Are all credit repair organizations just scams?
http://www.financemeter.net/articles/13748/1/Are-all-credit-repair-organizations-just-scams/Page1.html
Stuart Hunter
Providing credit repair services since 1991, Lexington Law has helped over 500,000 clients legally take on their credit. Last year alone, Lexington Law helped clients remove over 600,000 negative items from their credit reports. By Stuart Hunter
Published on 07/20/2009
Critics are quick to generalize that any credit repair firm is a fraud. Granted, there's nothing anyone can do for you that you cannot do yourself, but this does not mean they do not have a purpose. Much like a mechanic who fixes up your car, credit repair law firms like Lexington Law use their knowledge and experience to work on your credit for you.
Are all credit repair organizations just scams?
For every website that advocates using a credit repair organization, it seems like there are three more that claim credit repair firms are a complete rip-off. But when you think about it, if there really isn't such thing as a legitimate credit repair service, why are there laws dictating how a credit repair company should operate instead of federal laws making the practice illegal? Why does the FTC make the distinction on their website of "a legitimate credit repair operation" and why do they provide tips to help you select a credit repair company? Why if offering credit repair is such a shady practice are there large and very public firms who have been doing so for many years? And why, if credit repair services are a sham, are there so many people who have had so much success fixing their credit with the help of a credit repair law firm?
It's obvious by now that there is such thing as a legitimate credit repair company. When you take a few moments to understand more about credit repair, you will see why this is is so. As has been argued many times by critics of credit repair services, there's nothing a credit repair service does for you that you cannot do yourself. The critics are accurate on this point.
Credit repair companies don't do anything you can't do for yourself. You have the right to dispute any questionable items in your credit reports directly with the credit bureaus. You also have the right to work with your individual creditors in an attempt to get them to stop reporting negative accounts on your credit file or start reporting positive items. You also have an assortment of legal rights under the FCBA and the FDCPA to more forcefully request that creditors and collectors stop reporting negative items to the credit bureaus and all of this can be done by yourself, in the comfort of your own home, and at very little monetary cost. Of course, this could be said for many of the services you pay for already.
Credit repair law firms perform these tasks for you. Much like a mechanic you pay to maintain your car, you are paying a credit repair organization to perform a service you have the right to perform for yourself. But as is also the scenario with the other services, when using a credit repair organization you are taking advantage of their knowledge and experience. And in the end, you likely will end up with better results than if you had attempted to do the job yourself. You may also find that the saved time, effort, and frustration easily outweighs the cost of attempting to do the job yourself.
Credit repair works; the many thousands of people out there who have increased their credit scores after proactively working to repair their credit is evidence of that fact. And since credit repair services merely perform the same credit repair tasks for you, as long as you select a reputable credit repair organization like Lexington Law to lend you a hand, using a credit repair company works as well if not better than working to clean your credit report yourself.
It's obvious by now that there is such thing as a legitimate credit repair company. When you take a few moments to understand more about credit repair, you will see why this is is so. As has been argued many times by critics of credit repair services, there's nothing a credit repair service does for you that you cannot do yourself. The critics are accurate on this point.
Credit repair companies don't do anything you can't do for yourself. You have the right to dispute any questionable items in your credit reports directly with the credit bureaus. You also have the right to work with your individual creditors in an attempt to get them to stop reporting negative accounts on your credit file or start reporting positive items. You also have an assortment of legal rights under the FCBA and the FDCPA to more forcefully request that creditors and collectors stop reporting negative items to the credit bureaus and all of this can be done by yourself, in the comfort of your own home, and at very little monetary cost. Of course, this could be said for many of the services you pay for already.
Credit repair law firms perform these tasks for you. Much like a mechanic you pay to maintain your car, you are paying a credit repair organization to perform a service you have the right to perform for yourself. But as is also the scenario with the other services, when using a credit repair organization you are taking advantage of their knowledge and experience. And in the end, you likely will end up with better results than if you had attempted to do the job yourself. You may also find that the saved time, effort, and frustration easily outweighs the cost of attempting to do the job yourself.
Credit repair works; the many thousands of people out there who have increased their credit scores after proactively working to repair their credit is evidence of that fact. And since credit repair services merely perform the same credit repair tasks for you, as long as you select a reputable credit repair organization like Lexington Law to lend you a hand, using a credit repair company works as well if not better than working to clean your credit report yourself.