Hello and Starting today at a low score

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous

Got my credit score from Credit Karma.

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Be aware that while CK provides great weekly TU and EQ reports, their scores are not FICO scores and should be ignored.  Definitely go to creditscorecard.com and sign up to get a free official EX FICO 08 score ASAP.  That way you can see what you're really starting out at.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymouswrote:

Hello

I am a newbie and the reason why I am on the board is my credit score is in mid 500. I hope to build on this thread and show my progress on this thread for benefits of others who join after me.

So here is my starter question(with a background)!

I was planningto hire a credit repair agency (CreditSaint initial payment $195 and monthly $99 ) however after lurking through this board since yesterday it seems there is not much value in such repair agencies and I should be able to handle it myself after getting educated. Is this a correct assumption ? Or should I hand it over to the professionals ?  I have 123 late payments (last one in April 2017) and 2 CO.(total approx $20k)

Thanks

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I don't know that particular company, but I do think some credit repair companies can provide value. They have more experience

and they can save you a lot of time. The price you quote sounds kind of high to me, though.

[Anonymous]

I think cost vs time is a big consideration here.  If someone has tons of disposable income and not a lot of personal time, a credit repair service may prove to be the right move.  For those without a good amount of extra money to throw toward one that can find time on their own (say a few hours a week) it would likely make the most sense to undertake the project personally.

[Anonymous]

Is there any reliable credit repair service you can suggest ? Please Private message if posting names is against the rules. Probably I will do it myself after reading the posts in this forum, but just in case. Thanks

[Anonymous]

The most commonly talked about CRS that I've read about on this forum is Lexington Law.

[Anonymous]

OK I went to creditscorecard.com. It seems like a Discover company or website owned by Discover. Since I already have Discovercard, with FICO SCORE feature , I checked it on and guess what. You were right ..my FICO SCORE is 639. So no as bad as I thought. Thanks for the tip !!

[Anonymous]

I tried Lexington Law about 5  years ago. For 3-4 months. I do not think they are proactive, maybe one or 2 negative items were removed.

[Anonymous]

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@AnonymousOK I went to creditscorecard.com. It seems like a Discover company or website owned by Discover. Since I already have Discovercard, with FICO SCORE feature , I checked it on and guess what. You were right ..my FICO SCORE is 639. So no as bad as I thought. Thanks for the tip !!

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Not a bad starting point at all.  I started at 619, so you've got 20 points on where I began clawing back.

[HeavenOhio]

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@Anonymouswrote:

OK I went to creditscorecard.com. It seems like a Discover company or website owned by Discover. Since I already have Discovercard, with FICO SCORE feature , I checked it on and guess what. You were right ..my FICO SCORE is 639. So no as bad as I thought. Thanks for the tip !!

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If you have a Discover card, you'll get a free TransUnion FICO8 from within your account. This one is additional and is available to everyone. It provides a free Experian FICO8.

[Anonymous]

Can you suggest any good companies with a moderate rate ? Private message me if ok. Although it appears that I will be doing it myself after going through the material. thanks