Self Help Credit Repair vs. Hiring a Credit Repair Agency

Before you begin to repair your credit, you might wonder whether you should hire a credit repair service, or if you should attempt self help credit repair instead. The truth is, there is no single correct answer to this question; the better choice for you will depend on your circumstances and personal preference. Both options have pros and cons that should be weighed carefully before making a decision.

The most common reason people choose to repair their own credit is because it is inexpensive. If you decide to fix your own credit, the only costs you will incur will be for postage to communicate with credit reporting agencies, credit card companies, and collection agencies; and costs for copies of your credit reports (everyone is eligible to receive one free copy annually, but if you are repairing your credit you will probably need several new copies because you will want to see what information on your reports has changed as a result of your efforts). Also, copies of credit reports generally do not include your credit scores, so if you would like to monitor changes in your scores from month to month, you will need to subscribe to a website that offers this service for a fee. As for the fees charged by credit repair agencies, the average is usually around $100 a month although it does vary.

Of course you are probably interested in saving money, but please be advised that fixing your own credit can be quite time-consuming. Not only is disputing information on your credit reports in itself time-consuming, but before you even begin you must do your homework! Legal credit repair is made possible solely by the laws that protect you as a consumer. Utilizing these laws is your only hope of repairing your credit, so it is imperative that you learn and understand these laws very thoroughly before you do anything. If you do not truly comprehend the laws, you won’t be able to use them to your advantage, and your credit repair efforts are guaranteed to be thwarted. Learning the laws well can take hours of reading, and requires time and patience.

Another point to keep in mind is that credit repair can sometimes be difficult for most people simply because they are not used to dealing with credit reporting agencies, creditors, and debt collectors. Intentionally or not, they seem to have their ways of making credit repair tough for the average consumer; truth be told it doesn’t serve their interests for you to fix your bad credit, so they are not inclined to make things any easier for you. However, credit repair agencies are well-versed at handling this issue, and they know the best way to respond. Granted, with some experience and research, you would probably become more skilled at handling it also, but it can be so disheartening when your efforts are shot down over and over, that it is enough to make many people give up. It all comes down to how much patience you have and how high your frustration threshold is.

People have been successful at repairing their credit both by hiring someone to do it for them, and by doing it themselves. Each method has advantages and disadvantages, so ultimately your decision should be based on how much time, patience, and finances you have at your disposal. If you feel confident enough to tackle credit repair yourself, or if you just can’t afford to pay a credit repair agency to do the work for you, you might want to try doing it yourself. However, if you prefer to pay for convenience and can reasonably afford the monthly fee, hiring a credit repair agency may be the better option for you. (If you decide to hire a credit repair agency, please investigate any prospective company carefully beforehand to ensure that it is legitimate and reputable.)