
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