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Identifying the Top Credit Repair Service
- By Stuart Hunter
- Published 01/28/2010
- Credit Score
- Unrated
Stuart Hunter
Providing credit repair services since 1991, Lexington Law has helped over 500,000 clients legally take on their credit. Last year alone, Lexington Law helped clients remove over 600,000 negative items from their credit reports.
View all articles by Stuart Hunter
The credit repair industry has become a crowded place. Recent economic turmoil has prompted more stringent lending restrictions that made having a good credit score far more important than it had been in years. No longer able to get approved for credit, thousands are looking to credit repair services for help. Eager to cash in on the trend, new credit repair providers are being created all the time claiming to be experts at fixing credit reports.
With so many inexperienced credit repair organizations coming onto the scene, many of which are simply turnkey businesses using a third party software solution as the backbone of their product, it becomes difficult to determine who you can trust with your credit reports. To help separate the top credit repair companies from the greenhorns trying to make a quick buck, here are three tips for identifying a reputable credit repair provider:
1) Look for experience - Creating a credit repair service is surprisingly simple. A person only needs a website and a few hundred dollars to pay for a credit repair software package. Remaining in the business and producing good results is harder. The best credit repair services usually have a history of providing credit repair services which is not only indicative of a stable business, but it is also a sign that the company operates within the confines of the law.
2) Look for a "brick and mortar" presence - The Internet is a great vehicle for commerce, but the process of correcting your credit reports is more effective when conducted offline. Trustworthy credit repair
companies usually have a physical location that you can use as a guide to how solid the company is. Bing Maps or some other satellite imagery service is a great tool for checking out the company's home office. Get the company's address, pull up a map and see if the company has their own building, operates in an office complex, rents out a spot in a strip mall, or has the mailing address of a personal residence.
3) Look at pricing and payment options - Drafted in the mid nineties, the Credit Repair Organizations Act establishes rules that credit repair companies must adhere to. One of these is to not require payment for services until after they have been performed. This restriction was put in place to protect consumers from credit repair scammers who would charge large upfront fees and then never fulfill their end of the arrangement.
As a result of this, you should avoid credit repair companies who require an upfront payment.
In addition to finding out how much and when you will be expected to pay for credit repair services, note the payment options. Most reputable online companies will provide at a minimum the option to pay via credit card on their website or over the phone. Additional payment methods may also be accepted.
Be wary of companies who require checks or money orders as a form of payment because you do not have the same protections in place to recover your money if something goes wrong. Also watch out for companies who use a third party payment system on their website such as Paypal since this can be indicative of a fly by night clinic. Finally when submitting payment information online, make sure the webpage is secured. Before keying in your credit card on a web page, make sure the address of the page starts with "https" and your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc.) displays a padlock or similar icon indicating the connection is secure.
With so many inexperienced credit repair organizations coming onto the scene, many of which are simply turnkey businesses using a third party software solution as the backbone of their product, it becomes difficult to determine who you can trust with your credit reports. To help separate the top credit repair companies from the greenhorns trying to make a quick buck, here are three tips for identifying a reputable credit repair provider:
1) Look for experience - Creating a credit repair service is surprisingly simple. A person only needs a website and a few hundred dollars to pay for a credit repair software package. Remaining in the business and producing good results is harder. The best credit repair services usually have a history of providing credit repair services which is not only indicative of a stable business, but it is also a sign that the company operates within the confines of the law.
2) Look for a "brick and mortar" presence - The Internet is a great vehicle for commerce, but the process of correcting your credit reports is more effective when conducted offline. Trustworthy credit repair
3) Look at pricing and payment options - Drafted in the mid nineties, the Credit Repair Organizations Act establishes rules that credit repair companies must adhere to. One of these is to not require payment for services until after they have been performed. This restriction was put in place to protect consumers from credit repair scammers who would charge large upfront fees and then never fulfill their end of the arrangement.
As a result of this, you should avoid credit repair companies who require an upfront payment.
In addition to finding out how much and when you will be expected to pay for credit repair services, note the payment options. Most reputable online companies will provide at a minimum the option to pay via credit card on their website or over the phone. Additional payment methods may also be accepted.
Be wary of companies who require checks or money orders as a form of payment because you do not have the same protections in place to recover your money if something goes wrong. Also watch out for companies who use a third party payment system on their website such as Paypal since this can be indicative of a fly by night clinic. Finally when submitting payment information online, make sure the webpage is secured. Before keying in your credit card on a web page, make sure the address of the page starts with "https" and your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc.) displays a padlock or similar icon indicating the connection is secure.
