 
Credit repair can be a difficult and confusing process. Legal credit repair services do not engage in making false promises, suggesting illegal practices, or skirting the rules governing legal credit repair services as contained in laws, Acts and rules such as the those defined by the Credit Repair Organizations Act.
Consumers wishing to access legitimate services to address bad credit reports often find the selection of a genuine company confusing and next to impossible. This is understandable, considering the quantity of companies offering credit repair services searchable on the Internet. The information on this page is intended to help consumers find legal credit repair services, by helping them understand the very basics of what can be lawfully achieved through credit repair.
What Legal Credit Repair Services Can Do
Legitimate credit repair centers around removing inaccurate, out of date, and unproven items from your credit reports. Credit repair companies are bound by several laws, Acts, and rules, some of which are specifically intended to protect consumers who seek a legal means to remove false items from credit reports. These Acts also demand compliance both from companies that offer credit repair services, and Consumer Reporting Agencies who collect and sell credit information about you.
Learn more about the laws and Acts that govern the credit industry.
Look for these signs to spot an illegitimate credit repair company:
1) Beware of False Promises
Repairing credit reports takes time and effort. Any company that suggests they can fix your credit in under 30 days is a fake. Any company that guarantees that they can fix your credit report is a fake. No legitimate provider of credit repair services can guarantee anything until they have looked at your credit reports to assess what, if any, negative information
they contain.
2) Removing Accurate Items
There is no one, and no credit repair company, that can remove accurate information from your credit report. This is true whether they are lawyers, paralegals, accountants, or anyone else. Only items that can be proven false or out of date can be removed from credit reports.
3) Suggesting Illegal Actions
Any company that suggests you apply for a new social insurance number or name change is a fraud. Doing so is illegal. These companies are not only breaking the law, they are suggesting you do to!
4) Free Credit Report Frauds
A program was mandated by Congress through the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003. This program was phased in across the country, every area was entitled to free credit reports from the three Consumer Reporting Agencies annually. Learn about this Act on our free credit reports page.
The FTC has worked diligently to inform consumers that there is only one place to request these credit reports. However, fraudulent companies continue to proliferate the Internet, demanding payment for reports and/or automatic signup to credit repair programs. These websites and programs are not legitimate. Learn more from the FTC's free credit reports webpage.
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