Navigating with bad credit is really difficult in today’s society. Several big and small companies make use of credit scores in order to decide whether you are eligible for loans, mortgages, or even credit lines. All consumers who are having a troubled credit history might often look for credit repair services with hopes to improve their overall financial situation. If you are struggling with bad credit, you might stumble upon different credit repair companies boasting the ability to clean up your credit report. All these companies try targeting consumers having less than stellar debt and credit. While signing up for these credit repair services might seem to be the best solution, the fees that these companies charge might put you more into a predicament. With the help of some time and a bit of research, you can find easy ways to dispute crucial errors on your own and at no extra cost. Before you start evaluating all your options, here are some important things that you should know.
What Do You Mean By Credit Repair?
A credit repair service is a simple process of getting hold of a third-party company in order to fix bad credit by removing any sort of negative and inaccurate information on credit reports. A credit repair company works on behalf of the consumer and removes any sort of misinformation by communicating with the three major credit bureaus or other financial organizations like a debt collector, bank, etc.
This process might have a lot of back and forth, however, the end goal is to get misinformation deleted from your credit file to improve your overall credit rating.
How Much Does Credit Repair Services Cost?
Credit repair services are not free. However, you won’t need to incur any charges or fees until and unless the services are delivered. Most credit repair companies charge fees in either one or two ways, i.e. either monthly or per items removed from the credit report. The exact fees of these credit repair companies might vary from service to service, but these services can costs hundreds or thousands of dollars every year.
What Should You Watch Out While Working With Credit Repair Companies?
Remember, credit repair services aren’t always truthful or reliable. According to a recent survey, it was found that almost half of the people who have submitted complaints about various credit repair companies cited fraud or scams. However, under the credit repair organizations act, consumers can have peace of mind and remember some key points while working with credit repair companies.
- Credit repair companies can’t guarantee that they can remove any information from the consumer’s credit score.
- Customers will have a minimal time period of three working days to remove any sort of misinformation from their credit history.
- Customers can’t be charged any fee, especially for those services that aren’t fully rendered.
From a customer’s perspective, it is important to make sure that their credit repair companies follow all CROA rules and then search out for red flags.
Best Ways To Clean Up Your Credit For Free
In case you are looking for an effective way out to clean up any misinformation from your credit report, you can follow the following steps.
- Ask For Your Credit Reports: The very first step that you need to do in order to clean up your credit is to obtain your credit reports from the respective credit bureaus. Your credit report helps you to know what needs to be fixed and how you can fix your credit. Today, the fair credit reporting act entitles a consumer is to get a FREE credit report from these companies every year for free. In these credit reports, you can see your FICO score. Remember a FICO score is something that lenders use to make decisions.
- Start Reviewing Your Credit Reports: Now once you have received your credit report from the credit bureaus, start verifying that the information listed is correct. Check for any discrepancies with the help of your personal information, bankruptcy and collection data, and account information.
- Resolve Errors In Your Credit Report: Credit errors need to be corrected. If you see a mistake in your credit report, you can opt for any of the two following options:
- Get hold of any credit repair company to do the work for you.
- Generate a dispute with the credit bureaus via mail, phone call, or through other online modes.
Usually, consumers go through a regular DIY approach for minor errors. If you are a victim of any sort of theft identity, you might be needing a professional helping hand. In both cases, you need to document all the errors thoroughly and then file a separate dispute will each and every applicable credit bureau.
Usually, credit companies respond to disputes within thirty days as they need to remove erroneous information when informed. If you are reporting a significant error, you can see a better change in your credit score within a month.
- Try Paying Off Your Debts: Remember carrying a balance on your credit can result in a low credit score and high-interest charges. In order to avoid all these, it is always a good idea to pay off debt quickly such that your credit score can improve over time. While you are paying off your debts, it isn’t necessary to pay the whole amount in full, All you need to do is to clear off the minimum due payment in time. Furthermore, it is also important to know that a single delay in payment or a single missed payment can cause an adverse effect on your overall credit score.
Now after taking the necessary steps you can easily see an increase in your credit score. If you want to raise your credit score significantly, consider Creditrentboost.com. At Credit Rent Boost, we report home rent to the leading credit bureaus of the United States. Creditrentboost.com can also report your previous twenty-four months of rent payments giving you a history of rent payments. You can be assured that all your confidential details are in safe hands. In case you want to know more, don’t forget to visit the website.
