Credit Repair Advice: DIY Vs Hiring An Agency

By Tiffani G Peterson

A piece of credit repair advice: before your hire a credit repair agency consider the pros and cons.

If you hire an agency you'll pay a monthly fee regardless of how much work they do (or don't do). You'll send your own letters and make calls so that you know exactly where you are along the process. When you make all your own contacts with the reporting agencies, you'll provide a personal touch so they know you're a real person the need to work with.

If flexibility is important to you, you'll probably want to repair your credit yourself. Sometimes things come up in life and you need to put your credit repair on hold a while. You can make judgement calls that fit you instead of finding out what an agency did after the fact. For instance, if you see a charged off account that's 6 years old, it might make sense to leave it alone. Most negative items can only be reported for 7 years anyway.

A couple of reasons you might want someone else to work on your credit are that it does take a little time and that you might struggle with self doubt and wonder if you were doing it right. When it comes down to it, credit and financial health are one of those things that you probably shouldn't pay someone else to do. It's like your physical health or raising your children. Yes, you can pay for someone to help now and then but it's ultimately your responsibility.

Fortunately, there is more information than you could ever need online about how to repair your credit. The challenge is sorting through it and putting it all in order. My advice is to find a reputable book or course that puts all the pieces together for you.

Using An Agency

Chances are, a credit agency will do exactly what you could do. They'll send letters. They might give you credit repair advice to close or open lines of credit. They'll probably tell you to ask for better rates. You'd probably feel more secure knowing someone was working on your behalf.

The experience many consumers have had is that credit repair agencies take your money and then simply send out a form letter for you. It's possible the reporting agencies see the letter and reject it based on vague information. Nobody likes being spammed with generic letters.

Then you'll wonder what's happening as the credit repair agency collects a monthly fee month after month. While you're waiting there will probably have been some other things you could have been doing to improve your credit if you would have known.

My advice is to skip the agencies and spend that money on a good book or course. Take responsibility for your own financial future. - 29866

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