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Credit Repair Services

By: EconomyWatch Date: 25 August 2009

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Many people turn to companies that provide credit repair services when bills and debts become unmanageable. These companies provide help and services to individuals in

Repairing bad credit scores
Correcting any inaccurate information on an individual's credit report

Searching on the Internet for the right company to provide you credit repair services is a challenging task. Credit repair companies differ in terms of the quality of services they provide, as well as their payment plans.

Factors to Consider While Choosing Credit Repair Services

Consider the following questions while conducting a due diligence on the company’s service quality:

Will the company provide you the instructions on how to mail the dispute letters or will it handle the entire process?
Will the company provide you consultation whenever needed during the program?
Will someone check with you regularly to make sure you have received updated credit reports in the mail?
Will the entire process be explained to you in the beginning and will you be kept updated of the progress after you have paid the fee?
Will you be given a satisfactory answer to your queries about the progress on your case?
How good is the company’s customer care service?
Does the company have a clean business record? This information is easily available on the Internet.

You also need to conduct due diligence on the payment plan offered by the credit repair services firm. There are three types of service models:

Flat rate: In this model, you pay a one-time fee (or broken down into installments). This method is generally used by firms working aggressively on behalf of their clients. However, be careful of companies that take the money but do not provide the promised services.
Monthly service fee: This model is used by most credit repair companies. Although the monthly payment is low, it is justified, considering the monthly work performed by the company on your behalf. The low cost of services is deceptive, since companies then make slow progress. On an average, you may end up paying equal or a higher amount than what you would have to pay in the flat rate model.
Pay only for deletions/corrections: Although this seems to be the best payment model, you might end up paying much more due to the added work of individual tracking and billing for every item.