Here’s a piece of credit repair advice: you need to consider the benefits and costs to using a credit repair agency.

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.

You should consider hiring an agency if you’re short on time, have the extra money and don’t want to be bothered to manage your finances. Also, if you struggle with low self esteem and couldn’t bring yourself to call your credit card company on the phone, then an agency is right for you. Chances are though that no one fits that description. Like maintaining your personal health and raising your own children, your finances are something you should attend to yourself.

If you’re just getting started, there’s more than enough 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.

Unfortunately, the experience of many consumers has been that credit repair agencies take your money and then just spit out a form letter on your behalf if that. Maybe the reporting agencies see the letter and reject it based on not enough information. They don’t like anything that looks like spam either.

If you’re waiting for the credit repair agency, you might be missing out on other things you could be doing in the meantime. When they’re being paid by the month, the incentives are stacked against them moving quickly and keeping you informed.

My recommendation is to do your own credit repair. Spend a little bit of the money you’d give an agency and get yourself a good book or course. Your financial future is up to you.

Fix bad credit! Do your own credit repair without an agency.