Credit Repair Kit

Before you get a credit repair kit, or attempt to repair your own credit, you should first compare the "costs" of do-it-yourself vs. hiring a credit repair company.

Ask yourself the following questions:

-When you look at your credit report, how well do you understand it?

-If it's confusing, do you have the time and desire to learn more about it?

-Are you trying to clear up one or two inaccurate items, or do you have many negative items you would like removed?

-How familiar are you with the laws affecting credit repair?

-How much is your time worth?

I am not trying to scare you off. I am trying to make you understand that effective credit repair can be a time consuming and frustrating process. A credit repair kit is easier than doing it all by yourself but it is not easy. You will still have to do the work.

Plan for three letters per disputed item (one per bureau), once every 45 days, for up to a year.

Most people who try do-it-yourself repair give up after the first or second round of disputes. They usually have not achieved the results they wanted. Other things take priority, life happens, and the follow up never happens.

If you don't think you will actually use a credit repair kit then go to the credit services page and find a company to help you.

Click here for if you need a repair service instead of a credit repair kit.

The ethical issue:

According to the FTC:

You cannot legally remove accurate and timely information from your credit report.

Also, according to the FTC:

You are allowed to ask for verification of any item you believe is inaccurate, incomplete, or out of date on your credit report. If the item is unable to be verified within the constraints of the law it must be removed.

The ethical line in the sand is disputing items you "know" to be accurate vs. those items of which you are "unsure" of.

The reason credit repair works is that statistically many of the creditors will not verify the information requested of them by the bureaus. All unverified information will be removed.

This will not generally occur if a debt is still owed because the company has a financial incentive to verify all information requested of them.

Conversely, if a debt is settled, or the account is closed, or the infraction is old, it may not be the highest priority of the company to spend it's own resources in verifying the information.

Sometimes incorrect information is verified and needs to be disputed again.

The do-it-yourself repair kits show you how to write the dispute letters to most effectively address each issue. An incorrect bankruptcy is differently disputed than a 30 day late on a credit card.

You will find an assortment of books and kits in the following ad from amazon.com. I recommend choosing one with a CD that can help you create your dispute letters.