Question
Are those places that claim to help you improve your credit score a scam?
I found a place in Chicago, Illinois by the name of Credit Builders. There, for $1000 they guarantee a boost of at least 100 points on your creidt score. It's a six month program in which you put a down payment of $250 and make monthly payments after that. It seems like a legit business and I also have a friend who shared a success story with me. I believe that they can do what it is they claim to do. However, should I pay a company to do what I can do from home. I mean, I can write letters and dispute stuff on my report myself, right? Or do these companies have a better chance of fixing this for me? When I meet with them what type of questions should I ask before I agree to pay?
1 month ago - 7 answers
Best Answer
Chosen by Asker
Avoid the temptation to pay a "credit repair" firm, as they cannot remove accurate negative info. If you’ve had recent defaults, charge-offs, late pays, then you need to understand these items have to age of your credit report naturally. After 7 years from the date of default you'll get a clean slate. "Credit repair" firms have no special power to magically delete negative items....all they do is dispute all negative items on your credit report and hope that the credit bureaus cannot validate the debt within the 30 day allowable time frame, in which case they must remove the items. You don't have to pay anyone to do this as you can do it yourself for free. Per the Fair Credit Reporting Act you have the right to request written validation of negative entries on your credit files. Per this law they must validate the item(s) within 30 days or remove them from your credit file. Mail a letter via certified mail with return receipt to all three credit bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion & Experian). Include a photocopy of your driver's license and social security card...If you don't include these, they may write back requesting them, which would slow the process down by several weeks. For each negative item, write a separate letter and simply include the phrase: Per the Fair Credit Reporting Act, I am requesting written validation of this item. Do this one at a time for each negative entry....DO NOT request validation for all items at one time. There is NO guarantee that this will work....It may give some decent results. The worst that can happen is that all negative items come back verified. If items get deleted, they may come back at a later date...there's no guarantee that the deletion would be permanent.
by CatDad
1 month ago
Asker's Rating: 
Other Answers
They're a scam. Only paying your bills on time, and time, will repair a damaged credit.
by mauser90807- 1 month ago
Don't do it! While some of these companies are legit, you are absolutely right, you can do everything yourself. All these guys do, is find loop holes in the system to get collections off your credit report. They fail to tell you these accounts may find there way back on your credit report months, perhaps years later. It's really only a temporary fix. My best advice, don't use loop holes. You still owe it, and you may be able to get it off 1 or 2 reports but not all of them. The best thing to do, face those collection agencies and work out a "pay for delete" deal. Basically, you pay all or some (a settled amount) to the collection agency, in return they will delete the negative info from all credit reporting agencies. I actually just wrote an article about this on associatedcontent.com author Joe Deem, if you were interested in learning what steps to take to improve your credit on your own. I just published it, so it takes a day or two to be approved and listed. Check it out in a day or two. I had a lousy score a few years ago, but in just 2 years I went from around 580 to a 767. It's not necessarily a scam in what they do, but you could do the same thing, plus use that 1000.00 towards paying off bad debt and then its never going to pop back on your credit report. Hope this helps, and it's a tough up hill battle but you can do this yourself. Best of luck! Joe Deem. I just wanted to add: abcnews ... Go to that address above there is an ABC news report about those credit repair companies.
by Joe- 1 month ago
Some are some aren't, but if they are guaranteeing a certain boost and charging that much they probably are a scam. They be any more effective at disputing things than you will. Some of these companies use some shady tactics to boost your score.
by weebler76- 1 month ago
you're basically right. they don't do anything you can't do yourself, unless you're near bankruptcy and you have a huge debt. most of it is common sense: pay on time, pay more than minimum, don't spend more than you earn... check your credit report regularly and dispute any suspicious items right away.
by Mars- 1 month ago
Why would you pay someone $1000 to do what you can do yourself? That makes no sense. Also, some of the debt you may dig up could be better off left alone if it is older debt. I wouldn't do it, but if you have money to blow, go for it.
by My Take on It- 1 month ago
Сredit repair workеd fine to fix my credit. They disputed and removed lots of bad items from my credit report. I used this service - credit-report-score.10001mb.com
by Brandon- 1 month ago