Credit repair companies help individuals with bad credit score reports to amend it. They do this by going over their credit reports from each credit reporting bureaus, review the negative items, and look for errors. Then they can request these errors to be removed and even negotiate with the creditors in order to solve the disputes.
So if you have been denied a loan or credit card, you may consider talking to a credit repair company. Hiring a credit repair company would be the best option, especially if you don’t want to deal with the creditors or credit bureaus yourself.
However, you shouldn’t just sign a contract with any credit repair company you come across. There are a number of things you should look for in a credit repair company. These include:
- Experience
Choose a company that has been operating for at least three years. Experience matters when dealing with a credit repair company. It shows that the company has been consistently offering reliable and legitimate services to its clients. It also means that people are happy with their services, and that is why they are still operating.
- Reputation
Another vital thing you should look for in a credit repair company is reputation. What are people saying about this particular company? To determine the company’s reputation, you need to go to Google and read online reviews. Of course, you wouldn’t want to associate yourself with a company with a soiled reputation. That’s why you must read the reviews to know how the company operates, how they handle their clients, and what past clients are saying about it. You can also find reviews on the company’s site.
- Accreditation
This is also a very important factor to consider when hiring a credit repair company. Ensure that the company you intend to work with is legit. It should be accredited by the national credit services organizations. If the company lacks accreditation, that should indicate a red flag.
- The range of services offered by the company
The range of services offered by credit repair companies varies from one company to another. If you don’t want to get disappointed later, you need to know what you are paying for. Certain credit repair companies will dispute items with credit bureaus and not engage your creditors or vice versa.
Other companies may also dispute negative items in your credit reports from all angles, while others will offer you credit-counseling services too. So, you should find out what kind of services the company you intend to hire is offering before you sign any contract with them.
- Fees
You should also pay attention to the company’s fees. The company should charge reasonable fees for their services- not very low or high. Some of these credit repair companies have a program called ‘pay for removal’. This means that the company will charge you a fee whenever it removes any negative item from your credit report. This approach is not only expensive but can be challenging because there are cases when a negative item could reappear in a few months. Other companies also charge a simple fee at the end of every month. So if you are on a tight budget, this could be the best approach.
