Credit Repair is a very debated topic on the net right now as to whether it’s legal, effective, ethical and an avenue worth pursuing for individuals with negative, inaccurate or unverifiable information on their credit reports. No matter where you search, you will find varying opinions in regard the legitimacy of the credit repair industry, from the FTC and Attorney General, to debt consolidation companies and law firms practicing credit repair companies.

First off to answer the question “is credit repair and its practitioners legal,” the answer is yes! There is a specific body of legislation, the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA) that outlines how credit repair companies may legally operate. This Federal regulation is proof that the industry as a whole is legal and not a scam. I think the negative overtones are more likely a case of a few hundred bad apples taking advantage of people.

The second most debated topic in many of the popular credit forums is whether or not one should even use a credit repair company, or give it a go themselves? The art of credit repair or credit restoration is not necessarily a difficult one to grasp and despite what a lot of the credit repair companies and lawyers would like you to believe, there is no “magical, proprietary dispute letter.” Remember, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) was set up so that consumers could fix errors on their credit reports on their own. It was not set up so consumers could fix errors If they had the magic letter. It really is almost as simple as saying…

“Hey this is not my account, please verify the information and remove from my report”

So why would you consider hiring a company to improve your credit score if it is so easy? The art of credit repair is not perfectly written letter, but more of knowing the little tricks credit bureaus and collection agents use to avoid eliminating the debt.

As much bad press credit repair agencies have received, bureaus and collection agencies are no angels either. They try and trick you, they don’t always follow procedure and we’ve seen numerous cases of them breaking promises consumers have made with them when negotiating debt.

Credit report repair agencies should be well versed and know what to expect and exactly how to negotiate through all the little tricks that the average consumer wouldn’t. If you are lucky enough to be working with an ethical company that does its job and at a good price, it can work wonders for your credit score.

The people we spoke with that do favor using an agency to fix their credit, do so because typically it’s only 30.00 to 50.00 per month and they just don’t feel like dealing with the headaches, nor do they want to be their own guinea pigs.

If you do make the decision you would rather leave it to the pros, what steps should you take to make sure you’re hiring the right company? At the time of writing this there is very little governing the industry outside of CROA and it is a craps shoot for the most part.

However, there is hope on the horizon. Currently a non-profit organization is being formed called the National Credit Repair Association (NCRA) This industry organization brings overdue legitimacy and integrity to the credit repair field, and represents all certified credit repair organizations. The idea is that accredited credit repair firms are overseen to ensure they embody top standards and ethics, and adhere to all applicable state and federal laws in their practices. In other words, the “BBB” of the Credit Repair Industry.

We highly recommend that you utilize this service when fully launched as it will force legitimate companies to sign up much like they would the BBB and it will also weed out the unscrupulous credit repair companies who do not wish to adhere to standards. The credit repair industry is a legal and much needed industry, but much like any “new fad” it’s going to take time to get regulated, weed out the scum and let the professionals rise to the top.

In closing, credit repair is something that most Americans will probably have to deal with at some point in their lives. It can be done by you with a little homework, accurate record keeping and patience, or you can hire a firm just as long as you’ve done your homework, insist the company is a member of The NCRA and make sure they are not breaking laws when dealing with your personal credit scores.

Having negative entries in your credit report? Looking for a credit repair agency to wipe out the blemishes. Stop! You could be heading for trouble. The three reasons listed in this article will open your eyes to the credit repair fraud. Read on to know how the credit repair companies are ripping you apart.

1. Credit repair companies take advantage fears of credit card holders with negative credit reports, and use it to fill up their coffers. To do this they aggressively market themselves as if they can get every single negative entry on your credit report removed. This is simply not the case. Naturally plenty of people see this as a great opportunity, aggressively marketing their credit repair companies to those in trouble.

2. They will charge hefty fees, upfront. Whether they succeed or not it doesn’t matter, and they won’t listen to you when they are unable to accomplish anything squarely blaming things on you. Some credit repair firms are outright scams. However, hard they might try to convince but the fact remains that credit repair companies do not have any special relation with the credit reporting companies. No insider contacts, no influential hands, no special powers. Don’t get fooled by their claims. Credit reporting agencies do not endorse any credit repair firms.

3. Despite what the ads might lead you to believe, credit repair companies don’t have any special relationship with the credit bureaus to make credit repair easier. They can’t magically get negative entries on your credit history erased. Some credit repair agencies suggest you fraudulent means to get a new credit history. This could involve changing your identity and starting afresh. Can you imagine how dangerous that can be?

Generally a credit repair company will only do things that you can do yourself.

One popular strategy is to get a copy of your credit history and challenge every negative entry. While this may seem like the credit repair company is taking action, in fact it’s quite likely that this will achieve nothing unless there’s genuinely been a mistake. And in the end, you can get the report and challenge entries without any help.

All that a credit repair agency does is to get a copy of your credit report and challenge every negative entry in it. This is not a very complicated thing and can be done by a person very easily. Why pay huge sums to those credit repair agencies then?

A good strategy for credit repair would be to get your credit report regularly. Check every entry in that credit report. If you keep a record of every financial transaction you make it will be very easy to substantiate your claim with credit rating agencies. Staying within your credit limits and not over-borrowing will keep you at a distance from the negative entries in your credit report and help build your credit history.

There are some benefits to using a credit repair company and there are some real disadvantages too. The first thing to think about is why you want to use a credit repair service? Is it because you have bad credit that you want to fix but simply don’t know how? If this is true then try reading a bit of information about how to fix bad credit to see if you think this is something you can do.

If you don’t have time to sit down, write letters and go through the credit reports to see what you can dispute, then a credit repair company is probably for you. A credit repair company will take care of all the tedious tasks that are involved in disputing bad credit marks on your credit report. You should however make sure that you use a company that knows the law so that they can properly understand your needs.

To fix bad credit yourself, all you have to do is request your credit report, read what’s on it when it arrives, and write a letter to dispute the bad credit that you believe is unfair or untrue. At this point you can also write to your creditors to try and negotiate a reasonable pay off plan in return for removing the debt from your credit history. When you pay a credit repair service, this is practically all they do. Firstly they request your credit report or reports, if they are requesting more than one report from the three big credit bureaus.

When not to use a credit repair company

A good credit repair service will be upfront and honest about what they can and can’t do. They will be clear about how much they charge and clear about what you will get from the service.

A bad credit repair service will probably do some the following:

* Try to confuse you with financial jargon so you don’t understand what they are doing

* Don’t tell you what your legal rights are

* Tell you not to contact one of the credit bureaus directly yourself

* Suggest that you try to invent a new credit identity and then apply for a new credit report. This can be done by applying for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) to use instead of your Social Security number.

* Tell you to try and remove all your bad credit regardless of whether it is true or not. If you do this and are found to be committing fraud, you may be held responsible yourself.

So if you are thinking about using a credit repair company you should remember three things:

* Only inaccurate information on your credit report can be removed. So if a credit repair service says they can repair you credit ‘guaranteed’, this simply isn’t true. Credit repair companies have actually been successfully sued for claiming they can remove bad credit when in fact they can’t.

* Credit repair companies can charge high prices for doing something that is pretty routine, so don’t pay big prices because it probably isn’t worth it.

* When a credit repair organization requests your credit report, the credit companies won’t accept any disputes unless it is accompanied by a notarized power of attorney that authorizes a licensed attorney or if the power of attorney is unlimited and irrevocable. Alternatively you or a family member can do it on your behalf.

Using a credit repair service can greatly help you to start to repair your credit score quickly as they can quickly identify where the problems lie in your credit report and highlight any errors that may have been made.