A credit repair company can improve the credit score, especially when the damaged credit history seems to be too much to handle alone. Apart from credit repair companies, you might also seek guidance from any non-profit credit counselor via the National Foundation for credit counseling.
How to verify a credit repair company?
Fraud is unfortunately quite common in the credit repair industry. Before you sign up for any of the credit repair companies, remember to complete your homework.
Commence by making a list of all the well-established companies. Search for any complaints in the database of the consumer financial protection bureau and check for ratings with the better business bureau. After you narrow down the list, you can interview the companies before you make a decision.
According to the federal trade commission, you should watch out for the following signs of fraud:
- Asks for big amounts of money upfront
- Says to dispute correct items on the credit report
- Skips the legal rights while explaining the services offered by the company
- Discourage you from contacting any credit reporting agency
- Encourages false information on loan or credit applications
How long does credit repair take?
You can expect it to take an overall time of around 3-6 months to repair credit and translate it into a higher credit score. It is true whether you use a credit repair company or do it all by yourself. The primary 30-45 days will get consumed by the agency in the investigation of initial disputes and challenges.
Conclusion
Assuming that negative information has been removed from the credit reports, you are required to have additional patience to notice the results in your credit score over time. A credit repair company generally gets faster results when compared to a DIY approach. Want to know more about credit repair companies? You can see this here.