It’s a little-known reality that more than 40 million Americans have errors in their credit reports.
All those errors are dragging down the credit scores of millions of people. When it comes to repairing your credit, you can attempt to remove errors in your report yourself, or you can hire a credit repair company to do it for you. But before you go out and hire the first credit repair firm you can find, ask yourself these 4 question:
1. Have you tried DIY credit repair?
In all actuality, there isn’t anything a credit repair company can do for you that you can’t do for yourself. You have the right to dispute any errors or erroneous items on your credit report with the credit reporting bureaus; and they are required to investigate all disputes.
Actions you can take to repair your credit on your own include:
- Write a credit dispute letter
- Get a free copy of your credit report and analyze it for errors
- Make a plan to get out of debt, and stay out
- Educate yourself on the things that can hurt your credit score
2. How much time are you willing to spend on credit repair?
Keep in mind that DIY credit repair takes a lot of time and perseverance. The credit reporting bureaus are large bureaucracies; it takes time for them to respond to your correspondence, and you will have to follow through and document every single interaction (if you want to see results).
If you have the time and energy to repair your own credit, then you can’t beat the price of DIY credit repair.
3. Do you know the differences between a legitimate credit repair company and a credit repair scam?
You might have heard people say things like, “all credit repair companies are scams.” While it is certainly true that some credit repair companies will promise you pie-in-the-sky results as a way to try to get your money, there are legitimate credit repair companies out there.
Do you know how to spot a legitimate credit repair company? Read our recent blog on what to expect from a reputable credit repair company.
And do you know how to spot a shady credit repair company? Look for these clues:
- Requests money up front before conducting any work
- Guarantees they can remove negative items (only errors can be removed, and even then there is no “guarantee”)
- Offers to create a new identity for you
4. Are your expectations grounded in reality?
Remember: you can only get actual errors removed from your credit report. If there is a legitimate negative item on your report, then only time can get it taken off your credit report (most negative items stay on your credit report for 7 to 10 years).
Are you interested in hiring a credit repair company? Call 1-(855) 620-5875 for a free credit consultation, or visit LexingtonLaw.com.
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