How Long Does Credit Repair Take?

Your credit score greatly affects how much you can borrow and the interest rate a lender charges you.

As such, most people would want to repair their credit as soon as yesterday. You may have already taken the necessary steps to repair your credit, but you haven’t seen any changes, which prompts the question, how long does credit repair take?

What’s the Duration of a Credit Repair?

How long a credit repair lasts is determined by several factors, including the number of errors and your goals. The first step in repairing your credit should ideally be requesting credit reports–you should then review them thoroughly to identify whether there are any errors, and it’s usually best to download credit reports from the three main credit bureaus to help you compare and contrast.

Next, draft and document the disputes and submit them to the respective credit bureaus. The time you spend at this stage can vary based on the number of mistakes at hand and whether you have all the required financial documents. It can also be daunting if you’re doing the credit repair yourself, especially if you haven’t done it before. Because of this, it’s helpful to let legitimate credit repair companies, such as The Phenix Group, help you take a step in the right direction more quickly. The cost for credit repair varies based on how much work there is to be done, however, compared to the time and hassle of being put on hold and mailing back and forth with credit bureaus, it’s definitely worth it.

The three credit bureaus will start working on the disputes as soon as they receive them, and they will have up to thirty days to verify information from creditors. It’s best to send your documents via registered mail, which is handy when verifying the delivery date.

What Happens From Response to Resolution?

The credit bureaus always have up to thirty days to respond, but it can take longer if they request additional documents. Moreover, it can take longer for the dispute to be resolved if you file more than one dispute letter, as they may be responded to at different times.

Generally, it takes between a few weeks to a few months for disputes to be resolved, depending on the number of mistakes you’re disputing–it will probably take longer if it’s your first time disputing and you have a backlog of mistakes.

Rebuilding and Repairing

The best approach would be to repair your credit as you take the necessary steps to improve your credit score, and make sure that you pay all outstanding debts on time. Moreover, it can also help to reduce your credit card debt to lower your credit utilization ratio, which refers to how much you owe on your credit cards versus how much your credit line is.

Final Thoughts

It’s not all gloom and doom if you find out you have a bad credit history–you just need to understand the dispute process. However, the amount of bureaucracy and paperwork to deal with can be daunting, which is why it’s always best to hire a reputable credit repair company like The Phenix Group to file the paperwork on your behalf and help get your credit score back on the right track.

Curious about how to check your credit score without hurting it? Take a look at our recent article.