Scams. There are a multitude of "credit repair services" that are nothing more than scams, that break laws, that take your money for little return or to do something illegal to your credit or to just disappear. However, there are a few legit credit lawyers out there that can provide a beneficial service, IF you know what to expect.
1. You have a horrible credit report.
Your credit report is full of collections, unpaid accounts, charge-offs, and other bad stuff. You can raise your score by paying your bills on time, but those negative items on your report will only drop off after 7 years.
2. You lack patience and persistence.
Cleaning up your report, disputing incorrect items, closing accounts that still say "unpaid" and so on will take lots and lots of letter writing, research, and so on. And you'll have to respond to letters, and keep it up, and on and on. It won't be easy.
3. You need your credit score repaired quickly.
As mentioned, everything on your credit report will eventually drop off, most items in 7 years, bankruptcy in 10. But perhaps you can't wait that long. Perhaps you need a car or house quickly and you need good credit to get them.
4. You are prepared to work on your score by yourself.
You FICO score can only be improved by paying bills on time, and paying down your debt. No one can do this for your, and there are no tricks or magical bullets in doing it. No credit repair lawyer can help you here.
5. You recognize what credit restoration lawyers aren't.
They aren't magic bullets, and they won't make your credit score magically go up. Only you can do that. The last "magic bullet" trick to doing this known as piggybacking, is no longer possible. A credit repair lawyer will only write letters for you to help you clean up your report, whilst you work on paying your bills. That's it. |
