You may have considered credit repair as a possible solution, but it isn’t the right choice for everyone. Lindsay VanSomeren is a personal finance writer based out of Kirkland, Washington. Her work has appeared on Business Insider, Credit Karma, LendingTree, and more. While the practice isn’t illegal, it’s considered to be deceptive by lenders and could put you in danger of committing credit fraud. You can also get a card that’s linked to the account and make purchases of your own.

Can You Pay A Company To Fix Your Credit?

A one-time consultation with a credit counseling agency is typically free. However, your credit counselor may suggest that you take on a debt management plan and offer ongoing services at a small fee. A credit repair company exclusively offers inaccuracy mitigation in your credit report. With credit counseling, a professional will work with you to get a grip on your finances. When you apply for new credit, lenders perform a hard inquiry on your credit report. One hard inquiry will only lower your score by a few points, but multiple inquiries will have a compounding effect.

Credit Saint also offers debt validation, goodwill letters, cease and desist letters, and more at no additional cost. They’re backed by a money-back guarantee as well, so you can get a refund if this company’s customer service doesn’t live up to expectations. If you require substantial help, working with a credit repair service might be the quickest way to improve your credit.

Credit Card Refinancing Vs Debt Consolidation

The company offers attorney-based credit restoration and credit building programs. creditrepair assists clients in removing negative information from their reports like liens, charge-offs, judgments, collections, repossessions, and foreclosures. In addition, the business has a credit education program that helps individuals restore their credit and achieve financial freedom.

Debtcom Smart Search

For example, you can compare personal loans that you’re likely to qualify for based on your credit profile. That way, you can get a sense of what rates and terms you have the best odds of being approved for, without doing damage to your credit. Sky Blue Credit has been in business for more than 30 years, offering a simple, comprehensive package without the need for costly upgrades. Blue Sky Credit uses a 35-day dispute cycle, which, according to its website, may be 10 days faster than other companies.

We downgraded companies that failed to support these regulations in our analysis. It can be worth paying for credit repair companies if you have significant inaccuracies on your credit report and need professional help to resolve them. All plans include TransUnion credit monitoring and some degree of identity theft protection, though both services are available free or cheaply elsewhere. The Credit Pros’ lowest-level Money Management plan doesn’t include credit repair. For that, you need either the Prosperity plan, which requires a $119 monthly fee and $119 first work fee, or the Success Plus, which requires a $149 monthly fee and $149 first work fee. Unless you’re also planning to apply for a credit builder loan, the Prosperity plan should suffice.

Inaccurate negative information, even if it’s just a late payment that was actually paid on time, could lower your credit score. Errors in personal information, such a name or address reported incorrectly by a creditor, won’t affect your credit score but should still be corrected. If your credit report contains something you believe is inaccurate, you have the right to file a dispute with the relevant credit bureau. Because you can do on your own everything a credit repair company can do, it’s often better to take the time to review your credit reports yourself and submit any disputes. Doing the work yourself is completely free, saving you hundreds of dollars that you would pay a credit repair company. Sky Blue Credit promises to help you monitor and track your credit score while they file credit disputes that can repair damaging information in your credit history.