Credit Repair Near Me

You’re doing everything by the book, but your credit still isn’t improving?

Yeah, that’s nothing new. Even if you pay off debt on time and keep things on the conservative side – your credit rating can take years to improve. Here’s why.

The credit bureaus – whom we all love – often make typing errors and fail to remove negative items from your reports, ruining your FICO. When this happens, you must step up and tell them to fix these mistakes now, rather than 7 years down the line. Luckily, this doesn’t mean you need a lawyer.

A good credit repair company can talk to the bureaus and take care of all reporting errors fairly quickly, so you don’t have to do all the legal legwork yourself. The best thing about these companies, though, is that they are all available online – which is near you, wherever you might be.

But be careful – since the world of credit repair is full of scammers and outright terrible companies, choosing the right service can mean the difference between getting a great score and losing hundreds of dollars for nothing.

We don’t want anyone to lose hundreds of bucks for nothing, which is why we’ve made a list of credit repair companies we know are worth their price in gold. These services have good reputations, long track records, and strict regulation – which is why they might be able to help you fix your reports and get your score moving upwards. Let’s see what the best credit repair companies have to offer.

Credit Repair Near Me

We examined the leading credit repair companies on over 18 data points to determine who offers the top services. What’s the best credit repair near you? Thanks to the internet, we believe the best companies can be found online, regardless of your specific location.

1. Ovation Credit Services – Best Overall

Ovation Credit Services has been around since 2004 and it seems they are here to stay. According to their website, Ovation has helped over 250,000 customers, fixing 19 credit errors per client on average. That’s millions of FICO points in total – not bad.

• Price: $89 initial fee; $79 – $109 per month
• Best For: Comprehensive credit repair + monitoring
• Promotions: Free consultation and 100% service satisfaction guarantee 
• BBB Rating: A+

You can sign up for the service directly based on the program you feel will best meet your needs. Or if you aren’t sure what is best, you can get a free consultation via telephone to see what’s what before buying anything.

After that’s done, Ovation offers two service packages – the Essentials Plan, and the Essentials Plus. Keep in mind, both plans come with an $89 enrollment fee.

The Essentials Plan is the basic package and gives users their personal credit advisor and some handy credit management tools. Ovation will write an unlimited number of disputes for each item on your credit report you believe to be inaccurate, misleading, incomplete and/or unverifiable.

So, no generic templates – every case is treated with individual care. This plan works if you want a credit fix and some advice, and you can get it for $79 per month, plus the enrollment fee.

Essentials Plus, on the other hand, costs $109 per month but offers all of the services of the Essential Plus plan in addition to credit dispute letters and goodwill letters that are mailed directly to your creditors. The program also includes credit monitoring.

This means that Ovation will keep an eye on your credit score for signs of reporting errors or identity theft. If they notice you’ve fallen victim to a cyberattack, they will alert you immediately so you can freeze your credit or salvage your score some other way. 

If Ovation fails to accomplish what they’ve promised in the user agreement in any given month, they will refund you in full for that month. So, no need to worry — you can get your money back. 

All in all, Ovation offers a good-for-everything service which includes credit monitoring – if you opt for the premium account. This service can appear to be on the expensive side. However, the eventual savings it could bring through a reduction in interest charges alone could offset all fees and more.

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2. Credit Saint – Best for Thorough Credit Repair

Whether you’ve got a few reporting errors that need a quick fix or your credit report is riddled with false statements – Credit Saint can repair it. The company makes custom credit dispute letters for every individual client. Moreover, they can make these in volume, which is what makes them the best choice if you need a total credit repair overhaul.

• Price: $99 – $195 initial fee; $79 – $120 per month
• Best For: Simple report fixes, as well as a complete credit overhaul
• Promotions: 90-day money-back guarantee if Credit Saint cannot find or fix issues in your report
• BBB Rating: A+

There are 3 service packages to choose from and the monthly fees range from $79 to $120. When combined with the $99 – $195 enrollment fee, this is quite a lofty fee – but can be worth it. Here is what these 3 service packages do:

1. Polish. A good plan for a medium level of credit repair. Essentially, this will repair about 5 reporting errors every 30-45 days, so it’s the way to go if your credit isn’t that bad but has room for improvement.

2. Remodel – This one does twice as much. Remodel will fix up to 10 reporting errors every cycle – this includes more complicated stuff like repossessed items and bankruptcies.

3. Clean Slate – The program that does what it says on the box. This is the most expensive option but can remove an unlimited number of credit errors. If you have a lot of items that need correction on your credit report, this program is a way to fix them very quickly.

Credit Saint also provides frequent progress reports, regardless of which plan you’ve chosen. All customers have access to advisors, as well as a plethora of educational material to help you figure out how to approach credit repair and maintenance better. Among other things, this information will help you determine if you need a credit repair company at all, which speaks volumes about Credit Saint’s transparency.

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3. Sky Blue – Best Price-to-Quality Ratio

In case your credit report doesn’t need a huge cleanup, Sky Blue might be the best choice because of their good overall service and competitive prices. The pricing scheme is simple – the service costs $79 per month, with an initial $79 review/setup fee.

• Price: $79 review/set up fee, $79 per month
• Best for: Everything except complete, top-down credit overhaul
• Promotions: 90-day satisfaction guarantee; married couples get a $39-per-month discount
• BBB rating: A+

Don’t think that just because Sky Blue is in the #3 spot that it’s not worth it — because it is. Sky Blue provides excellent customer service and offers the best bang for your buck in the credit repair industry.

For the single monthly fee of $79, Sky Blue will send dispute letters for up to 15 items on your credit report every credit cycle (every 35 days). To be more precise, they will dispute up to 5 items for each of the 3 major credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. When compared to the competition, this is clearly the best value you can find.

As a new user, you will get an evaluation that will tell you where and how you can fix your credit personally, without paying a credit repair service. This is a good argument for Sky Blue’s integrity and is one of the reasons why this agency is often lauded by its customers. Many credit repair services will often make you think you need them more than you actually do, but Sky Blue will tell you the truth outright – which is very nice, to say the least.

Trying out the service comes without risk because Sky Blue offers a 90-day customer satisfaction guarantee. Namely, if you cancel your subscription within 3 months of opening your account, your money will be refunded – this deal is much better than what most competitors offer.

Opening an account with your spouse means you will get a discount of $39 per month – and you get free regular credit reports regardless. This easy-to-use service has a good price, and will likely be your best choice if you don’t need a very thorough credit revamp.

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4. CreditRepair.com – Most User-Friendly

If you want to make your credit repair journey as hassle-free as possible, CreditRepair.com might be a good fit. The company has a very user-friendly website and a simple methodology – this means clients can set up their credit repair plan quickly and without too much effort. 

• Price: $100 per month
• Best for: Clients new to credit repair
• Promotions: Free initial consultation
• BBB rating: D

Before paying for anything, you can sign up for a free consultation with a credit advisor, where you will learn how CreditRepair.com can help your score, but more importantly – how you can improve it yourself. If that goes well, you can sign up for a sensible fee of $100 per month, and the company will employ its 3-step credit repair plan.

First, they will examine your credit reports from all 3 major bureaus to find all potential reporting errors that might have been giving your FICO a hard time. After that, they will send out dispute letters over the following weeks to get these errors removed.

Credit bureaus often postpone dealing with dispute letters that take a lot of bureaucratic legwork – this is why CreditRepair.com will resend letters over and over until the issue is fixed. As the ancient Roman saying goes – “Repetition is the mother of credit repair”.

As a client, you will also get a handy app for your phone or tablet which lets you keep an eye on your credit and its progress. The bottom line is, CreditRepair.com provides very easy user experience, thorough credit repair over a long period, as well as an app with your own credit summary so you can keep vigil over your progress while on the move.

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5. AMB Credit Consultants – Best for Joint Accounts

If you’re looking for someone established and experienced, AMB might be for you. The company has been around for 13 years and has a good track record that has only been bolstered by its top rating with the BBB.

• Price: $149 initial fee; $99 per month ($198 for joint accounts)
• Best for: Well-rounded credit repair for married couples
• Promotions: 3-day money-back guarantee (6 months if AMB cannot find or fix errors on your report)
• BBB rating: A+

To make things simple, there is only one service package that costs $99 per month plus a one-time $149 enrollment fee. If you want to open a joint account with a spouse, or anyone else for that matter, you can.

This will cost you and your partner $198 per month plus an equal enrollment fee. This is where AMB outshines most of the competition – the joint accounts aren’t exclusive to married couples and the prices are pretty OK.

Once you sign up, you get unlimited report disputes for all 3 main credit bureaus, as well as access to an online credit management app so you can keep a finger on your credit’s pulse. Another great perk is the amount of educational material you can use – useful credit repair info and professional letter templates are included in this package.

If you decide to cancel the service within 3 days of signing up, you can get all your money back, no questions asked. Moreover, if AMB doesn’t fix any reporting errors within 6 months after you sign up, you can get a full refund, which is perfect if it turns out your reports were clean and healthy to begin with.

The only real downside to AMB’s offer is the lofty enrollment fees. Aside from that, this service provides thorough credit repair, educational content, and a flexible joint account.

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6. Lexington Law – Most Experienced

As far as business experience goes, no one credit repair company has more of it than Lexington Law. This household name has been in the game since 1991 and they remove millions of negative credit items from their clients’ reports every year.

• Price: $89.95 – $129.95 per month plus an identical one-time enrollment fee
• Best for: Top-notch, comprehensive service
• Promotions: Free consultation; Discounts for military personnel and spouses
• BBB rating: C

There are 3 service plans to choose from – basic, moderate, and advanced. The prices range from $89.95 to $129.95 per month plus a one-time initial payment for the same amount. This price tag isn’t low, but at least you have the option to get a cheaper plan if your credit reports don’t need a complete renovation.

You get one free consultation so you can hear what Lexington can do for you before you sign up, which is handy since the fees aren’t exactly nonexistent. The fees are 50% lower for former and active military personnel, and clients’ spouses get a 50% discount on the enrollment fee.

If you go through and sign up, you get a dedicated credit advisor which can give you a personalized service, taking all your financial circumstances into account. You can also keep an eye on your credit’s progress through Lexington’s phone app.

The premium plan is definitely on the expensive side but gives you multiple credit-tracking apps you can use, as well as unlimited reporting error fixes every month. All in all, Lexington Law is a safe bet regardless of what kind of credit repair service you need – that is, if you’re ready to pay a relatively high fee.

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7. The Credit People – Best Price

The companies up to this point didn’t shy away from charging hefty subscription fees for the most part – but The Credit People are different. This company specializes in providing moderate-level credit repair for some of the lowest prices you’ll come across.

• Price: $79 per month or $420 for a permanent subscription
• Best for: Solid credit repair for a very low price
• Promotions: 60-day money-back guarantee; 7-day trial period for $19
• BBB rating: C+

There are no enrollment fees and the only expense you need to worry about is the $79 monthly fee. However, you can make a one-time $420 payment to get a permanent subscription. Yep, that’s right. If you pay an equivalent to little more than 5 monthly fees, The Credit People will represent you indefinitely – how long that really is, we cannot know, but it sure seems like a good long-term investment.

This price scheme makes this company the best choice in terms of cost by far, but what can they do? They can provide medium-level credit repair for all 3 major credit bureaus. This means they will fix a limited amount of reporting errors every month, but that’s about it.

The customer service is only available during CT business hours. Also, you don’t get identity theft protection, fancy apps, and unlimited credit dispute letters as you would from companies at the top of this list.

Then again, if you don’t need these extra benefits, The Credit People might work for you. All potential clients get one free consultation meeting before signing up, and there’s a 60-day money-back guarantee, which is a very generous period compared to most other top credit repair companies. Moreover, you can try the service out for a week for $19, making The Credit People a great place to start if you’re on a tight budget and need to start repairing your credit now.

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How Do Credit Repair Companies Work?

Say you’re perfectly financially responsible and pay all your debt on time – does this mean your FICO will be excellent? Not necessarily. 

Credit bureaus that determine your score often make mistakes when updating your credit reports. This means your reports can contain items that shouldn’t be there and are negatively affecting your score. 

For example, if there’s a typo in your report that makes it look like your credit card debt is $10,000 instead of $1,000 – that’s a big problem. A typo can indeed damage your score, but luckily, such inconveniences can be fixed quickly.

Fixing a credit report means finding errors and sending dispute letters to bureaus so they can fix them. Sometimes, this process includes another step, which is sending the same dispute letter over and over until the bureaus decide to stop postponing your case. 

Keeping an eye on your reports and writing these letters can be a handful for people who didn’t major in accounting or banking, which is most of us. That’s where the leading credit repair companies come in. 

These companies can check your report and send dispute letters for you, as well as provide additional handy services like credit consultation, credit-monitoring apps, and even identity theft protection in some cases. That’s why credit repair companies can save you a lot of valuable time, especially if your reports are riddled with negative items that a single individual cannot hope to fix on their own.

Can a Credit Repair Company Really Help?

Yes and also no. Credit repair companies can fix reporting errors for you and provide handy tips and helpful tools – however, this only works if you lay the groundwork.

Having a good credit score means paying bills on time, being conservative with credit utilization, and not having too many loans. All of these factors have to be taken care of before getting a credit repair service can be of any real value.

Moreover, the credit repair world is chock-full of scams, dishonest services, and companies that are outright terrible at their job (all of which spend a lot on marketing). Getting one of these scammy services is a big mistake, as it will cost you a lot of money and will likely not help your credit one bit.

We all want a great credit score, which the list above only includes reputable and time-tested services that actually do what they say they do.

Is Credit Repair Worth the Money?

If your credit doesn’t need fixing, then credit repair is definitely not worth it. One the other hand, a credit report that’s full of errors can drag your score down by dozens of points, keeping you in a credit bracket that’s lower than the one you deserve.

In this case, credit repair is definitely worth it as it can dramatically decrease your bills and give you access to loans with the lowest possible interest rates.

So, repairing your credit goes without saying, but is it worth the money these companies are charging? Again, if you need a serious fix, then definitely. However, if you don’t mind the legwork, you can completely clean up your credit reports all by yourself. This can be done for free, but there are some paid tools you can get to help you out. 

If you want to take matters into your own hands, but still make credit repair easy, you can get credit repair software. The basic repair software can help you monitor your FICO and plan how to improve your credit for free. The more advanced programs can find reporting errors and give you templates you can use to write dispute letters to credit bureaus easily and quickly.

The advanced software isn’t free but only requires one payment after which it is yours – this is often cheaper than a 6-month subscription at a credit repair company. Moreover, all the tools that credit repair companies use are there, and they are often not that difficult to figure out. If you want to try a hands-on approach and fix your score yourself, check out our pick of the top credit repair software for this year.

How Do I Get a Collection Removed?

Getting a professional to do it for you is one option. But if you want to remove a collection yourself, you have to follow a few steps. First, you have to send a dispute letter to your credit bureau and request the removal of your collection. Also, you need to provide a copy of a document that proves that the debt in question doesn’t belong to you.

In case the debt belongs to you, you can try a different approach. If a debt collector has contacted you less than 30 days ago, you can ask them for debt validation. This means they have to provide evidence that the debt in question is indeed yours. If the collector can not prove this, your request to remove the collection from your report must be accepted.

Does Bad Credit Go Away?

Negative items can sit on your credit report for a long, long time if they credit bureaus fail to remove them promptly. However, most negative items will be removed after 7 years, and big items like a declaration of bankruptcy can remain for as long as 10 years.

These 7 and 10-year caps mean that negative statements will be removed automatically, so it shouldn’t be possible for an old item to remain after that period.

How Can I Repair Credit on My Own?

All the credit repair services in the world cannot help you if you don’t lay the foundations for a great score. There are many ways a credit rating can go up and down and it pays to know them, literally. Here are a few tips you can use if you need to improve your credit, or if you just want to keep it from dropping.

Timely Payments

The no. 1 factor you should worry about is missed payments. Seeing that you aren’t paying your bills when they are due tells credit bureaus you are not a safe bet for creditors. This is why a missed payment can drop your score quickly – always make paying off debt on time your highest priority.

Do Not Take Out to Many Loans

This goes without saying, but taking on too much debt can make it very hard to pay it all off. Sometimes it’s not just about money, but also keeping track of 100 things at once. Also, just applying for a new loan will cause a dip in your rating instantaneously – don’t make too many credit applications in a short period and make sure you’re not overextending.

Keep Away From Your Credit Limit

The credit companies might let you borrow up to 100% of your credit limit, but you should avoid that if at all possible. Having high credit utilization will hurt your score but this damage can be fixed quickly. If you bring your credit utilization down to 25% or lower, your score will not be affected negatively and you might see an improvement very soon.

Protect Yourself From Identity Theft

Even if you do everything by the book, there’s one wildcard that can really drag your FICO through the dirt – identity theft. Essentially, hackers can get a hold of your personal data and use it to take out loans in your name, or simply steal money from your credit card accounts.

There are several measures you can take to protect your data online like safe browning, using strong passwords, and having a good antivirus software – but even that isn’t enough sometimes. Some of the top credit bureaus have had major data leaks in the past few years, meaning clients’ personal info was stolen by hackers, and there was nothing they could do about it.

In such cases, identity theft cannot be prevented but there is a way to know as soon as there’s suspicious activity on your accounts. Some of the leading credit monitoring services offer very comprehensive identity monitoring and provide insurance in case they fail to keep your accounts safe.

Also, you can just freeze your credit in case you’re not planning on applying for new debt, and that will keep anyone from applying for credit in your name.

How Long Does It Take to Rebuild Credit?

A credit rating depends on a bunch of factors, some of which can affect your score in a matter of days, while some fixes will take years. All late payments and other negative items can stay on your report up to 7 years after you’ve taken care of them. Needless to say, this makes improving your credit a very long process.

To speed this up, you should clean up your credit report after you’ve taken care of all the debt and other obligations. You can do this yourself or through a credit repair service, which is what most folks opt for. 

In summary, should you do everything correctly and then fix errors on your credit report, you will likely see your score improving by a few points every week.

On the other hand, it will take years to make a significant improvement if these negative items sit on your report without your knowledge. Even if your score is at a low point at the moment, don’t worry – there are some loans with guaranteed approval you can take out without a great FICO.

How Can I Fix My Credit Score Fast?

Fixing a credit score isn’t easy, but also isn’t complicated. If you follow the tips above and work on fixing the outdated items and errors on your credit report, you’ll see improvement in no time. However, this doesn’t mean that your FICO will rise by 50 points every week – in reality, this progress is much slower.

If you’ve been scouring the web, looking for a way to fix your credit quickly, be careful. If you see a credit repair company promising a quick credit fix – that’s a huge red flag. As we said in the previous sections, the credit repair business is full of fraud, which is why you shouldn’t give your money or information to a company that says it can get you outlandish results in a short time.