Credit repair refers to any type of legal action that you or a service provider may take to try to remove negative items from your credit reports in an attempt to increase your score. Since not all of these services are legitimate, it is important to understand your rights. Although you can attempt credit repair on your own, it’s best to work with experienced legal professionals who have the best chance of success when dealing with your creditors and the credit bureaus. How do you know which are real, legitimate credit repair services?
The first thing you should do is familiarize yourself with the Credit Repair Organization Act (CROA). This Act protects consumers from illegal acts by credit repair companies. Here are some things you need to know about your rights:
• Get a company to give you all your legal rights in writing, as well as details of the services they will provide.
• You must have a money back guarantee of some kind.
• Your consultation should be FREE and as personalized as possible.
• You should not receive any specific promises. Nothing can be 100% certain when it comes to credit repair.
• You should never be expected to contribute money up front. No legitimate credit repair service will try to charge you right away. The only guarantee you should receive is the money back guarantee.
• A legitimate company will normally have lawyers and paralegals within their network, and will not propose any solutions or techniques that are not 100% legal.
Guarantees of Legitimate Credit Repair Services
Although no company can guarantee specific results, they can show results from previous clients (with the clients’ permission) and give you an idea of what they have been able to do in the past and what they will do to try. and help you Any money you end up paying to a legitimate company will likely be much less than the money you stand to lose due to bad credit. You may not even be able to rent or buy a home if your credit is bad! Also, in some places, you may have trouble finding a job.
Credit bureaus and credit card companies will take your case more seriously if you have a legitimate company working on your behalf. This will really increase your chances of cleaning up your credit in a shorter period of time than if you were doing it all on your own.
Where can you find legitimate credit repair services? One firm that always seems to receive positive customer reviews is Lexington Law. Paralegals who work on cases are excellent at communication. You will be kept informed, every step of the way.