Credit Help: Professional Help or Self Help (2024)

FAQs

Credit Help: Professional Help or Self Help? ›

If you're in debt and need help, a reputable credit counseling organization might be able to help. Good credit counselors spend time discussing your entire financial situation with you before coming up with a personalized plan to solve your money problems.

While credit repair can successfully address errors, inaccuracies and outdated information on credit reports, you cannot remove accurate and verifiable data. Legitimate credit repair companies can help identify and dispute negative items that are dragging down your credit score.

Self helps you to build or rebuild your credit by reporting your timely payments to all three credit bureaus, but it reports late payments as well. If you're not careful, you may find yourself in a situation where you're paying fees and interest to build your credit, only to find your credit score plummeting.

Repairing your credit doesn't cost anything if you do it yourself. If you hire a credit repair company to assist you, however, you'll have to pay fees, which can range widely.

Stewart explains that "the price range of credit repair falls between $15.00 and $150.00 per month." This charging method usually also comes with an initial, nonrefundable setup fee, also known as a first-work fee, which can often eclipse the cost of the monthly fee.

How much does credit repair cost? You pay a monthly fee to the credit repair service, typically from $69 to $149, and the process may take several months to a year. You may pay a setup fee to begin, as well.

However tempting it may be to pay someone to undo damage, you are your own best resource. In short, no one can legally remove accurate and timely negative information from a credit report, and everything a credit repair clinic can do for you legally, you can do for yourself at little or no cost.

Reduce the amount of debt you owe

Pay off debt rather than moving it around: the most effective way to improve your credit scores in this area is by paying down your revolving (credit card) debt. In fact, owing the same amount but having fewer open accounts may lower your scores.

Because of this financial reality, people with poor credit seeking ways to improve it may consider hiring a third-party credit repair company. While it may seem like a good idea to pay someone to fix your credit reports, there is nothing a credit repair company can do for you that you can't do yourself for free.

What are the downsides of self credit builder? ›

Self Credit Builder Pros and Cons

Self credit builder pros include flexible payment options, nationwide availability, and access to the Self Visa® Credit Card. Cons include relatively high APRs and non-refundable fees.

Ways to improve your credit score

Paying your loans on time. Not getting too close to your credit limit. Having a long credit history. Making sure your credit report doesn't have errors.

Self reports your payments to the three major credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Any late payments will hurt the credit you are trying to build. After about six months, your repayment activity should generate a FICO score if you didn't already have one; your VantageScore can be generated sooner.

Credit repair services can potentially help you improve your credit, but in most cases, it likely isn't worth it. After all, you can do anything a credit repair service can do, and you can do it for free.

You can request annual credit reports for free from each of the 3 major reporting agencies—Experian, Equifax^® and TransUnion^®—online via www.annualcreditreport.com or by calling 1-877-322-8228.

If you are having trouble making ends meet, contact your creditors or see a legitimate credit counselor: this won't rebuild your credit score immediately, but if you can begin to manage your credit and pay on time, your score should increase over time.

Unfortunately for many unsuspecting consumers looking to improve their credit, the credit sweep is a fraudulent and illegal practice. John Ulzheimer, one of the nation's most prominent credit experts, explains why you need to watch out for credit sweep scams in an episode of Credit Countdown.

A personal loan may help with most of the five factors that influence your credit scores. Payment history: Getting a loan and making all of your monthly payments on time establishes a track record of regular activity. This is a primary factor in building a positive credit profile.

Credit repair merchants often struggle to obtain merchant accounts with traditional banks and credit card processors. This is because credit repair is deemed a high-risk industry.