credit repair/lexington law

[Anonymous]

I looked into lexington law and some others before coming to these boards. After being here for almost 2 months. I am pretty sure lexington law couldn't have done a better job in the last 2 months. The other thing I think is that if you repair your credit yourself and learn how it all works, after your credit is repaired you know alot more. i am so happy i didnt use a credit repair company and love these boards, they have been soo much help, i was so clueless on getting credit cleaned up. I only wish I would have come here earlier.

[ARlexy]

I am a former employee of lexington law firm. There are a few things people should know before signing up for their service.
The people who work there ARE NOT PARALEGALS!! when you call in it is a call center, they have their employes take very simple tests once ever 3-4 months, most of them are right out of highschool. YOU DO NOT HAVE any paralegals or attorneys working on your case, the whole system is automated, they have a internal system that automatically generates the letters . The whole system works on it's own and most of the employes that work there have no idea how credit works. Also they BREAK THE CROA LAWS!! on a daily basis... they do this 2 different ways. 1. when they upload an Experian report alot of the times because of the way Experian lists the item Their system marks it as it was deleted off of your credit report and they move it to a positive credit line. they then send out to the customer an email and post it on their website that it was removed from the report when it was not...  THIS IS A VIOLATION OF FEDERAL LAW. 2. also their data entry team makes many many many mistakes when entering reports, this is also VIOLATION OF CROA. they have been aware of the flaw in their systems for over a year and still have not made any attempts to fix it.

 Now on to why you pay a monthly fee.. according to CROA they can not bill you till after they do the work. how they do this is, they tell you that they will not dispute all of your items at once because it can make the credit reporting agency's give you a negitive response.. this is a lie, if they disputed everything at once they would have to wait 60-90 days to re-dispute the, and they would not be able to charge you a fee for that time. By doing it the way they do they can drag out the process and charge you every month and have you pay more money.

 Now on to when you call to close your case. there are alot of complaints about people closing and the case not being closed... that is because every employee MUST hit their stats and one of them is the % of clients they can talk into not closing their case, if they close the case it will count against them, if they talk you into keeping it open they get 3% of what your next payment is. So alot of times the phone reps will not close the case and not put a note in the case.  This happens ALL THE TIME, and they are aware of this and do not hold the phone reps accountable. When you close your case  write down the date and time and name of the reps.. And yes the complaints of rude reps are true, they are not trained for customer service and they do not have any quality control. Just keep in mind everything they do, you CAN do yourself. the only thing you are paying them for is the time it will save you.

[nativenyer]

You don't need a credit repair service. Whatever they do you can do it yourself for considerably less. My score has jumped over 90 points since January and I did it all by myself with help from this forum and others.

[rckstrscott]

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@nativenyer wrote:
You don't need a credit repair service. Whatever they do you can do it yourself for considerably less. My score has jumped over 90 points since January and I did it all by myself with help from this forum and others.

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I think repair services serve a purpose in they can help people who dont have the time or patience achieve some results..

I also believe your statement to be 100 percent accurate

-scott

[721405]

There are many companies who can do credit repair... However the number of those who are licensed and bonded are few and the number of those who have success are even fewer.

I work for a credit repair company and we have many many success stories. I would just say look for one who is licensed and bonded and you'll be in good shape. If they cannot perform or do not give you your money back, then you can place a claim against their bond. Once a company looses their bond they'll be hard presses to ever even qualify for another one.

In order to do credit repair legally, you need to be bonded. So make sure you are working with a bonded company who can really do the work they say they will do.

[721405]

Lexington law is a cookie cutter credit repair firm. They drop your name in a database and pump out letters on your behalf. Lots of the stuff Lexington does can be done yourself. You will need patience and persistence however when going at this alone. The real value of a credit repair company is their ability to keep track of your credit, what's good, what's bad, what's been removed and what they need to work on. Overall, I would say if you are really looking for a credit repair company to help you, look for one that's bonded and not so cookie cutter as Lexington.

There are many companies who can do credit repair... However the number of those who are licensed and bonded are few and the number of those who have success are even fewer.

I work for a credit repair company and we have many many success stories. I would just say look for one who is licensed and bonded and you'll be in good shape. If they cannot perform or do not give you your money back, then you can place a claim against their bond. Once a company looses their bond they'll be hard presses to ever even qualify for another one.

In order to do credit repair legally, you need to be bonded. So make sure you are working with a bonded company who can really do the work they say they will do.

[Lasardo]

I personally had a great deal of success with credit repair, 27 items removed (medical mostly) and 9 inquiry's BUT I did so much work on my own,..
I had to pay them, do PFD, write letters upon letters but when I could not get something off I would give it to the credit repair company and they would get it off my reports. I do not know how but they did so there is something to be said about credit repair companies.. They know their stuff!

[dddewdrop]

    I beliieve that a person of average intelliegence who is determined to improve their credit, can do a better job then any service. One of the biggest flaws of these services is the pay structure for them. Someone was trying to do good when they legislated that but think about it. These places are paid every month until someone cancels. Think of how you personally would handle that as the customer. You would want to pay the minimum amount of month to get the most stuff done to clean your report. But what is motivating the Lexington Law's of the world? If they can manage to have every registered customer just pay for one more month, then their profits go way up. That is a very strong financial incentive for them to move slowly at helping people. Thus it is a very flawed payment structure rewarding them for moving slowly. 

   Imagine, if you will indulge me a sec.....

   It is a Friday afternoon at Lexiington Law. An account rep has to decide whether to send out this dispute letter now or to just kinda put it in the out mailbox so it misses the Friday pickup and doesn't go out til the next Monday. If I was an account rep, had office managers breathing down my neck to be more profitable, I probably would just wait til Monday to send that letter out. Would to do that be evil or immoral? It certainly would be financially rational. Especially if say I had 3 kids and a wife to feed at home. 

   Much better to soend a few days at myfico and other sites, figure out the stuff for yourself and start doing it. 2 out of the 3 CRAs actually allow you to just get on the phone and dispute things that way. There are resourves online to help one write GW letters. You are not going to encounter a situation with your credit report that someone else hasn't encountered and you have access online to all kinds of people willing to help you for free. People who actually enjoy figuring this stuff out. Like me. So don't pay those places. You are wasting your money...Believe in yourself. Take the time to figure it out. It is worth it.. Gredit is important.

[ecalmese]

i used skyblue credit repair for about 8 months. they removed a ton of things off my credit report for me. when i started working on my credit i was in the 430s...they took me to the 550s and then they were honest and told me they've done all they could do the remaining companies are resisting their disputes. They canceled my service instead of stringing me along. all in all, i was happy with them. it was during a time in my life when i was very deep in debt, bad credit, horrible reports i would have been overwhelmed trying to do it myself. Once they knocked it down to something i can manage i started paying off the remaining debt, joined this forum and the few disputes that were left...i did it myself. i still have a ways to go as i'm attempting to build my credit to purchase a home but sky blue removed about 20 items from each credit bureau.

[guiness56]

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@ecalmese wrote:

i used skyblue credit repair for about 8 months. they removed a ton of things off my credit report for me. when i started working on my credit i was in the 430s...they took me to the 550s and then they were honest and told me they've done all they could do the remaining companies are resisting their disputes. They canceled my service instead of stringing me along. all in all, i was happy with them. it was during a time in my life when i was very deep in debt, bad credit, horrible reports i would have been overwhelmed trying to do it myself. Once they knocked it down to something i can manage i started paying off the remaining debt, joined this forum and the few disputes that were left...i did it myself. i still have a ways to go as i'm attempting to build my credit to purchase a home but sky blue removed about 20 items from each credit bureau.

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And this is all you are paying for when you hire one of these companies.  Even though it may have worked, why pay someone $100 a month when you can do it for free.  Plus they dispute even accurate information which is a no no.

They cannot do anything else.