
- Availability
- 47 states (not Colorado, Georgia or South Carolina)
- Setup fee
- $79 to $119
- Monthly fee
- $79 to $119
To make our top picks, the ConsumerAffairs Research Team vetted 15 credit repair companies reviewed by more than 2,000 ConsumerAffairs readers. Features compared included fees, types of plans available, money-back guarantees and more.
You can read our full methodology to learn more about how we compared different lenders and chose our top picks. While our picks may be Authorized Partners that compensate us, this does not affect our recommendations or evaluations.
Company | Customer rating | Our pick for | Setup fee | Monthly fee | Money-back guarantee | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | 4.8
237 reviews
237 reviews
| Best overall | $79 to $119 | $79 to $119 | 90 days | Learn more |
![]() | 4.5
499 reviews
499 reviews
| Best value | $99 to $195 | $79.99 to $139.99 | 90 days | Get Started |
![]() | 4.8
153 reviews
153 reviews
| Customer satisfaction | $129 to $149 | $129 to $149 | 60 days | Get Started |
![]() | 1.0
29 reviews
29 reviews
| Satisfaction guarantee | $19 | $99 to $599 | Refund for current and previous month if unsatisfied in first six months | Learn more |
Jump into our guides and start learning
Having a credit score under 600 can hinder your financial goals, whether you’re trying to buy a new home or finance a car. Improving your credit score isn’t something that happens overnight, but with the help of credit repair companies, you can save time.
This guide covers everything you need to know about credit repair, including how credit repair works, when to choose credit repair vs. credit counseling and tips for avoiding scams. We also share key insights on how to repair your credit independently and provide practical strategies to improve your financial habits.
Laws like the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA) protect consumer rights and ensure fair practices for credit repair.
Jump to insightProfessional credit repair companies can assist with disputes, but they can’t guarantee specific outcomes. Be wary of companies that suggest disputing accurate information.
Jump to insightYou can repair your credit independently by reviewing your credit reports, disputing inaccuracies and adopting healthier financial habits.
Jump to insightCredit repair is the process of disputing negative marks or inaccurate information on credit reports to get them removed. Sometimes called credit restoration, it involves challenging negative claims on your credit reports with the credit reporting bureaus (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax).
Doing credit repair yourself is a lot of legwork, especially if you’re struggling with identity theft or have multiple marks to dispute. We suggest hiring a credit repair company if you have multiple and varied disputes.
The most common derogatory marks targeted during credit repair include:
For many people, credit repair is essential to accessing personal loans and credit cards. With an improved score, you increase your chances of qualifying for loans — and for better interest rates.
Many credit repair companies work with you to remove or appeal questionable and problematic items on your credit history. Sometimes, inaccurate marks on your credit report are from credit bureau errors or faulty creditor reports. Common errors that a credit repair company looks for include incorrect inquiries and duplicate, inaccurate or missing accounts.
Removing just a single negative item on your credit report can increase your credit score by more than 100 points. Note, though, that it can take anywhere from 30 days to one year to repair your credit and see your score increase.
» LEARN MORE: What is a negative credit history?
Credit repair strategies include sending goodwill adjustments to your creditor for late payments and cease-and-desist letters to debt collectors. In general, credit repair companies will follow this process:
Credit bureaus must send a notice of any corrections made to your report. Sometimes, a deleted dispute can reappear on your credit reports if the lender proves its claim is valid. If you find a derogatory mark reinserted on your credit reports, you can dispute it again.
While many people like having a team of professionals to help fix their credit, you can repair your own credit by doing the following:
Federal regulation for credit repair
Federal laws make it illegal for credit repair companies to make false claims. The credit repair industry is also regulated by state governments. Most states require credit repair agencies to be bonded and insured. Some states also require them to have a licensed attorney on staff.
If you believe a credit reporting agency or one of your creditors has violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), you should submit a consumer report to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
A credit repair company can help your credit score, but not all companies are the same. It is essential to work with legitimate companies that improve your credit each month.
Consider these steps to find the best credit repair company for you:
Make sure to ask direct questions about the company, including:
There are unfortunately a lot of credit repair scams that many people fall victim to. It’s essential to understand the warning signs of a fraudulent company so you don’t lose money or end up further damaging your credit.
Here are some key red flags to watch out for:
Credit repair and credit counseling are two different services that help consumers manage their credit, but they serve distinct purposes.
Credit repair services focus on disputing inaccurate or negative items on your credit report. This option is best if you believe your credit report contains errors or if you're dealing with the aftermath of identity theft. Credit repair companies can help speed up the process of removing negative items, potentially boosting your credit score.
Credit counseling, on the other hand, is more focused on financial education and debt management. Credit counselors often help consumers create budgets, manage debt, and negotiate with creditors. This service is ideal if you're struggling with managing debt, need help creating a financial plan, or want assistance with debt consolidation. Credit counseling agencies often offer free or low-cost services and may provide educational resources to help you develop healthier financial habits.
When to choose credit repair:
When to choose credit counseling:
Credit repair costs vary by company, but expect to pay $70 to $200 for your setup fee and $70 to $149 per month of service. Some companies offer discounted flat rates or the option to pause your service when you need a break. You might also be eligible for discounts to reduce the cost.
It takes most people between six months and a year to repair their credit by themselves. If you hire a professional, the credit repair process typically takes between three and six months. However, even the best credit repair company cannot guarantee success within a specific amount of time.
» RELATED: How to build credit
If a credit repair company is able to remove a legitimate inaccuracy from your credit report, you will see an improvement in your credit score.
A credit repair company doesn’t technically do anything you can’t do yourself, but the service is worth it for many people who find the do-it-yourself credit repair process time-consuming and confusing. The best credit repair service combines financial education with proven techniques to remove negative items from your credit history. If your poor credit resulted from a complicated situation out of your control, such as identity theft, professional credit repair services save you time and effort.
Credit repair focuses on disputing inaccuracies or negative items on your credit report to improve your credit score. Credit counseling provides financial education and debt management plans to help you address the root causes of poor credit and improve your financial habits.
Credit repair isn’t illegal. The Fair Credit Billing Act, the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act give everyone the legal right to dispute inaccurate items on their credit reports with the credit bureaus and individual creditors.
To decide our top picks for buyers with different priorities, as well as our top overall credit repair company, we used a weighted scoring system that took into account both reviews about each company from ConsumerAffairs users and specific company features we researched.
We conducted sentence-by-sentence sentiment analysis of thousands of reviews on our site from Nov. 1, 2017, to Oct. 31, 2024, to identify the aspects people care about most — and which companies reviewers were happiest with for each of these aspects. For credit repair companies, these aspects included:
We then carefully selected the most important features consumers should consider before choosing a credit repair provider and researched these at each company. For credit repair, these features included:
The company with the highest score in each category’s uniquely weighted formula was given the “Our pick for” designation. In some cases where a single company received the top score across multiple categories, the company with the second-highest score was named the winner.
Jose Moreno
Professor, finance, University of the Incarnate Word
If you are looking to buy a home or car or take out a personal loan, you must be concerned about your credit score. Although there are different companies monitoring credit scores, they don’t use the same weights to factor all variables included in these scores. The common factors that lower credit scores are missing payments, applying for credit frequently, and, of course, getting close to your credit limit.
However, the one mistake that I consider the most common (and that could be easily fixed) is forgetting to monitor your credit reports. Nowadays, it is easy and inexpensive to monitor your credit scores by using an app or a website that can notify you if something changes in your credit reports.
By creating a habit of checking your credit at least once a month, you can avoid significant damage to your credit that an erroneous credit transaction or an identity theft attempt can cause.
J. Michael Collins
Professor, finance, University of Wisconsin - MadisonThe most common mistake is failing to pay attention. Credit scores are based on all the records that we have that are reported to credit bureaus, including when we apply for a loan, and then if a loan is approved, how much we borrow and if we pay back any loans on time. But even non-loans could be reported, like a very past-due bill or owing back taxes. So the No. 1 rule is pay attention to any bill or loan payment due, and make the payment by the deadline. If you really cannot come up with the funds, contact the creditor and see if you can get extra time. Sometimes a partial payment is better than none. Another mistake is to jump on any offer to take out credit. Just because a store will offer you a discount to open a new credit card does not mean you should take on a new loan in the form of a credit card. Be mindful about seeking out credit in any form.
Read their bioKevin McEvoy
Emeritus faculty, marketing, University of ConnecticutWhile credit scores can be repaired or increased over time, borrowers still need to be aware of all these factors to avoid making mistakes that will negatively affect credit scores in the first place. These are some of the most common mistakes:
Ellen Kraft
Associate professor, business analytics, Stockton UniversityConsumers can make mistakes that negatively affect their credit score in many ways, including:
J. Michael Collins
Professor, finance, University of Wisconsin - MadisonThe key factors are paying bills on time and reducing the ratio of debt to income or debt borrowed to available credit (e.g., on a credit card). The exact strategy depends on where you are in your credit life span. Opening new lines of credit or credit cards are not usually a good way to improve credit scores unless you don't have much credit history. If you are just starting out, look into a secured credit card or even a joint credit application with a parent or relative who has better credit. If you have bad credit, the best strategy is to diligently pay off what you owe and not open or take out new debt.
Read their bioKevin McEvoy
Emeritus faculty, marketing, University of ConnecticutA low credit score need not be disastrous. Lenders make money by lending, and so they want to offer credit but need to be paid back as well. Improving one’s credit score means improving one or more of the issues noted below:
Annamaria Lusardi
Professor, finance, Stanford UniversityOne of my recommendations for improving your credit score and keeping it high is to pay credit cards on time and pay off any credit card balance as much as possible. Payment history accounts for 35% of the score, so pay on time and pay off any balance starting with the credit card with the highest interest rate. Your personal finance will very much benefit from it.
Read their bioPatrick Augustin
Associate professor, finance, McGill UniversityMake debt payments on time (auto loans, mortgage loans) and keep credit card records in good standing (regularly pay down all your credit card debt when it is due, not partially, don’t ramp up too much credit card debt relative to disposable income, etc.). Make regular payments for bills.
Read their bioAndrew Schwartz
Assistant professor, finance, Elon UniversityWhen shopping for a credit repair service, you should look for one that is realistic about what they can do. If it seems like they are making promises that sound too good to be true, they probably are. Similarly, come into the process with realistic expectations. Payment history and credit utilization have by far the biggest impact on your credit score. A credit repair service can’t make payments for you or force you to stop using too much of your credit limit. In the end, the best way to improve your credit score is to do the boring work of practicing good financial habits.
Read their bioDorothy Kelly
Professor, finance, University of VirginiaAs the saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” In other words, it is much easier to prevent a bad thing from happening in the first place than to repair the damage after it has happened. This truth applies to most things, including one’s credit history. If you damage your credit by making late payments or failing to make a payment, it will take much more time to repair the damage to your credit than it took to damage it. A late or missed payment will stay on your credit report for seven years.
Read their bioIrene Hurst
Director, analytics & creativity, University of South FloridaStop overspending. Develop a budget and stick to it within your means. Another important point is being mindful of small, frequent expenses. If you spend just $1-$2 per day on “small stuff,” that adds up to $30 per month, or $360 per year. When you consider that a cup of coffee costs $3-$8, those little purchases could end up totaling over $1,000 a year.
Read their bioInformation in this guide is general in nature and is intended for informational purposes only; it is not legal, health, investment or tax advice. ConsumerAffairs.com makes no representation as to the accuracy of the information provided and assumes no liability for any damages or loss arising from its use.
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Company | Customer rating | About | Learn More |
---|---|---|---|
![]() | 4.5
499 reviews
| Charges initial work fee from $99 to $195. Monthly fees range from $79.99 to $119.99. Provides a 90-day money-back guarantee. Refunds limited to payments made for 90 days of service only. Available nationwide. | Get Started |
![]() | 4.8
153 reviews
| Setup fees range from $119 to $149. Three plans with monthly fees from $69 to $149. 90-day limited money-back guarantee. Cancel credit repair services anytime. Available nationwide. Takes under two minutes to sign up. | Get Started |
![]() | 3.3
2,310 reviews
| Provides free online credit assessment and credit reports. Monthly fee is $139.95. Get started for $0 today with first payment due 5-15 days after signup. Cancel services anytime. Not available in Oregon. | Get Started |
![]() | 3.8
165 reviews
| Offers credit repair services for customers in several states. Month to month contracts start at $49/month and give customers a way to remove negative items from their credit report. Improvement takes around six months. | Learn More |
![]() | 1.0
53 reviews
| Monthly fees start at $69.95, with first payment starting at $69.95. Discounts available for referring friends or family. Cancel account anytime. Available nationwide. | Read reviews |
![]() | 5.0
9 reviews
| Free consultation and debt analysis. 83% success rate for item removals. 90% of clients see increases in credit scores. Focus on customer education. Offers a 100% money-back guarantee. All-inclusive pricing. | Read reviews |
![]() | 4.8
237 reviews
| Charges $79 setup fee. Monthly fees start at $79. Typical customers see credit score improvement results within 30 days. Offers 90-day money-back guarantee. No cancellation charges. Available nationwide. | Read reviews |
![]() | 1.0
29 reviews
| Offers repair services for bad credit. $79 per month. Could positively affect your credit score within 60 days. Employs certified representatives. Credit solutions available on the company’s website. | Read reviews |
![]() | No reviews | Provides credit report analysis, credit dispute resolution and ongoing credit monitoring. Creates a customized plan to repair your credit. Pricing and duration of services vary. Offers free initial consultations. | |
![]() | No reviews | Charges $99 initial fee. Monthly fees are $99 for individuals or $198 for couples. Average customers see credit score improvements within the first 45 days. Provides 90-day money-back guarantee. No contract commitment required. | |
![]() | No reviews | Charges $179 per individual and $279 per couple for the initial payment. Bills customers $50 per confirmed deletion and $75 per public record correction. Provides 100% money-back guarantee. | |
![]() | No reviews | Charges $30 setup fee. Individual monthly fees start at $98 with couple discounts available. Averages a 76% deletion rate. Guarantees minimum 50-point credit score increase. | |
![]() | No reviews | Charges $89 setup fee and then $89 a month. Average customers see results in 30 to 45 days. Cancel account anytime. Only available in Texas. | |
![]() | No reviews | Does not provide transparent pricing. Offers credit score tools to help with restoration. Experienced with bankruptcies, slow payments, charge-offs, foreclosures, tax liens and collection accounts. Only available in Texas. | |
![]() | No reviews | Provides financial software and a mobile app that lets customers track and dispute credit. Includes a 12-episode course on credit and personal finance with premium subscription. Costs $129 a month for six months, then $59 a month. | |
![]() | No reviews | Provides free consultations. Customers typically see results within 180 days. Guarantees results with full refund policy. Only available in Texas. | |
![]() | 1.0
334 reviews
| Charges $89 setup fee. Monthly fees from $79 to $109. Averages 19 points improvement per customer. Does not guarantee specific results. Cancel contract within five days of signing. Not be available in all states. | Read reviews |