Credit repair services are often a group of lawyers and paralegals that will execute the dispute process on your behalf
. They will write the dispute letters to each bureau for every negative item you indicate to them.
The service will ensure that your dispute is deemed valid and investigated by the bureaus. The bureaus have created elaborate stall tactics to avoid investigating disputes because it only costs them money and money that would otherwise be profit.
How Does The Dispute Process Work?
First, you will need to get a copy of your credit report from each major bureau. Next you will forward this on to the service. There will be some items they can dispute under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
This piece of legislation says that any item you feel is inaccurate on your report you can dispute. The bureaus must respond and investigate the item and if it is inaccurate of the creditor can not verify it then it must be removed from your report. As previously mentioned the bureaus put a lot of effort into avoiding investigations, which is why many people turn to a professional legal service.
Services are familiar with the tactics of the bureaus and have the legal resources to ensure that a dispute is investigated, unfortunately unlike the average Joe. However you man not be able to dispute every negative item on your credit file, you may first have to pay a few bills or consolidate some debt.
Debt Validation
Before you just pay a debt you should have the service get debt validation on your account. This simply means the collection agency must prove they own your debt and have the legal right to collect it from you. If they can not then you debt is wiped clean and this item will be removed from your report when you dispute it.
Additionally services will be able to use court intervention, goodwill intervention, and debt inquiry letters on your behalf. The average consumer does not have all these tools to fight and fix their credit report and when it comes to such an important number as your credit score why not use a professional?
How Much Does It Cost?
You can expect to pay $100 upfront and then a monthly bill in the area of $49 - $99, you can expect to need the service for at least 6 months and maybe as long as year just depends on how much work needs to be done. You're looking at a couple hundred dollars to fix your credit and only will responsible use will you continue to have a good score.
However a couple hundred dollars compared to 7 years of high interest rates and fees. Let us not forget the dread of having your credit checked and increasingly employers and performing this on potential employees. You don't want to miss out on a great job because your credit was in the dumps!