How Long Does Credit Repair Take?

Credit repair usually takes months - anywhere from three to twelve. Once you initiate the repair process, whether you are working with a credit repair agency or tackling it yourself, you could see improvement within 30 days. Especially when opening disputes. If the creditor/lender agrees with the dispute quickly, the issue can be resolved in under 30 days. Or, if the lender, creditor, or collection agency doesn’t respond to the credit bureau’s request for documentation supporting the debt within 30 days, the derogatory information will be removed from your credit report at the end of those 30 days. If you need to open multiple disputes with multiple credit bureaus, then this process could take much longer than 30 days. Other actions for repairing your credit, like goodwill adjustments and settling collections, could take several months. But at a minimum, if your repair efforts are successful, you should begin seeing improvement to your credit score within six months.

Are Credit Repair Services Legit?

Credit repair services can be legitimate, but not all of them are. All credit repair industries have to adhere to the Credit Repair Organization Act . This legislation stipulates that credit repair companies have to be upfront about their pricing, can’t make guarantees or misleading statements, can’t engage in fraud, can’t force you to sign away your rights, and cannot charge you until services are rendered. The state you reside in may have its own laws regarding how a credit repair company can operate. For example, some states require credit repair agencies to employ a dedicated attorney, while other states may regulate fees. Suppose the credit repair company you work with does not do everything above board. In that case, it could further damage your bad credit as well as hurt your relationship with the major credit bureaus and existing lenders.

Why You Should Never Hire a Credit Repair Company?

I wouldn’t say that you should “never” hire a credit repair company. However, like mowing your lawn, it is something that you can do for yourself. There is nothing that a credit repair company offers that is not something you can achieve on your own. If you work with a reputable company, they provide convenience, expertise, and usually good results. (Though there are no guarantees here!) In a worst case scenario, a dishonest company could further damage your credit by engaging in fraud or encouraging you to open new accounts that further lower your credit score. Is it worth the risk? If you struggle to understand credit reporting and how to fix your credit score yourself, you can always look into credit counseling services. These companies are not-for-profits that can offer you guidance in fixing problems and achieving good credit on your own.

Do Credit Repair Companies Work?

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If your credit score is being dragged down by collections, late payments, and other negative information, you might consider hiring a credit repair service to fix it. But can they actually improve your bad credit?

Yes, credit repair companies can help you fix the issues with your credit history. But will it be worth the fee they charge you?

See, the key concern with credit repair companies is that all of the services they are charging you for are actions that you can complete yourself for free.

How Credit Repair Works

When you hire a credit repair service they will first sit down with you and look through your credit reports. They will then discuss the issues they find and outline how they can help you improve your bad credit.

They will also want to discuss with you what your expectations are.

Then comes all the legal stuff where they explain their fee, inform you of your rights, set out a contract, and have you sign whatever forms they need you to sign (varies from company to company).

Then they get to work on the credit repair process.

The main goal of a legitimate credit repair company is to work on getting inaccurate or fraudulent information removed from your credit reports. They will go directly through the major credit bureaus to resolve this.

On your behalf, they will send a dispute letter to each credit bureau for each inaccurate entry that appears on the report. The information they can dispute includes:

Late payments
Credit inquiries (in cases of fraud)
Collection accounts
Old accounts (7+ years old)
Tax liens
Bankruptcies
Civil judgment

Legally speaking, they are only supposed to dispute inaccurate or fraudulent information.

Suppose you have legitimate derogatory information on your credit reports, i.e., a collection. In that case, they can also help guide you in reaching an agreement with the collector to pay the debt and have the account removed from your credit report.

Credit bureaus have an obligation to only report truthful information on your credit reports. For that reason, credit repair companies have have no legal grounds to challenge accurate, negative information on your credit report.

In practice, successful credit repair companies will dispute your negative credit report items, even if they are legitimate. If they are good at what they do, often they will have success with it.

Good credit repair professionals know all of the credit reporting loopholes and best disputing practices. You’d be surprised how successful a good credit repair agency can be.

The credit repair company may also suggest that you open new, healthy accounts to further improve your credit score.

Only after they have begun performing services can they charge you any kind of fee. Dovly is an alternate company that can help you with credit repair, check out our Dovly Review article for more information.

What Do Credit Repair Companies Do for You?

The bulk of what they do is dispute negative items on your credit report. This involves sending a series of letters, on your behalf, to the credit bureaus.

In addition to filing disputes, they also offer a variety of related services:

Credit monitoring– the credit repair company will pull your credit reports to see what issues you have and keep you apprised of any changes to these credit reports.
Credit counseling– some, but not all, credit repair companies offer their customers education on how credit and credit scores work. This can include guidance on steps you can take yourself to further improve your credit.
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