Anyone paid for someone to fix their credit?

[caitlinsmom]

I just checked out my credit. Definatly not sitting where I thought it would be. I disputed what I could. However I know there are companies that will go and fix a lot of the little things to make it look better. I also know that in this business fraud is rampant.

 

Has anyone used a company? Was it worth it? How did the process work? How long did it take for your score to reflect the changes?

 

PM me if you feel better about sharing that way. :)

[fshinkevich]

My FIL did it, so I cannot give details. I just know that he paid a fee (don't know what) and that his score was up dramatically in a few months and he was able to refinance his home. Then they continued to work on it for like a year, they just call the companies every day and pester them the way they call you if you owe money. Worth every penny in his case, his credit was very bad.

[stripe]

I would be very skeptical and do research about what you can do yourself to improve your credit, and spend the money paying off your debt.

[Guest janainaz]

I would work with your creditors on your own. So many of those companies are scams. Just be very careful.

[caitlinsmom]

I would be very skeptical and do research about what you can do yourself to improve your credit, and spend the money paying off your debt.

 

This is one of the reasons we are looking into a service. We are debt free aside from a mortgage, what we have is a ton of misreported things that were taken care of years ago (obviously not!). We have gone through the dispute process ourselves but it clearly did not help.

 

I did spend the afternoon searching. Boy finding something legit with good score at the BBB took a long time. There is a lot of fraud out there and it was sad to see how many people have been scammed.

 

All that said we are very hesitant to do something like this because of the scammers, however it is a service that we would greatly benifit from if we could find an honest company.

[LUV2EDU]

Do not send your money.

 

First, click on link below. Once your on Inside Edition site, click on Investigative Reports. Then, click on displaying until you see the picture below(Displaying 13-16)

 

http://www.insideedition.com/videos.aspx

 

Credit Counseling Investigation

 

Monday, 02/02/09

 

Many people turn to credit counselors or debt management agencies for help paying their credit card bills. The companies say they can lower your credit card rates and manage your debt. But INSIDE EDITION's Matt Meagher has been investigating and found some very unhappy customers.

[Samiam]

My sister did this. Basically the company called all of the creditors, and negotiated a lower pay off balance, and monthly payments. Then my sister paid one lump sum to the company, who then paid the individual companies (and I assume they kept a slice for themselves, how they stay in business??).

 

I guess it worked for her, I mean, all of her old bills are paid off. Not sure about her credit rating, didn't really ask. But I do know the monthly payment she paid each month was quite a struggle for her, but she followed through.

 

The thing is, you can TOTALLY do this yourself. Most creditors are happy to accept a part of what you owe, better than getting nothing. And they will take payments. But better yet, if you can pay them a lump sum right then. I did this a few years ago for some of mine. Say, I owed $1000....called them and said, "look, I can pay you $250 right now, and then we call this settled and done with". If they accept, you pay, request them to send you a payment letter, and it clears up your credit report in 30 days.

[scrapbookbuzz]

Dave Ramsey says, "Don't do it!" He has a great Financial Peace Course that tells you how to do it better. Hope that helps! Send me a msg if you want more details!