Im looking for a credit repair company to help repair my credit and raise my credit score. There are many companies online but I want to choose a reputable company and do not know how to make sure they are legitimately a good company. Any suggestions?
Forget credit repair companies. Most are pure scam. Even the legit ones only do what you can easily do yourself. There are no special letters or secret procedures to clean up your credit.
Get a copy of your credit report (AnnualCreditReport.com). If there are errors, dispute them with the credit bureau. Legitimate negative items age off your credit report 7-1/2 years from the date of first deficiency. The older the item, the less impact on your score.
If any of your derogatory items are single entry items, like medical or utility bills, you can try to negotiate pay for delete agreements (you pay $x and they remove the item) with the collection agencies. This doens’t work for regularly reported items like credit cards and installment loans. The collection agency can only remove what they report. The original creditor’s charge off would remain.
If you have open credit card accounts, use them and pay off the balance in full every month. If you don’t have a credit card, get one, even if you have to get a secured card — you pay a deposit which is held as collateral against the line of credit. You need to build up at least 24 months of consistent, on time payment history to improve your score.