subject: Why You Don't Need a Credit Repair Company [print this page] These days, millions of Americans are struggling with bad credit. It's hard to believe, but a low credit score can be a major lifestyle cramp for many people. It can keep you from getting a home loan or a car loan, and it may even keep you from getting the job you want. Also, a bad credit score can get you bad rates on loans that you do get, meaning that you could be paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month on your loan payments that you would otherwise not have to pay if you had better credits and interest rates.
Taking advantage of the credit problems many people are having are credit repair companies. These companies probably start calling as soon as your credit score begins to fall. They promise to help you fix your credit in a short amount of time with as little trouble as possible. The problem, though, is that these companies don't really do anything for you that you couldn't do for yourself. That's right. You can actually repair your own credit by yourself.
Basically, a credit repair company does all the paperwork that comes with repairing your credit. Depending on your situation, they may dispute inaccurate claims on your credit reports, try to get debt holders to settle for a lower debt payment, and set up new payment plans for you. In order to do all this, though, they charge you thousands, which really doesn't reduce your debt at all. In fact, some people end up in more debt that takes longer to pay off because of credit repair companies.
If you want to pay a company hundreds of bucks a month to file basic paperwork, then go ahead. Sure, the paperwork and phone calls are annoying, and the learning curve of repairing your own credit can be annoying. With the right advice and tools, though, you actually can do all this on your own. Plus, even with a credit repair company, you'll have to file some of the paperwork on your own. They aren't even taking that much work off your back.
It's true. You actually can get inaccuracies taken off of your credit report on your own. You can even get credit card companies, medical billers, and other people to whom you owe money to settle for a smaller lump sum payment or to set up a gentler pay-off system. These things can all be done once you have the right tools in your hands. You have the power to fix your own credit, and you don't need to be paying someone a small fortune to do it for you!
