Should You Hire a Credit Repair Company?

Written by Dana Neal

Understand your options before hiring a third party agency.

It's no secret that I've been a strong proponent of self-help credit repair for many years.

Some of this may be due to my go-getter attitude, and some is also due to the many emails I've received from consumers who've had bad experiences with third parties.

The FTC gets many complaints, which is why they say, "Self Help May Be Best," with regard to credit repair. Not only does a consumer face disreputable companies that fail to honor their contracts, but most companies, even if they try to operate on the up-and-up, simply don't have the people on hand that know what they're doing. When performed poorly, credit repair companies can actually make a bad situation even worse.

This is not to say that they're all bad. After all, even though nearly all credit repair books are useless (or worse), does that mean that my books are as well? Using this logic, there must be some quality companies out there, but how do you know which ones?

In all fairness, there are a number of credit repair companies that actually use my books to train their employees! This isn't a bad thing, as it means that they're at least trying to do a good job, which is good for consumers.

The safe route is to do it yourself, as it insulates you from potentially unscrupulous credit repair companies. The only downside is the time investment, but BestCredit provides the expertise, reputation, and training materials that nobody in the space can match. Further, if you choose to go it alone, the benefits include saving money and learning a lot about the credit reporting system, information which can be tucked away for future use.

Fixing bad credit yourself is empowering.

When fixing bad credit, a person can learn a great deal about themselves along the way. Many BestCredit™ students often use the word "empowering." One wrote, "BestCredit has changed me forever. You’ll never know how much." There’s a satisfaction that comes with successfully tackling issues when the institutions and systems appear to be so intimidating.

Whatever method you choose, do your homework and check out a credit repair company before hiring them. Search the web for complaints, and also check the Better Business Bureau and see if you can get some history on the company.

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