Can questionable, bad credit be deleted or corrected?

Can credit repair companies be trusted?

How much does bad credit cost?

Does paying off past-due accounts neutralize their negative status?

Can deleted items reappear on my credit report?

Are items such as bankruptcies and foreclosures impossible to remove or correct?

Should consumers try credit repair on their own?

Does bankruptcy wipe the slate clean for a second chance?

Do creditors bother to read the 100-word statement?

Can changing one's SSN or EIN tax number help credit matters?

Does enough good credit offset bad credit?

Does the CCCS help consumers restore credit?

Do negative items have to remain listed for 7 years?

What is the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)?

Can credit repair companies be trusted?

As is the case in many industries, there are trustworthy credit repair companies as well as credit repair companies that should be avoided. Just as you would be careful about which mechanic you select to repair your car, you should be careful to choose a trustworthy firm to help you repair your credit.

While some credit repair companies are outright frauds, others are not frauds and they use the dispute process to obtain impressive results. In fact, they assist in having thousands of questionable credit listings removed every day.

Among these frauds are numerous "credit repair" companies who claim to remove negative credit with the flick of a wrist. Their advertisements make bold assertions and money-back guarantees: "Bankruptcy, tax liens, judgments... no problem!! One hundred percent guaranteed!! Credit report 100% cleared in 30 days!!"

So, can credit repair companies really guarantee results?

Not a chance. No credit repair company is so good that it can guarantee a specific outcome. It would be like a defense lawyer guaranteeing that the jury will find his client innocent.

In fact, the mere suggestion that a credit repair organization can "guarantee" its results is a direct violation of the Credit Repair Organizations Act. Any company guaranteeing its results should not be trusted — if they ignore the governing laws of the industry, you can be sure that they won't be around for very long. Guarantees are a sure sign of credit repair fraud.

Not surprisingly, some credit bureaus have declared war against the credit repair companies and those selling instruction on how to do-it-yourself: The bureaus lambast credit repair companies in the media and send anti-credit repair literature to anyone whom they suspect of using credit repair services.

Some time ago, a couple in the Northwestern United States who were using the services of a legitimate credit repair law firm, received a scathing letter of reproach from their local credit bureau. The letter chastened them for relying on the "unethical" methods of credit repair, and pointed out how all their efforts had come to nothing. "As you can see," the letter chastened, "your credit reports remain unchanged." The couple was bewildered because almost all of their many questionable credit listings, including a bankruptcy, had long since been deleted.

The simple truth is that you do not have to endure inaccurate credit for seven to ten years so long as you feel comfortable challenging the accuracy or verifiability of your questionable credit listings.

However you decide to address your credit challenges, realize that regardless of what you may hear in the news media, thousands before you have sought help and restored their credit. Despite the newspaper articles, TV reports and other credit bureau propaganda to the contrary, the simple truth remains: you can work to fix your unfair credit reports if they are the result of inaccurate, untimely, misleading, biased, incomplete or unverifiable information.