Best Credit Repair Companies
The 3 major credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – develop citizen credit reports based on information sent to them by various creditors and debt collectors. FICO and VantageScore then use these credit reports to calculate individual credit scores.
Credit score is then used by creditors and other lenders to determine interest rates. Your credit score tells them how likely you are to pay pack your loans on time.
A credit score between 300 and 619 is considered “bad,” while a score of 620 to 659 is merely “poor.” 660 to 719 is seen as an “average/fair” credit score, but to be considered “good/excellent,” you’ll need a score between 720 and 850.
For what it’s worth, the average American has a credit score of 695.
If your credit score is below 660, you definitely need to do some credit repair. This is the process of removing negative items from your credit reports through disputes.
Our list of the best credit repair companies will help you find the right one for you.
1. Lexington Law
Founded in 1992, Lexington Law is easily one of the best credit repair companies on the market today. They use professional personal advisers to offer overall coverage, with 3 different packages to choose from.
These packages offer different levels of service for different prices. Here’s how their payment options pan out:
| Service Provided | Concord Standard | Concord Premier | PremierPlus |
| Bureau Challenges | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Creditor Interventions | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| InquiryAssist | – | Yes | Yes |
| Score Analysis | – | Yes | Yes |
| ReportWatch | – | Yes | Yes |
| TransUnion Alerts | – | Yes | Yes |
| Cease & Desist Letters | – | – | Yes |
| FICO Score Tracker | – | – | Yes |
| Identity Protection | – | – | Yes |
| Personal Finance Tools | – | – | Yes |
| Monthly Fee | $89.95 | $109.95 | $129.95 |
The only niggle we have with Lexington Law is that you have to pay $14.99 for each credit report they source from the credit bureaus. This can get expensive quickly.
Overall, though, Lexington Law has earned their place on our list of the best credit repair companies.
Known for:
Features: Overall coverage from professional, personal advisers
Price: $89.95 to $129.95 per month
BBB Rating: Not BBB Accredited
Years in Business: 27
Free Case Evaluation? Yes
2. Sky Blue Credit Repair
Sky Blue Credit Repair has been offering their services since 1898, making them the longest-lasting credit repair company featured here. They offer one of the best customer service levels on the market, priding themselves on putting their customers first.
While many of their competitors offer multiple packages with different levels of services provided, Sky Blue Credit Repair keeps things simple by sticking to just one. No matter how many of their services you engage with as part of your personalized credit repair campaign, you’ll pay a standard $79 monthly fee.
If you and your spouse are looking at becoming Sky Blue Credit Repair clients, you can save by taking advantage of their couples pricing plan. Instead of paying a combined total of $158, the company will only charge you $119.
Here’s what you’ll get for your money:
- Credit report analysis
- Dispute of incorrect and negative information
- Score assistance
- Credit rebuilding
- Debt validation
- Debt settlement and/or negotiation
- Goodwill letters
- Cease & desist letters
Known for:
Features: Top-quality customer service and affordable pricing
Price: $79 to $119 a month
BBB Rating: A+
Years in Business: 30
Free Case Evaluation? Yes
3. CreditRepair.com
Although no longer ranked by the BBB, CreditRepair.com remains one of the best credit repair companies on the market. Founded in 1997, they’ve been in business for 7+ years longer than most of their competitors.
CreditRepair.com charges a flat-rate monthly fee of $99.95 to assist you in the following ways:
- Repair Your Past – disputes are opened with credit bureaus to remove inaccurate or negative entries from your credit reports.
- Monitor Your Present – rather than stopping there, CreditRepair.com continues to monitor your credit standing for as long as you choose to remain with them. Any time they notice a change in your credit report (positive or negative), they’ll make sure you know about it.
- Build Your Future – as soon as you become a client, you’ll have access to a host of online resources that will help you to continue improving your credit score.
The company has certainly earned their place on our list.
Known for:
Features: Longer history of experience than most competitors + simple pricing structure
Price: $99.95 a month
BBB Rating: No longer ranked by BBB
Years in Business: 22
Free Case Evaluation? Yes
4. Ovation Credit Repair
Still counting as one of the “older” credit repair companies, Ovation Credit Repair has stood out from the crowd since being founded in 2004.
Their Personal Case advisers do a great job at assisting clients. Here’s a breakdown of their packages:
| Services | Essentials | Essentials Plus |
| Professional credit analyst | Yes | Yes |
| Unlimited bureau disputes | Yes | Yes |
| Personal Case Adviser | Yes | Yes |
| Online dispute management | Yes | Yes |
| Financial management tools | Yes | Yes |
| Unlimited validation letters | – | Yes |
| Unlimited goodwill letters | – | Yes |
| Recommendation letter | – | Yes |
| 24/7 TransUnion credit monitoring | – | Yes |
| Identity Optimization (Optional Add-On, one-time fee) | $25 | $25 |
| First work fee | $89 | $89 |
| (Fast Track) First work fee | $114 | $114 |
| Monthly fee | $69 | $99 |
Ovation Credit Repair also offers unique discounts for couples, senior citizens, and military service members (active and retired). You can also earn credit toward your monthly fees by referring new clients.
Known for:
Features: Personal Case advisers
Price: $89 to $114 first-time fee, $69 to $99 monthly fees
BBB Rating: A+
Years in Business: 15
Free Case Evaluation? Yes
5. Credit Assistance Network
Credit Assistance Network focuses on credit improvement, as opposed to limiting themselves to credit repair. As such, you can expect to spend a little more than you would with most of their competitors.
For individual membership, you’ll pay $179 a month. As a couple, Credit Assistance Network charges $279 monthly, which translates to $79 saved (compared to paying for 2 individuals). However, you’ll also pay an extra $50 per deletion, per bureau.
Additionally, Credit Assistance Network charges $79 for having public records updated.
While Credit Assistance Network’s site boasts of an A+ BBB rating, BBB lists a C+ rating. We contacted the company, and heard back from Damon Descrescenzo, the CEO of The Credit Pros.
Mr. Descrescenzo let us know that his company had recently acquired Credit Assistance Network. The Credit Pros also feature on our list of the best credit repair companies, and they do have an A+ BBB rating.
Known for:
Features: Online tracking of credit repair progress
Price: $179 to $279 a month
BBB Rating: C+ (Though recently acquired by The Credit Pros, who are rated A+)
Years in Business: 15
Free Case Evaluation? Yes
6. The Credit People
Founded in 2001, The Credit People are one of the only credit repair companies on the market that offer both a free case evaluation and an optional 7-day paid trial (at $19). Not only that, but if you decide to forego the trial period, The Credit People will give you the option of choosing between a $79 monthly fee or a once-off payment of $419.
Considering credit repair typically takes 6 to 7 months to complete, this translates to long-term savings of $55 to $134.
The Credit People use a 3-prong approach similar to their older competitor, CreditRepair.com. Their first step is developing a personalized credit repair campaign. From there, The Credit People experts start working aggressively at getting errors and other negative items on your credit reports disputed.
Once your credit reports are as clean as possible, The Credit People will continue to work with you at finding other ways to realistically improve your credit score. You can choose how long to stay with them for this step.
Known for:
Features: One of the only credit repair companies that offer a 7-day trial period following your free case evaluation before signing up as a member.
Price: $79 a month or once-off payment of $419
BBB Rating: No BBB accredited
Years in Business: 15
Free Case Evaluation? Yes
7. The Credit Pros
The Credit Pros was founded in 2001, making them one of the youngest credit repair companies featured on our list.
Don’t let that scare you off, though. All of their employees are FICO Certified professionals. Considering FICO is one of the bodies responsible for calculating credit scores, that’s a huge plus.
Unlike many competitors, who tend to limit the number of disputes filed at a time, The Credit Pros offers an unlimited number of disputes every step of the way.
Their pricing system is a little complicated though. Here’s how it pans out:
- Individual Monthly Enrollment – first work fee of $179, monthly fees of $119
- Couple’s Monthly Enrollment – first work fee of $279, monthly fees of $159
- Pay For Results Individual – first work fee of $379, $100 per deletion per bureau, $150 for public records
- Pay For Results Couples – first work fee of $579, $100 per deletion per bureau, $150 for public records
Known for:
Features: 1-on-1 consultation with FICO Certified professionals and unlimited number of disputes
Price: $119 to $579 monthly fee
BBB Rating: A+
Years in Business: 11
Free Case Evaluation? 11
8. Pyramid Credit Repair
The youngest of the best credit repair companies we’ve included in our list, Pyramid Credit Repair stands out from the crowd with their level of dedication to each client.
Here’s a full list of their services:
- Personal Account Manager
- Dedicated Dispute Manager
- Professional and Custom disputes
- Updated information monitoring
- Regular real-time updates regarding your credit status
- Continued credit report and credit score monitoring
Individuals and couples alike pay $99 for their first month as a client. While this price doesn’t increase for individuals, couples start paying $198 from their second month forward. The level of service you’ll receive is exactly the same, but that 50% discount on your first month as a couple makes a big difference.
Known for:
Features: Live Personal Account Manager and real-time status updates with results starting in 45 to 60 days from sign up
Price: $99 to $198 monthly
BBB Rating: Not BBB accredited
Years in Business: 9
Free Case Evaluation? Yes
9. Credit Saint
Although appearing last in our list of the best credit repair companies, Credit Saint is not to be sneered at. Founded in 2004, the company has a very high success rate.
In fact, more than 95% of their clients have reported seeing a positive change in their credit standing within the first cycle.
Here’s how Credit Saint’s pricing tiers work in terms of cost and services:
| Item Challenged | Credit Polish | Credit Remodel | Clean Slate |
| Late Payments | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Identity Theft | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Charge-offs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Collections | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Inquiries | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Bankruptcies | – | Yes | Yes |
| Repossessions | – | Yes | Yes |
| Judgements | – | – | Yes |
| First Work Fee | $99 | $99 | $195 |
| Monthly Fee | $59.00 | $79.99 | $99.99 |
As one of the most affordable credit repair companies on our list, without their service quality suffering for it, Credit Saint more than deserves the high esteem they enjoy.
Known for:
Features: High success rate, with over 95% of their clients reporting improvement within the first cycle (45 to 60 days following sign up)
Price: $99 to $195 initial fee; $59.99 to $99.99 monthly thereafter
BBB Rating: A+
Years in Business: 15
Free Case Evaluation? Yes
How Do These Services Work To Repair Your Credit?
While all of the above credit repair companies have their own way of approaching credit repair, they all follow a basic formula.
As part of your free evaluation, their experts will begin analyzing your credit reports. Once you sign on as a client, they generally go into greater detail with their analysis, further identifying negative items that can (and should) be removed.
Next, the credit repair company will begin filing disputes with the credit bureaus. Some only send up to 5 dispute letters per bureau at a time, while others will send as many as you need. A few credit repair companies will also assist by forwarding dispute letters to creditors and debt collectors who have submitted the negative information to the bureaus.
The bureaus are legally obligated to conclude a full investigation into each dispute within 30 days. At the end of that period, based on your supporting documents and responses from the collectors and creditors, the disputed item(s) will either remain on your credit report or be removed. If removed, the credit bureaus will send you an updated copy of your credit report, typically within 45 to 60 days of the dispute having been filed.
Are Credit Repair Companies Worth The Cost?
Most reputable credit repair companies are very upfront about the fact that you can perform credit repair without their help.
However, unless you have the necessary expertise (including some legal knowledge), it’s always going to be worth the cost of hiring a credit repair company. The most common analogy credit repair companies use to illustrate this point is that of car mechanics. Sure, you can spend time learning how to service your car yourself, but a mechanic will do the same job quicker.
In the same way, while credit repair companies aren’t going to be able to do much you couldn’t theoretically do for yourself, they’ll get results a lot quicker.
All credit repair companies ask you to forward them any and all correspondence you receive from creditors and credit bureaus. This helps them to determine whether or not it’s worth pursuing the dispute process for individual entries.
Considering the vast array of universal benefits you’ll enjoy as a credit repair company’s client, it’s safe to say that they’re worth the cost. However, you’ll need to review each company when deciding on one. This will help you better determine whether or not the specific benefits of one company justifies their overall cost.
Factors to Consider Before Choosing a Credit Repair Company
Choosing the right credit repair company can be a long and tedious process.
Here are 6 factors to consider before you make a decision.
1. Services
It’s a good idea to make use of the free case evaluations offered by credit repair companies. This will give you a better understanding of exactly what kind of work needs to be done to improve your credit standing.
In turn, this will help you to choose the credit repair company best suited to your unique position. Take a careful look at the services offered and how those services will help you with your credit repair.
2. Payment System
One of the first things to consider after you’ve narrowed down your choices according to available services, is how the credit repair companies handle payments.
While first work fees are a legitimate practice and are often higher than the regular monthly fees, be very wary of any credit repair company that asks for a large upfront payment. The chances are significantly higher that they’re a fraudulent company.
This doesn’t pertain to the once-off fee option offered by The Credit People, though. Here, the company is giving you a choice between one payment (which can save you money in the long run) or opting for monthly installments. The Credit People’s A+ BBB rating affords a level of security for you, as does their money back guarantee.
3. BBB Rating
Speaking of BBB ratings, they’re another important factor to consider before choosing a credit repair company.
You’ll have noticed that all the credit repair companies we’ve listed either have an A+ rating or are not BBB accredited. While the BBB rating does give an added level of assurance, you shouldn’t necessarily shirk reputable companies that aren’t BBB accredited. You can verify such companies by looking at customer reviews (which is one of the main ways the BBB determines their rating score in any case).
As long as you aren’t seeing multiple instances of unresolved issues, you’re good to go with any credit repair company that isn’t BBB accredited.
4. Guarantees
Check if the credit repair company offers a money back guarantee.
Typically, you’ll find that these are limited to the first 60 to 90 days. This guarantee allows you to get your money back if you aren’t seeing any results when starting out. That way, you can afford to move to a new credit repair company to try again.
6. Years in Business
There’s a good reason for why we included this information in our reviews.
While newer credit repair companies aren’t necessarily going to be bad by default, longevity in the business adds yet another level of security. You’re assured of having experts with years of experience handling your credit repair campaign, instead of an unknown entity.
Does Credit Repair Work?
As we hope you’ve come to understand by now, credit repair effectiveness is something of an eye-of-the-beholder situation.
In terms of removing inaccurate information and negative entries from your credit report, credit repair certainly does work. It’s the most effective way to get rid of items that can be successfully disputed.
However, this doesn’t mean credit repair is guaranteed to improve your credit score. There are a vast array of things that FICO and VantageScore take into account when calculating credit scores. Credit reports are only one of them (although arguably the most important).
As such, removing a negative entry from your credit report will only improve your credit score if that item was negatively affecting your score to begin with. Some negative items have a very minimal affect on credit scores, so it’s a bit more touch-and-go when it comes to determining whether or not credit repair actually works here.
Regardless, credit repair is always going to be a good idea. Having your credit reports as clean as possible will positively affect future credit applications, loans, and interests.
