Mistakes To Avoid With Credit Repair Companies

Have you recently looked into getting a credit card, but were turned down? You’re not alone, as millions of people have been affected by the economy. Now that you’re finding yourself in this situation, you’re probably wondering if credit repair is for you. Are there different options available to those looking to improve their credit score? Or, are there other options for those wanting to make a clean credit history?

What most credit repair companies promise and what you should expect is that you hire them to get the errors from your credit report fixed so that you can start reaping the benefits of being creditworthy again. The power to dispute inaccurate information on your credit report is provided to you to help you ensure that your credit history is not filled with false information which is then used against you in loan applications. Here are a few different things that the credit repair companies will check for.

Are You A Domain Name Owner?

Most of the major credit repair services will check to see if you are registered at Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion. The reason being is that these three bureaus keep track of your financial activity for you, and if your accounts are all paid off, then they cannot report that to the bureaus. If you don’t register at a company and instead manage to keep all your accounts open, then you are probably safe.

Do You Have A Social Security Number Or An SSN?

These are basically used as verification systems for your financial background, and if you have one with an employer, these could be leading indicators that a potential employer would want to look at when considering you for a job. Most credit repair companies do not use Social Security numbers for this purpose. A SSN, on the other hand, could mean that your financial record was tampered with, which would lead to identity theft.

Do You Have Any Debts That You Are Paying On Time?

The only reason someone should check your social security number is if they want to check how much debt you have compared to your income. For most of these companies, this is not a reason to check your credit score because most of these debt collectors already check it anyway. However, if your debt collector has requested a copy of your SSN or your file, then you may want to consider asking them why they want it. A good credit repair company promises to never ask for this information, so if you want to make sure you are getting only high-quality results, you may want to choose one that does not request it.

Do You Have Many Negative Items On Your Report That You Would Like To Have Removed?

There is a bit of a trick to answering this question: some of these items, like collections and charge-offs, do not affect your credit score in any way. In fact, these items cannot be removed unless you actually sue the collection agency for their use against you. A good credit repair company will help you get these items removed, but they will not attempt to get them removed by means of a simple dispute, which is what we talked about above. You should hire a professional dispute company.

This post was written by Kristian D’An, owner of Lux Credit LLC and CCA board certified credit repair specialist. Lux Credit offers credit repair services for those looking to improve their credit! Click here for more information.