If you have negative marks on your credit report and want to improve your credit score or credit worthiness, chances are likely you will or have explored "credit repair" services online or at the recommendation of others. So are credit repair services worth it? You should be very cautious when making the decision to use such credit repair services. First, negative marks on your credit report cannot be taken off simply because they are negative. Any company representing that they can remove accurate, verifiable and non-obsolete negative marks from your credit report is likely a predatory company making false representations and you should avoid these credit repair companies at all costs. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires accuracy in your credit report because the credit reports are not just for your use given third parties are reviewing your credit reports to make important financial or job related decisions. As a result, your credit reports need to be as accurate for others as for you. Any credit repair company offering credit repair services stating they can remove accurate information that is allowed to be on your credit report per the Fair Credit Reporting Act is either outright lying to you or is operating a questionable business practice in an attempt to game the system hoping the furnisher or credit bureau deletes the information rather than verify the information is accurate after the credit repair company submits a dispute to the credit bureaus in your name. These are not credit repair services you want to spend your hard earned money on.
Also, if you are paying a monthly fee for the credit repair services, this is another huge red flag that you are likely being taken advantage of. Any legitimate inaccurate or obsolete information on your credit report should be removed or corrected within 30 days of your dispute with the credit bureaus and, if not removed or corrected, you are entitled to file legal action against the credit bureaus or furnisher (sometimes all of them) to compel them to remove or correct the faulty information as well as seek compensation for the harm committed to you. So what is the real reason for the monthly fee if not predatory and misleading?
You do not need Credit Repair Services in most instances...
Most disputes consumers have with their credit reports can be done by the consumers themselves via phone, online, or mail. Credit reports have information contained within them to show consumers how they can dispute errors in their credit reports, and you don't have to hire a company offering credit repair services for most disputes. If you try to fix the credit report errors yourself and are unsuccessful, your next step should not be to contact a credit repair company, but rather, contact a consumer rights attorney who actively files Fair Credit Reporting Act claims in court. At our office, we take pride in offering a free consultation to anyone who feels their Fair Credit Reporting Act rights were violated and we do not charge you out of pocket fees for such services. Rather, we seek our attorney fees as part of the legal action against the credit bureaus or furnisher. For more details on your potential Fair Credit Reporting Act claim, contact our office for a free phone consultation.
Can you sue a Credit Repair Company?
The Credit Repair Organization Act is a federal law that helps protect consumers from such credit repair services acting in a predatory manner by prohibiting misleading services or requiring advance payment for services not performed in addition to disclosure requirements. Visit the Federal Trade Commission website to review a copy of the Credit Repair Organization Act at https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/statutes/credit-repair-organizations-act.
If you feel you are a victim of a credit repair company, contact our office for a free phone consultation so we can assess if you have a claim against the credit repair company. You may be entitled to a full refund of any amounts you paid the credit repair company PLUS additional compensation for the harms committed for the improper credit repair services.
