In 2023, the top credit repair companies stand out for their professionalism, transparency, and ability to help clients swiftly resolve credit issues by working diligently to rectify discrepancies and boost credit scores. Addressing credit problems can be a demanding and time-intensive process, as various negative items may linger on your credit report for extended periods, including:
- Bankruptcy filings
- Late payments
- Civil judgments
While there are methods to enhance credit scores in a relatively short time, cultivating long-term habits that maintain high credit scores is vital. Just as negative items can remain on your credit report for a considerable duration, positive items can have a lasting impact as well. However, determining where to begin can be challenging for individuals.
Reputable credit repair companies serve as valuable resources, possessing the necessary experience and expertise to steer clients’ credit back on course. These firms specialize in identifying and disputing inaccuracies on credit reports.
It’s crucial to remember that, since these companies handle sensitive information, you must conduct thorough research to ensure the security and protection of your private data. Fortunately, this guide provides up-to-date insights on the top five credit repair companies in 2023, highlighting their pricing, transparency, and processes.
Table of Contents
1. Credit Saint: Best Overall
Fiscal Tiger’s Score: 4.9/5 Stars
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- Free credit evaluation with a professional credit analyst ($19.95 value)
- Offers a 90-day money back guarantee
- BBB score of A+ for 10 years
- Work directly with all three credit bureaus to remove negative and inaccurate items from your credit history
Monthly Fee: $79.99 to $119.99
Phone: 1-855-414-1899
Cancellation: Month-to-month
Credit Saint has been open since 2004 in an effort to help Americans fix their negative credit history. Their services are backed by a 90-day money back guarantee; you can expect a full non-negotiable refund if you don’t see negative remarks removed from your credit history in the first 90 days. Credit Saint offers three plan tiers:
- Credit Polish at $79.99 per month
- Credit Remodel at $99.99 per month
- Clean Slate at $199.99 per month
Credit Saint has received a BBB score of A+ for over 10 years, which is one of many reasons why this is one of the best credit repair companies in the United States. In addition they work directly with all three credit bureaus to remove negative and inaccurate items and also offer a no-obligation free consultation to go over your credit history.
Get your FREE credit evaluation from Credit Saint today (a $19.95 value)!
2. Lexington Law by Progrexion: Best Legal Expertise
Fiscal Tiger’s Score: 4.75/5 Stars
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- Actual attorneys to help dispute fraudulent claims
- Free credit consultation that shows customers recommended solutions
- One-on-one conversation with a dedicated attorney to answer questions
- Lexington Law can contact credit bureaus on your behalf to dispute
- 10 million negative items removed from credit reports in 2017 alone
Monthly Fee: $59.95 to $139.95
Phone: 1-833-333-8277
Cancellation: Month-to-month
Lexington Law uses actual attorneys to help dispute fraudulent claims on credit reports. They offer a free credit consultation that shows customers recommended solutions and you can engage in a one-on-one conversation to answer any questions. The firm has three plan tiers:
- PremierPlus at $139.95 per month
- Concord Premier at $119.95 per month
- Concord Standard at $99.95 per month
- Lexington Essentials at $59.95 per month
The more advanced plans provide more services, however, with any plan you can have Lexington Law contact the credit bureaus on your behalf to dispute claims. The firm also boasts a total of 10 million negative items removed from credit reports in 2017 alone, indicating that they have a high success rate.
Repair your credit today with Lexington Law by Progrexion.
3. CreditRepair.com: Best Packages
Fiscal Tiger’s Score: 4.7/5 Stars
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- Closely monitors your credit score for you
- File claims and deals directly with creditors on your behalf
- Challenges creditors to verify negative items
- Free credit score check
Monthly Fee: $99.95
Phone: 1-800-232-6499
Cancellation: Month-to-month
CreditRepair.com monitors your credit score for questionable negative items. If the creditors cannot verify the negative items, they are legally obligated to stop reporting them.
CreditRepair.com saves users the hassle of filing claims and dealing with creditors. After disputing negative claims, they watch your credit report to address future claims so you can reach your credit goals. CreditRepair.com has three tiers of payment plans:
- Aggressive: Recommended for those with a lot of negative items
- Moderate: Recommended for those with a reasonable amount of negative items
- Basic: Recommended for those with only a few negative items
However, if you don’t want to pay for their services, you can still check your credit score for free. That way, you can still understand which negative items are affecting your credit score, which is a good starting point for increasing it.
Repair your credit today with CreditRepair.com.
4. CreditFirm: Best Customer Service
Fiscal Tiger’s Score: 4.5/5 Stars
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- Credit repair law firm that helps customers remove negative items from their credit reports
- Free credit consultation that includes review of credit report and an action plan
- Superior customer service and professional legal advice
- Works directly with creditors to dispute derogatory marks on your behalf
Monthly Fee: $49.99
Phone: 1-800-750-1416
Cancellation: Month-to-month
CreditFirm is a credit repair law firm that helps customers remove negative items from their credit report, including:
- Bankruptcy
- Judgments
- Tax liens
- Collections
- Charge-offs
- Late payments
- Repossessions
- Foreclosures
CreditFirm offers a free credit consultation, which includes a review of your credit report and an action plan to help you improve it and reach your predetermined goal. CreditFirm prides itself on superior customer service and professional legal advice. The company works directly with creditors and uses the law to their advantage in order to dispute derogatory marks on your credit report.
CreditFirm offers a pay-as-you-go plan for $49.99 a month. However, you can cancel at any time if you don’t see the results you want.
Repair your credit today with Credit Firm.
5. CreditZO: Best Budget and Automation
Fiscal Tiger’s Score: 4.6/5 Stars
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- Uses software to scan your credit report and dispute negative items
- Sends personalized tips and tricks on how to increase your credit score
- Users don’t have to pay anything for credit repair services (no hidden fees)
- Sends notifications about ongoing disputes and updates on your credit report
Monthly Fee: Free
Phone: N/A
Cancellation: Month-to-month
CreditZO (ZO) uses software to scan your credit report and dispute any negative items. To use this free service, users must create an account, authorize ZO to dispute on their behalf, and connect their credit report. Then, they will send personalized tips and tricks on how to increase your credit score while also generating loans that match your credit history. ZO makes many claims for their free service, including:
- Users don’t have to pay anything for credit repair services
- There are no hidden fees
- Disputes start as soon as you sign up
- You will receive notifications about ongoing disputes and updates to your credit report
For people who like automation and artificial intelligence, ZO is a convenient way to dispute negative credit items without having to monitor it yourself.
Repair your credit today with CreditZO.
Key Credit Repair Tips
Good credit is crucial to reaching many milestones in life, from buying a home to landing a dream job. However, life won’t wait around until you sift through your CreditZO one by one. Even then, your efforts may not be successful.
Luckily, there are professionals in the field that offer assistance. The best credit repair companies are listed above, but here is the nitty gritty of how they work and whether or not your situation calls for credit repair backup.
How Credit Repair Companies Work
Credit repair is the process by which poor credit standing is remediated due to any underlying issues. A variety of factors may cause negative items to appear on your credit report. If there are discrepancies, you can dispute them by reaching out to the appropriate credit bureau.
If the inconsistencies on your credit report are complex, this may be time-consuming and challenging. You have to do your due diligence by investigating whether the mistakes on your report are, in fact, inaccurately reported.
Then, the bureaus typically have about a month to get back to you after contacting the organization and conducting a thorough investigation. If you’re struggling to determine the accuracy of items or you simply don’t have time to jump through these hoops, there are other options.
Luckily, dedicated credit repair companies exist. Note the difference between credit repair counseling and credit repair services. If you want a company to be more hands-on and handle the difficult tasks for you, that’s when a credit repair company comes in.
While specific licensure isn’t necessary to carry out credit repair, many credit repair services have certifications and experience that you won’t find elsewhere. From law firms to financial professionals, credit repair companies have experts to help restore your credit score to good health.
What Credit Repair Companies Do
Credit repair companies offer expertise and take on responsibility for finding and disputing errors on your credit report. This can be anything from a misattributed debt due to a name misspelling to a single item hurting your credit in multiple ways.
Sometimes, companies that mistakenly charged you are even defunct, leading to more problems. As long as there are actual errors to be found, credit repair companies will do their best to take care of those errors for you.
They handle reaching out to the credit bureaus and creditors, taking the pressure off and bringing professionalism, knowledge, and years of experience to the table. Usually, there are fees associated with this, and most companies offer different package levels depending on the complexity of your credit situation.
When You Should Use Credit Repair Services
There are warning signs that let you know it’s time to repair your credit. Essentially, credit repair services are a great option if:
- You need to purchase or do something that requires better credit;
- You found errors on your report that are too difficult to tackle by yourself;
- You think there are mistakes, but you can’t find them;
- You simply don’t have enough time to dedicate to credit repair.
Credit repair companies scan your reports for inaccurate info and dispute it for you, saving you the time and headache. Some credit repair organizations will even monitor future reports to make sure the discrepancy doesn’t appear again.
Credit repair professionals are well-educated as to what actions improve a credit score, informing their process and helping raise your score at a faster rate than tackling it on your own.
How Long It Takes to Fix Credit
Fixing your credit could take several years, dependent on the severity of the damage. Quick fixes for credit aren’t normally possible, but if there are errors on your reports, there could be an exception.
If your credit has been damaged due to financial negligence on your part, you will have to work diligently to bring that number back up and remain in good standing. However, if there are mistakes, you can seek the help of credit repair companies. Fixing simple mistakes can potentially fast-track your credit repair and show improvement in as little as one or two months.
How Much Credit Repair Will Cost You
A variety of price points are available for credit repair services. Often, companies will offer free consultations to determine whether you need to move forward with credit repair.
They can recommend certain packages, but it’s nice to have an idea of the amount of help you’d like before going into that first consultation. Typically, monthly fees are associated with credit help. This can range anywhere from free plans to plans tallying upwards of $200.
Is It Actually Worth It to Pay Someone to Fix Your Credit?
The lower your credit score and the more complex your issues, the more you will likely pay. However, low credit can be costing you even more in other ways.
For instance, your credit card interest rates will be higher with poor credit standing. This doesn’t seem like much, but it racks up as the months go on. If this is your situation, it would be wise to look into putting out the initial investment for credit repair assistance and avoiding those high interest fees going forward.
How to Make Sure a Credit Repair Service Is Legit
Since you’re working with sensitive information, it’s important to ensure the legitimacy of the credit repair company you choose. If you conduct an internet search on a particular company, reviews and articles will likely come up.
Companies like CreditZO and Lexington Law are legitimate, and there are in-depth investigative articles out there to prove it. If there isn’t much information on the particular agency you are considering, you may have to dig deeper.
Is Credit Repair Legal?
Simply put, credit repair is legal. Rules and regulations are put in place to protect the public from credit repair scams. The Credit Repair Organizations Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act require organizations to adhere to these rules.
For instance, clients of credit repair companies are given cancellation rights. A contract is required, and credit repair organizations must perform the claimed services. Further, these organizations may not make misleading claims.
All of the legal jargon aside, these laws are put in place just to protect the people. Most credit repair organizations will clearly adhere to these rules, and you can rest assured that they are legal and legit.
Credit repair isn’t illegal in any form. It’s illegal for a company to pretend like they are attempting to fix your credit while actually selling your private info. All of the sites that are established by the BBB as accredited organizations are legal and law-abiding, as well as downright helpful.
Credit Repair Reviews
If you’re still on the fence about a specific credit repair company, check out the reviews. For example, CreditRepair.com reviews provide insight on features such as:
- Ability to check your own credit report;
- How much it costs;
- Average time it takes to repair credit;
- App availability;
- Alert functions;
- User-friendly interface.
Reviews on other trustworthy sites, as well as app store reviews, BBB reports, forum threads, and reviews right on the product site, are all available to peruse. You should take advantage of these and see if all of your necessary needs have been met in others’ similar situations. This can help you make the right credit repair company choice.
Is Cheap or Free Credit Repair a Scam?
With the plethora of options available, it may be overwhelming to choose a credit repair company. The cheaper — or even free — services are the most appealing financially, especially considering that potential clients are probably strapped for cash in the first place.
While credit repair is a legitimate field with a variety of viable agencies, it’s still imperative to beware of scammers. If the cost seems too good to be true, do your homework. Usually, there will be glaring signs of a credit repair scam. Some ways to be sure that the credit professionals you are working with are, indeed, professional include:
- A missing or incomplete contract;
- Not receiving a copy of the “Consumer Credit File Rights Under State and Federal Law”;
- Payment requested upfront;
- Signing anything that waives your rights;
- Fishy requests, such as creating a new Social Security number.
Credit repair companies are required by law to do certain things for customers to ensure their safety. For instance, agencies of this type must let clients know that they have the option to perform credit services on their own.
Other requirements are often skipped, such as not asking customers to pay upfront. In this case, keep an eye out for other credit scam red flags. A legit credit repair agency will never ask you to do anything compromising or strange, such as claim identity theft when it hasn’t actually happened.
Do Credit Repair Companies Really Work?
In short, credit repair companies do actually work. Credit repair companies aren’t permitted by law to make any outright promises to improve your credit, but that doesn’t take away from their usefulness. In fact, they have helped countless individuals boost their credit.
Provided you have actual mistakes present on your reports, a credit repair agency can help mitigate those errors. Otherwise, you will have to remediate derogatory marks by alleviating debts you actually owe.
As long as you do your research and check out a comprehensive credit repair guide, you’re prepared to work with a credit repair company that can suit your needs. Refer back to this list of the best credit repair companies to get started on the right path to fixing your credit.
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