What services do most Credit Repair companies have to offer?

Submitted by AMG Consulting… on Tue, 10/21/2008 - 19:35
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Do they just do dispute letters? What happens after they verify the debt you do owe? Do they negotiate payment agreements? Do they stop harassing phone calls? Do the financially help you as well as help your credit?

When you see Credit Repair; what do you think?

What and who? You can do most of this yourself....You can negotiate your debt. They are usually tired of trying to get their money from the debtor that they are willing to work with them. Stop the harassment...cease and desist letter...you can alos send your self.

Tue, 10/21/2008 - 22:11 Permalink

Credit repair services only remove the negative listings, which are not correct, from your credit report. Correct listings can never be removed from your report. These repair agencies basically remove the hard inquiry listings which are not authorized, from your report. They also help you to make repayment plans with the creditors and negotiates with the creditors for a discount on the outstanding debt. The credit repair agencies do not help you with financially but can help you to get debt consolidation loans to pay off the existing high interest debt.

Wed, 10/22/2008 - 10:26 Permalink

Hi AMG
The credit repair agencies cannot stop the harassment calls that are made by the collection agencies. To stop these calls you can file a complaint against them to the FTC and the state Attorney General's office. You can also file a complaint to the BBB by visiting the link BBB

Wed, 10/22/2008 - 10:57 Permalink

So as I had wanted to say..Just do it yourself because you really can accomplish these things by yourself and not have to pay someone to do it for you. You laso get the added benefit of first hand experience of correcting your own report and if later in life something comes up you do not have to rehire an agency to fix it...you can just do it yourself.

Wed, 10/22/2008 - 16:11 Permalink

It is funny. I hired lexiton law firm awhile back and all they did was send letters that were two sentences to the credit bureaus. Experian sent me the letter and said they were unable to verify because they thought it came from a third party. When I read the letter it looked like a 10 year old wrote it. I have had much better results doing it myself

Thu, 10/23/2008 - 00:43 Permalink

The answer to all your questions is yes...a repair company does help in all such actions. I know one repair company which posses some unique features then other such companies..."http://www.creditboostdirect.com/"is a company which allows to dispute all items in one go...it do provide a free credit builder program and offers several credit builder tools along with consumer credit counseling...

Thu, 10/23/2008 - 05:34 Permalink

hi creditcard
That is the main reason why we at this forum always suggest you to repair your credit by yourself. These credit repair companies advertises that they will give utmost value for your money, but in fact most of them are scams. They take a huge amount of money as fees and vanish with your money. So never get attracted by their free offers because they trap customers by these offers, and once you sign in for their services, you pay hundreds of dollars for which you get no return.

Thu, 10/23/2008 - 07:44 Permalink

I was looking into Lexington Law, myself. They faxed me a few things.....you'll never believe it!! Some of the things they faxed was NOT what I asked for. For example: I told them which creditors i needed to pay off. I don't know what the heck they heard me say, but, I would say half of the info, they had, was inncorrect. I mean.......Credtors info was wrong, balances were wrong, etc. And I just asked for a 'rough draft' of what they would be sending to my Creditors. Gosh...I'm glad I din't send them any money or start a contract with them of any kind.

Fri, 10/24/2008 - 02:05 Permalink

I hear you, sounds like they were jumping the gun there, hun. I have heard both good and bad about them.

Fri, 10/24/2008 - 02:08 Permalink

Yep.....I've read on this forum of people who had Lexington Law and it 'worked for them.' However.........REALLY din't work for me. LOL

Fri, 10/24/2008 - 02:13 Permalink

I really don't know much about them, I probably would not be up to giving up my money.

Fri, 10/24/2008 - 02:15 Permalink

Lexington Law 'TALKS' professionally, but, the paperwork, I received from them, tells me the opposite. Seemed like they just 'jotted down' a few things ( without putting much effort into it..) When i saw that, I wasn't too impressed. I'm thinking to myself, " is this the way they converse with the Creditors?" Gosh........the 'draft' paperwork looked like a child drew them up. Really kind of sad......a 'professional' company?

Fri, 10/24/2008 - 09:47 Permalink

So in other words most credit repair companies out there just send dispute letters and remove incorrect information on your credit report.

If that is true... everyone can do that online in 30 mins. On each Consumer website, you can sign up and do formal disputes. The results can take as long as 30 business days, but you get it done quickly.

I disagree with Anthony when he says, "Correct listings can never be removed from your report."

They can be removed if you pay and make an agreement to get them removed. It's something you can do yourself, but the process is time consuming and you would need to cater the agreement to each specific debt you are paying and make sure the company follows up with the agreement.

sdchargers, did you ever get the help you needed. What were you trying to get done?

Fri, 10/24/2008 - 18:23 Permalink

I was trying to find out what different Credit Repair companies can do. There are several people, on this forum, that say "we can do it ourselves." And, with all of the advice and 'direction' on this site, I tend to believe them. AMG..you're saying that a Repair company can remove 'correct' items, right? And we can make arrangements to do that, right? Several companies, that I have spoken to are telling me the opposite..they CANNOT remove something that is accurate on your CR. FIREYONE has a great point.i...f something came up later, on your CR, you can 'fix' it yourself, since you would ALREADY know how to deal with it.

Sat, 10/25/2008 - 23:38 Permalink

Anyone can remove a correct item on a report depending on the circumstance.

Say you owe 35k to Midland Credit Management. This item after inevstigation is proven to be correct.

There is a way to have this paid and removed from your report.

You negotiate a pay off agreement that also removes it from your report.

They get what they want and you get what you want.

This is what I meant. We have a similar case where a client owed 37k and we got it paid off for $9500 and removed from his report for good.

It's a service we offer and would not agree upon doing unless it helped our clients credit.

You can go ahead and do this yourself, but when you have a 3rd party involved, it takes away all of the drama that you would have to deal with bargaining with these Collection Agencies.

Maybe you don't understand if you never had to deal with one of them on the phone.

www.AMGconsultinggroup.com

Sun, 10/26/2008 - 00:33 Permalink

I can see how having someone else do it would remove some stress but a person really should learn how to get themselves out of a credit mess. Also if that debt is passed from collector to collector and has left the hands of the original creditor then the only marks you can have removed from your report is the one from the current debt collector. The original creditors bad mark will stay on for the 7 years.

Sun, 10/26/2008 - 00:37 Permalink

When we write the agreement, all third parties must remove the item as well, including but not limited to: multiple postings, tranfers etc.

Providian was posting him as a charge off... after the agreement with MCM, both were removed.

I have been working with my partner on these agreements for a year and I still don't feel ready to handle it on my own. These companies are vicious; I commend anyone that has the time and patience to handle it themselves.

There should be classes that teach this... maybe we should all get together and start a school. :)

www.amgconsultinggroup.com

Sun, 10/26/2008 - 00:47 Permalink

Amen to your last comment there. I delt with these vicious companies before. Providian can be a really aggravating one. I am glad to see that someone can get the original creditor to remove there listing. Most don't want anything to do with the account once it has been sold.

Sun, 10/26/2008 - 00:54 Permalink

Ok.....now I'm seeing (almost?) a contradictory of stories. ONE of you says the negative item can be removed, even if it is 'correct'. ANOTHER says the item will stay on your CR (reguardless!!) for 7 years. I'm a bit confused.

Sun, 10/26/2008 - 03:06 Permalink

OK Sd I am a little confused here too because I have never seen a negative removed that was put on their by the original creditor unless they still owned the debt. I really think that has a slim to none chance of even happening but I was giving a little credit to the possibility. Usually only the debt collecotr will remove the listing and only if you ask for it and get it in writing in the beginning, Think of it this way: You sold a car to a friend and they didn't finish paying you the $1000 they owed you on it. So you take it back and resell it to another for less than you were owed..say $300. Well that new owner sells it back to the person who had bought it from you and now they want that person to pay the $1000 that was owed. Either way you were out $300. So would you help this person out again of they never paid you the full amount but paid someone else...Nope you wouldn't want anything to do with them...So if you owe the OC but paid the debt collector why would they (the OC) want to help you out by removing the debt sonce you never paid them?

Sun, 10/26/2008 - 23:27 Permalink

I don't see that happening for anyone. Why would the OC help YOU out, when you owe HIM/HER money? Makes no sense. If I were 'out money', I wouldn't help the same person again.

Mon, 10/27/2008 - 01:35 Permalink
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Tue, 08/05/2014 - 15:26 Permalink