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Finding a Credit Repair Company You Can Trust
- By Dona Barlett
- Published 01/3/2010
- Credit Score
- Unrated
Dona Barlett
Credit Repair BEST provides information about credit repair as well as a moderated question and answer forum where visitors can learn more about the credit reporting system, what they can do to improve their credit score, and how credit repair companies may be able to help.
View all articles by Dona Barlett
As is the case with automobile mechanics, salesmen, plumbers, and every other profession, there are good credit repair companies and companies to watch out for. Below are a few tips for identifying a credit repair company you can trust.
1. Find out how long the company has been in business. Credit repair is an industry on the rise with many new participants coming and going. Make sure you select a company with a solid foundation that you have confidence will be in business for the long run. You definitely don't want to get stuck with a company that goes under before they are done helping you.
2. Look for full disclosure. There is nothing a credit repair company can do for you that you cannot do for yourself. In fact, credit repair companies are required by law to make you aware of this fact via a written disclosure statement when you sign up for their services. Make sure you are presented with this document.
On top of this, credit repair services cannot be guaranteed to work because ultimately, whether or not something gets removed from your credit record is up to the credit bureaus and your individual creditors. Watch out for services that guarantee to raise your credit rating or get you approved for a loan.
3. Make sure their
billing policy follows the rules. By law, credit repair companies are not allowed to collect any fees before performing the agreed upon services. This is to protect people from con-men who would promise to clean up their credit report (often times charging many hundreds or thousands of dollars) and then disappear as soon as the payment was received. It is because of this regulation that most credit repair companies charge a modest fee for creating your account (you should not be charged as soon as you sign up and will in many cases not be charged for a few days), and a monthly charge after the previous month's worth of services have been provided.
4. Know the trademarks of a credit repair scam. Because so many consumers are desperate to repair their credit but have little knowledge of how the credit reporting system works, scammers have set up credit repair clinics that claim to help people but ultimately only make the situation worse. The Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA) was created to protect people from becoming a victim of a credit repair scam by creating rules the credit repair providers must follow. Knowing these rules will help you avoid being taken advantage of.
1. Find out how long the company has been in business. Credit repair is an industry on the rise with many new participants coming and going. Make sure you select a company with a solid foundation that you have confidence will be in business for the long run. You definitely don't want to get stuck with a company that goes under before they are done helping you.
2. Look for full disclosure. There is nothing a credit repair company can do for you that you cannot do for yourself. In fact, credit repair companies are required by law to make you aware of this fact via a written disclosure statement when you sign up for their services. Make sure you are presented with this document.
On top of this, credit repair services cannot be guaranteed to work because ultimately, whether or not something gets removed from your credit record is up to the credit bureaus and your individual creditors. Watch out for services that guarantee to raise your credit rating or get you approved for a loan.
3. Make sure their
4. Know the trademarks of a credit repair scam. Because so many consumers are desperate to repair their credit but have little knowledge of how the credit reporting system works, scammers have set up credit repair clinics that claim to help people but ultimately only make the situation worse. The Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA) was created to protect people from becoming a victim of a credit repair scam by creating rules the credit repair providers must follow. Knowing these rules will help you avoid being taken advantage of.
