What is credit repair?

Credit repair is the process of improving your credit score. Correcting inaccurate negative marks on your credit report is one of the most common methods of repairing credit.

Can I repair my credit on my own?

It is possible to repair your credit without using a credit repair service. Consumers can contact the credit bureaus directly to dispute credit report errors without using a credit repair service as an intermediary. If your credit report is accurate, but your credit score is still low, you can repair your credit gradually by paying bills on time and keeping credit lines open, even when they're fully paid, to show that you have a longer history of responsible usage.

Should I hire a credit repair company?

There are pros and cons to hiring a credit repair company. The upside of hiring a credit repair company is that you can have a professional represent you to the credit bureaus and creditors, which can potentially increase your credit score while saving you time. The downside is that credit repair can be expensive, and you need to watch for credit repair scams.

How do I pick a credit repair service?

Choosing a credit repair company requires some careful research. You can start with an overview of the best credit repair companies and then compare the factors that matter most to you. Pay attention to services, rates, contract terms, guarantees and customer reviews.

How long does it take to repair credit?

Improving your credit score can take a few months or a few years, depending on the reasons for your low score. If the score is due to a major event, like a foreclosure or bankruptcy, it can take several years to repair your credit. However, if the score is low due to mistakes in your report, the issue can usually be resolved in months, leading to a quick improvement in your credit score.

CreditRepair.com Review

Best for: Affordability

CreditRepair.com Credit Repair

3.6

Learn more

First payment fee*: Same as the monthly fee
Monthly fee: Starting at $69.95
Money-back guarantee: None
Maximum number of challenges: Limited, but the limits are not clearly defined
Types of letters to creditors/bureaus: Challenge, intervention, cease and desist

*Often referred to as a first-work or set-up fee by other companies
Pros

Affordable packages: While packages usually start at $69.95, that is lower than some competitors, and further discounts may be available.

ID theft insurance included: Competitors typically either charge more for this service or don’t offer it at all.

Spanish-language accessibility: A Spanish version of the CreditRepair.com website is easily accessible by selecting “ES” as the language on the home page.
Cons

No money-back guarantee: Some credit repair companies offer a refund if you are not satisfied with the results within a set timeframe. CreditRepair.com does not offer a guarantee.

Recent legal issues: CreditRepair.com company was found guilty of violations of the Telemarketing Sales Rule by asking for upfront payments over the phone before credit repair work began. CreditRepair.com has since stopped these practices.

CreditRepair.com offers affordable credit repair services to consumers aiming to improve their credit scores. In many cases, consumers have inaccurate information listed on their credit histories, which negatively affects their credit scores. CreditRepair.com can work with credit bureaus and creditors to correct the record, which can result in a higher credit score.

With plans starting at a $69.95, CreditRepair.com is among the most budget-friendly credit repair companies available. However, recent legal issues relating to marketing and billing policies, combined with comparatively low customer satisfaction, are causing some consumers to think twice before choosing CreditRepair.com.

CreditRepair.com services

When you work with CreditRepair.com, the first step is the team going through your credit reports to identify any suspicious items. After that, the staff members will work through each inaccurate or unfair negative item and help you as you rebuild your credit.

CreditRepair.com offers the following services:

Challenges with all three credit bureaus
Creditor interventions
ID Theft Insurance
FICO® score update

What CreditRepair.com does not cover

Like any reputable credit repair service, CreditRepair.com will not challenge accurate negative marks on your credit record.

CreditRepair.com also does not offer money management tools that could help you improve your credit over time (such as bill payment reminders).

Credit repair packages

CreditRepair.com currently offers three credit repair packages.

The Direct Package

For $69.95 per month, you get bureau challenges, inquiry assists, goodwill intervention letters to creditors and quarterly credit score updates. This package requires a first payment fee of $69.95.

The Standard Package

For $99.95 per month, you get everything included in the Direct Package plus CreditRepair.com’s FICO® Score Inquiry Assist service, which allows you to challenge inaccurate inquiries on your account. This package requires a first payment fee of $99.95.

The Advanced Package

For $119.95 per month, you get everything included in the Standard Package plus monthly credit score updates, more bureau challenges, more creditor interventions and cease-and-desist interventions. This package requires a first payment fee of $119.95.

Additional features

CreditRepair.com also offers some additional features for its customers.

Educational library

CreditRepair.com’s credit education page provides useful articles to help you understand how credit and credit repair works.

Free credit snapshot

If you’re not sure what’s currently on your credit history, you can get a free overview of your credit report.

CreditRepair.com’s accessibility and availability

CreditRepair.com serves 38 of the 50 states and offers longer service hours than many competitors.

Availability

CreditRepair.com currently serves 37 states and Washington, D.C.

The states not serviced are Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina and Wisconsin.

Contact information

Customer support is available by phone (once a member) and online chat. Service hours are Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. MST.

Its social media handles are:

Instagram: @CreditRepair.com
Facebook: @CreditRepaircom
X: @creditrepair

CreditRepair.com customer experience

While the CreditRepair.com website is simple to navigate, there is some ambiguity about what customers can expect from the service.

For example, the homepage plans starting at $49.95 per month, but that price is not mentioned on the pricing page. Additionally, the Advanced package offers “more” bureau challenges and creditor interventions than the other packages, but the limits on the number of challenges and interventions are never outlined. Furthermore, the homepage encourages visitors to “sign up for $0,” but all packages come with a first payment fee (sometimes known by other companies as a first work fee). It's unclear when the first charges happen.

As with most credit repair services, customers typically consider the experience to be good if their credit score improves and bad if their credit score does not improve.

Contract duration

You can subscribe to the service on a month-to-month basis. This means you can cancel the service at any time, which would prevent you from getting charged for future months.

Customer and third-party reviews

Online customer ratings can give you an idea of what people think of a company:

BBB rating: CreditRepair.com is not currently accredited by the Better Business Bureau. As the business profile is in the process of being updated, there are no BBB reviews available.
Consumer Affairs average rating: 3.1 stars with 52 reviews
Google Reviews average rating: 5 stars with 1 review
Trustpilot average rating: 1.9 stars with 626 reviews

*Review information accurate as of April 8, 2024

Many credit repair services have low satisfaction ratings because customers are understandably disappointed if the service is unable to improve the customer’s credit score. However, it's important to understand the limitations of credit repair services. If the record is accurate, there is little that they can do to help. Additionally, if consumers don’t continue to pay all bills on time, their credit scores will accurately reflect the late payments, and their credit scores may go down, despite the work of the credit repair service.

Having said that, CreditRepair.com does have some reviews from satisfied customers who have seen their scores improve.

Regulatory and legal

CreditRepair.com was one of the credit repair services recently accused of violations of the Telemarketing Sales Rule. According to this rule, businesses are required to delay any requests for, or receipt of, payments from customers until six months have elapsed. In August 2023, this accused group of credit repair companies settled with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for $2.7 billion.

Comparison to other companies

CreditRepair.com vs. Lexington Law

Lexington Law offers many of the same pros and cons as CreditRepair.com. Both services offer ID theft insurance and have the same recent legal issues. Neither service offers a money-back guarantee. Lexington Law offers a more comprehensive library of free credit help resources, but CreditRepair.com offers a lower price with the Direct Package option. For comparison, Lexington Law offers a single suite of services for $139.95 per month.

CreditRepair.com vs. Credit Saint

Credit Saint offers three service packages, which range in price from $79.99 to $129.99 per month. The $79.99 Credit Polish plan is most similar to CreditRepair.com’s Direct plan. CreditRepair.com’s first payment fees are also lower than Credit Saint’s, as Credit Saint's range between $99 and $195, depending on your chosen package.

However, Credit Saint offers a 90-day money-back guarantee. Credit Saint is also BBB accredited, while CreditRepair.com is not, and Credit Saint’s customers tend to be more satisfied with their service, based on online reviews.

CreditRepair.com vs. The Credit Pros

The Credit Pros offers a wider range of services than CreditRepair.com. The Money Management plan provides helpful features, including a bill reminder system, a debt-payoff plan and TransUnion fraud alerts to help you naturally improve your credit over time. However, this package does not include any credit challenges or interventions, which makes the $69 per month rate feel high.

For a plan more comparable to CreditRepair.com’s Direct Package, you would need The Credit Pros’ Prosperity plan for $129 per month. CreditRepair.com has a competitive advantage with a lower price point, but it’s worth noting that The Credit Pros offers a 90-day money-back guarantee.

Frequently asked questions

Credit repair is the process of improving your credit score. Correcting inaccurate negative marks on your credit report is one of the most common methods of repairing credit.
It is possible to repair your credit without using a credit repair service. Consumers can contact the credit bureaus directly to dispute credit report errors without using a credit repair service as an intermediary. If your credit report is accurate, but your credit score is still low, you can repair your credit gradually by paying bills on time and keeping credit lines open, even when they're fully paid, to show that you have a longer history of responsible usage.
There are pros and cons to hiring a credit repair company. The upside of hiring a credit repair company is that you can have a professional represent you to the credit bureaus and creditors, which can potentially increase your credit score while saving you time. The downside is that credit repair can be expensive, and you need to watch for credit repair scams.
Choosing a credit repair company requires some careful research. You can start with an overview of the best credit repair companies and then compare the factors that matter most to you. Pay attention to services, rates, contract terms, guarantees and customer reviews.
Improving your credit score can take a few months or a few years, depending on the reasons for your low score. If the score is due to a major event, like a foreclosure or bankruptcy, it can take several years to repair your credit. However, if the score is low due to mistakes in your report, the issue can usually be resolved in months, leading to a quick improvement in your credit score.

Methodology

Overall score	3.6
Services offered	2.6	CreditRepair.com got a lower score because it doesn't disclose how many disputes are allowed for each tier and doesn't offer as many services as competitors.
Affordability	4.3	CreditRepair.com scored well in its most affordable and most expensive price options, although the setup fee made it less affordable.
Customer service	3.5	CreditRepair.com primarily had a lower score because of how many states it has services in.
Expertise/Effectiveness	4.1	CreditRepair.com had fewer customers satisfied with their overall experience than competitors

To evaluate the best credit repair companies, the Bankrate team evaluated

Affordability: We looked at the overall affordability of the company, including start-up fees, late fees and monthly fees.
Customer service: To evaluate customer service, we considered factors such as customer service hours, the number of support channels, the prevalence of disclaimers and the number of states available.
Expertise and effectiveness: Companies were scored based on factors including number of years in the business, customer ratings, the average score improvement and if the company has experienced legal issues in the past.
Services: Credit repair companies were evaluated based on the number and types of services offered. We look at whether companies offer services such as identity theft monitoring, the number of disputes per month, credit score monitoring, education and debt trackers to evaluate how each company's services compare.