Legitimate Credit Repair Companies (BBB Accredited Services)
Do you want to get professional help in order to repair your credit history, raise your poor FICO score, enjoy lower interest rates, and realize better long-term financial health?
Working with legitimate, law-abiding and trustworthy service providers is the best way to avoid the risks of being exploited, overcharged, scammed or ripped off.
The following list provides information about credit repair companies that were approved by the Better Business Bureau, after being thoroughly reviewed by the national consumer organization and successfully meeting all their strict requirements.
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Overview
Possessing bad credit has a very negative financial impact on consumers and businesses in common scenarios such as getting a loan, applying for a credit card, purchasing a home, buying a car, and many others.
Credit repair services help customers to rebuild their low credit scores so they can get easier approvals and qualify for financial services in a more affordable manner.
Most players in this sector provide some or all of the following services:
- Free credit consultations.
- Retrieving the customer’s current credit report from the major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion).
- Finding errors and any inaccurate, false, or expired information.
- Disputing negative or questionable items.
- Writing and sending letters to lenders, creditors and collection agencies in order to resolve issues.
- Negotiating with creditors on the customer’s behalf.
- Removing negative information from the report in order to increase the customer’s FICO score, such as charge-offs, late payments, collections, bankruptcies, judgments, and liens.
- Ongoing credit monitoring is used to ensure that the credit report contains 100% accurate information after the initial restoration process is over. This also helps with spotting potential identity theft.
Consumer Tips: How to Remain Safe and Avoid Credit Repair Scams Online
Just like any other field that involves consumers that struggle with financial difficulties, the credit repair sector also has its fair share of scammers, fraudsters, and cybercriminals that operate online and look for potential victims.
Scammers use a variety of illegal, unethical, or other dishonest ways to take advantage of everyday people who are desperate to obtain a much higher credit score.
Some services violate the law by guaranteeing results, such as improving the FICO score extremely fast or by boosting it a certain number of points.
Other services promise to ‘clean up’ a poor credit report even though the information there is totally accurate and current.
Some bogus or illegal offers promise to establish a “brand new credit identity” as an alternative to the customer’s existing damaged credit history.
Certain companies may claim to know “secret loopholes” in the system, while others may demand big upfront deposits from clients before providing any actual service.
Taking the following steps will help you to find credible and reliable companies and when possible, start rebuilding your credit score in a safe way:
Beware of False Promises
A legitimate service cannot guarantee successful credit repair for 100% of customers.
The reason? Every customer’s credit history is completely unique.
Additionally, even the best companies in the market can’t remove accurate items from a report.
The bottom line: if you encounter unrealistic ‘too good to be true’ claims – walk away, it’s probably a scam.
Money Back Guarantee
Prefer to work with companies that offer risk-free service plans and offer a genuine money-back guarantee.
That way, if you do not see satisfactory progress or actual results, or in case you’re unhappy with the quality of service, you have the option to cancel the service and receive a partial or full refund.
Investigate the Credit Repair Company’s BBB Record
Check the company’s record on the Better Business Bureau’s website.
This information will help you evaluate whether it’s a legitimate business that deserves your money and trust or if you need to look elsewhere.
Look for current BBB rating, customer reviews, complaints, warnings and alerts on their business profile.
In addition, learn how long it has been in business – a potential indicator of experience and reputation.
If the business is not even listed with the BBB, this is a very bad sign.
On the other hand, if the company is certified as a BBB Accredited Business, it’s an important positive signal.
Pay Close Attention to Red Flags
Learn how to better protect yourself when ordering goods and services on the internet, in order to avoid scammers and keep safe in general.
Knowing how to check if a website is legitimate or not is the first line of defense.