Confessions of a Credit Repair Agency

Credit repair is a very debated topic on the net right now as to whether it's legal, effective, ethical and an avenue worth pursuing for individuals with negative, inaccurate or unverifiable information on their credit reports. No matter where you search, you will find varying opinions in regard the legitimacy of the credit repair industry, from the FTC and Attorney General, to debt consolidation companies and law firms practicing credit repair companies.

First off to answer the question "is credit repair and its practitioners legal," the answer is yes! There is a specific body of legislation, the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA) that outlines how credit repair companies may legally operate. This Federal regulation is proof that the industry as a whole is legal and not a scam. I think the negative overtones are more likely a case of a few hundred bad apples taking advantage of people.

The second most debated topic in many of the popular credit forums is whether or not one should even use a credit repair company, or give it a go themselves? The art of credit repair or credit restoration is not necessarily a difficult one to grasp and despite what a lot of the credit repair companies and lawyers would like you to believe, there is no "magical, proprietary dispute letter." Remember, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) was set up so that consumers could fix errors on their credit reports on their own. It was not set up so consumers could fix errors If they had the magic letter. It really is almost as simple as saying...

"Hey this is not my account, please verify the information and remove from my report"

So why would you consider hiring a company to improve your credit score if it is so easy? The art of credit repair is not perfectly written letter, but more of knowing the little tricks credit bureaus and collection agents use to avoid eliminating the debt.