Even though there are many companies stating they will fix up your credit problems it is not necessary to hire anyone to do this for you. You can actually do the work yourself. Consumer protection laws have been enacted that allow anyone to work at their own credit repair. Agencies are helpful for those who lack the time and patience to do it themselves, but you can do it yourself if you are willing to do the work.
The real catch is just a matter of education. Just as many people prefer to take their car to a mechanic because they are not interested in learning how to repair it themselves; so too do many people turn to paid services to repair their credit. However, credit repair services do cost money, so if you are in the position of having more free time than free money available to you, doing it yourself might be the better option.
Educating yourself about credit and how reporting works can be an excruciating and dreary task. Luckily, the amount of money you can save can make it worth the effort. There is a vast amount of detailed information available on the Internet that can provide step by step instructions in going through the credit repair process. Of course, if there is a need to negotiate a settlement or file something legally, like a bankruptcy, a professionals assistance would be required. However, just the basic credit repair processes for improving a FICO score can certainly be done on your own.
Further, doing your own free credit repair allows you to avoid being scammed. The sad fact of the matter is, many services offering basic credit repair can only really do the same things you can do yourself. Being aware of this, they will often ask you to pay their fees up front and usually in cash, with no guarantee as to what they will actually do. Often, after collecting their fee, they will ask you to review your credit report for errors. After doing so they will contest these errors with the credit reporting agencies and if it is determined that this was an error the item will be removed from your credit report. This is the entire process, all they will do for you.
Looking over your credit report and contesting errors is something you can do by yourself. Every year you can order a free copy of your credit report. Visit the Annual Credit Report website at www.annualcreditreport.com. There you will be able to order reports from each of the “Big Three” credit bureaus: TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. Then you can study your reports for any errors. If you have discovered errors the next step is to go to the reporting agencies website. There you will be able to find a form for contesting the entry. Following this procedure will fix the problems and you will have done the same thing some of the credit repair services would do for a fee.
Learning everything about credit and reporting and credit repair requires enormous amounts of energy and time. On the other hand, basic credit repair is free and simple; you really do not need the help of a professional. If your credit score is holding you back then you probably are not in a position to spend money on repairing your credit anyway. Simple things like contesting errors should not be a drain on your budget.
Wendy Polisi is the founder of Credit Repair College, a weekly video training series that empowers people to learn
how to fix credit on their own. For more information on
fixing bad credit, please visit her on the web.
