Credit Repair Agency

[marty56]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi, can anyone recommend a good credit repair agency that can help me repair my credit? Thank you so much. moondancelady

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This forum.  It's free, impartial and way better than anything you can buy.

[Anonymous]

THank you so much. I've started gathering information and am mailing some letters off to the credit reporting agencies in the morning. I am actually excited! hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha Will keep you all posted moondancelady

[RobertEG]

For those with neither the time nor inclination to learn the basics of credit reporting and credit repair, use of a CRO is certainly better than doing nothing.

However, in my opinion, if one knows the basics, they can probably, in most instances, do a better job themselves.

If the CRO is basicially just sending off GW letters, the substance of those letters must be based on the consumer's own situation.

By the time those are explained to the CRO, one could have just as easily composed and sent the GW on their own. 

If credit repair requires disputes over accuracy of information in one's credit file, that is, in my opinion, where the signficant disadvantages of using a CRO come to roost.

I do not recommend disputing through a CRA for many reasons, the most important of which is their sanitation of your dispute by their use of the e-OSCAR automated resolution process. The availability of the new direct dispute process permits a consumer to bypass all of the CRA meddling, and send their dispute directly to the furnisher of the disputed information.  CROs are explicitly banned under the FCRA from using the direct dispute process.  The implementing rules go so far as to prevent them from even providing forms for use by the consumer to assist them in preparation of a direct dispute.  A huge disadvantage in obtaining successful dispute resolution.

And I see no way for a CRO to advise on either the propriety or substance of any PFD offers.  Only the consumer knows what can be offered.

In my opinion, to know whether they are doing a good job requires that the consumer have a basic understanding of the process.  For those with a basic understanding, they can probably do a better job themselves.  Only the consumer has the personal interest in following through, and the knowledge of their own accounts that forms the basis for actions taken.

[rckstrscott]

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@MattH wrote:
I do not know much about Lexington Law, but one thing I did learn when I spent half an hour online reading about them a while back: they appear to be very good at gaming the search engines by creating many websites which appear to be independent but on close reading are basically shills. If somebody goes to a lot of effort to create apparently independent websites, well let's just say that does not give me a warm fuzzy feeling about them.

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Most of those websites ARE independent, Lexington Law offers a really substantial 'affliliate program', meaning the webmaster makes a really good chunk of money when a sale comes from their website.. It is a super common way for companies to expand their web reach. They give a cut of profit to an independent web owner when someone purchases the product after being linked from that website, and lexlaw gets the sale AND the linkback from the website, which adds to their web reach.. There is nothing iffy about this, this is how SEO works... I have first hand experience working wtih LexLaw from the online marketing standpoint.. when I was in the blogging game, I had over 100 websites, one of which was a 'credit repair' website. It was a crap. I actually bought it on eBay and signed up for the LexLaw affiliate program. I made a few dollars off sales from my site. Blogging wasn't worth the time, so I backed out of the web game about 4 years ago. But yeah, that is why there are SO many crappy credit repair websites, because they are targeting uninformed consumers.

Funny thing, this was 2007 before I get into serious credit problems. Now that I am rebuilding, it is funny how crap that site I administered was. Never again.. ha

But, from a marketing standpoint, that doesn't really mean they are creating websites to try to sucker people it. It means they are using their already decent reach to convince other people to help them sell their product. This is Business 101.

-scott

[Brian_Trying_700]

Scott. YOU ROCK. You are a straight up guy. Well said.

[rckstrscott]

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@Brian_Trying_700 wrote:

Scott. YOU ROCK. You are a straight up guy. Well said.

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I did my entire credit rebuild on my own, after I read the reviews of services, doing research ect ect..

This forum was the reason I decided to try it on my own. And the forum users are the reason I have gotten to where I am now.

Lexington Law was one of the first things I considered because of their web presence and the amount of chatter, good and bad, about them.

On the internet, we all know that complaints will outweigh positive information 100 to 1.

I don't think Lexington Law should immediately be bad mouthed because of the service they provide. The have found a nice foothold in a pretty profitable niche. This is also Business 101. RobertEG made a valid point, essentially anything that they can do, you can do on your own. But this is valid for many buisinesses. I can build a home if I wanted to .I could purchase supplies, learn skills, register permits, purchase land. Just because you CAN do it, doesn't mean you WANT to do it. Some people prefer to be hands off. In that case you hire someone or a service. If the end results aren't what you expected, then you take it up with that business, or you treat it as a life lesson learned. 

Lots of people claim to have had great success with them, many more claim they got results but its the same as they would have gotten on their own, and many complain about being ripped off because they felt they were promised something that wasn't delivered. I get all that.

My OPINION after doing my own research is; I didn't think I could get enough out of their service, and I like the hands on approach of doing it myself, and I didn't want to spend a monthly fee for something that seems to ebb and flow.

Companies like Lexington Law do serve a purpose. Do they serve your purpose is the question one should be asking themselves.

-scott

[LS2982]

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@rckstrscott wrote:

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@Brian_Trying_700 wrote:

Scott. YOU ROCK. You are a straight up guy. Well said.

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I did my entire credit rebuild on my own, after I read the reviews of services, doing research ect ect..

This forum was the reason I decided to try it on my own. And the forum users are the reason I have gotten to where I am now.

Lexington Law was one of the first things I considered because of their web presence and the amount of chatter, good and bad, about them.

On the internet, we all know that complaints will outweigh positive information 100 to 1.

I don't think Lexington Law should immediately be bad mouthed because of the service they provide. The have found a nice foothold in a pretty profitable niche. This is also Business 101. RobertEG made a valid point, essentially anything that they can do, you can do on your own. But this is valid for many buisinesses. I can build a home if I wanted to .I could purchase supplies, learn skills, register permits, purchase land. Just because you CAN do it, doesn't mean you WANT to do it. Some people prefer to be hands off. In that case you hire someone or a service. If the end results aren't what you expected, then you take it up with that business, or you treat it as a life lesson learned. 

Lots of people claim to have had great success with them, many more claim they got results but its the same as they would have gotten on their own, and many complain about being ripped off because they felt they were promised something that wasn't delivered. I get all that.

My OPINION after doing my own research is; I didn't think I could get enough out of their service, and I like the hands on approach of doing it myself, and I didn't want to spend a monthly fee for something that seems to ebb and flow.

Companies like Lexington Law do serve a purpose. Do they serve your purpose is the question one should be asking themselves.

-scott

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+1

[MattH]

Be that as it may, the consequence of their SEO makes finding truly independent web sites extremely difficult to find. Even if these are only afffiliates, they do have a financial relationship with Lexington Law. Usually when I research some company online I find much more in the way of apparently-independent information than I managed to find about these people.

[Anonymous]

You all rock! I have ordered my credit reports and am calling each of them to ask about having old items removed. Am I correct in asking them to remove anything that is over seven years old? Moondancelady 

[Anonymous]

Thank you, Marty. Yes, I am seeing that the information and advise I am reading is addressing each of my concerns! I am actually getting excited about repairing my credit, which is something I had avoided in the past. Thank you all so much! moondancelady