Fortunately, legally removing negative information from your credit report can help rebuild your credit score.
Can Credit Repair Companies Remove Items From Your Credit Report?
Unfortunately, accurate negative items can’t be removed and will remain in your credit files for about seven years. Creditors use your credit report to review your previous debt repayment behavior and make educated decisions about whether to extend your loan and under what conditions. So, it’s just as crucial for them to check your negative credit behavior as it is to check your positive credit history.
However, if you realize that a negative item is still on your credit files after seven years and you’ve paid the debt as agreed, you should challenge it immediately–you can opt to file a dispute on your own or hire thebest credit repair company in Houston to help you out.
If a negative item appears on your credit files multiple times, you should challenge it right away. You can also dispute the negative information caused by identity theft or fraud; you must report identity theft or fraud as soon as possible to the three major credit bureaus–Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax, as they can keep your financial history on the right track.
If your creditor turns your debt to a collection agency, try negotiating. For instance, you can ask the collection agency if it can accept less than what you owe them. If the collection agency agrees to a new balance, your debt won’t be removed from your credit history, but you can ask the agency to report the debt as “paid in full” once you make the last payment. Although your credit reports might show you were delinquent on the debt payments, they’ll also show you’ve paid the debt in full, making you appear less risky to creditors. If the agency agrees to your requests, ask for a written confirmation of the new conditions.
Some credit repair companies promise they can help you remove negative but accurate information from your credit report at a fee. It’s important to know that no one can legally remove any accurate items from credit reports, and anyone promising to do so is likely trying to scam you.
Is Credit Repair Effective?
Reputable credit repair companies, such as The Phenix Group, can do a fantastic job working with the three major credit bureaus to remove false information from your credit report and raise your credit score. Many credit reports have false information that can lower your score. Among the incorrect information that often appears on credit files are accounts that are late in payments that don’t belong to you, bankruptcies of people with similar names, misspellings of your name that lead to another person’s items appearing on your credit report, negative items over seven years old, and debts that can’t be verified and validated.
Although credit repair companies usually work with credit bureaus, they can also work directly with lenders to change the information they give to the credit bureaus. For example, credit repair companies can work closely with lenders to convince them to correct the false information they gave to credit reporting bureaus or negotiate a settlement with the lender by which the lender reports to the credit bureaus that you paid specific debts satisfactorily.
Final Thoughts
Many people wonder if credit repair companies are legal. The answer is: yes–credit repair is a legitimate process that can help remove false information from your credit report, raising your credit score. Negative information on your credit report can include erroneous late payments or non-payments, charge-offs, other people’s bankruptcies, foreclosures, and repossessions. Fortunately, legitimate credit companies like The Phenix Group can work with credit bureaus and creditors to remove errors from your credit report and can help you understand if credit repair shows up on a credit report.