You absolutely have the right to repair your credit yourself. You can issue disputes on any questionable items for free and the credit bureaus will even provide the forms on their website to expedite the process. You do not need the assistance of a professional credit repair service.
Repairing your credit yourself may seem like a simple solution that can quickly and easily repair your credit. Just get a copy of your report, identify the inaccuracies, fill out some paperwork, submit it and wait for the negative listings to be removed. What could be easier?
Well if it were really easy and viable for anyone to do it there would be no need for professional credit repair services. There are many things that we can do ourselves but it is just smarter to get a professional to help out. For instance, you have the right to represent yourself in a criminal case in a court of law but in the majority of situations it is probably wiser to hire a good attorney.
Making repairs on your credit can be a time-consuming and complex process. If you have another full-time profession you may want to consider if you have the time that it will take to spare. It is common for the credit bureaus to reject disputes and it can even happen that they can come up with verification for an item that is actually incorrect.
You may also need to communicate frequently with the individual creditors to get them to correct inaccurate listings. Many times they would just as soon ignore your requests, as helping others repair their credit is not a profitable activity for them. If that is the case you may need to invoke your rights under the Fair Credit Billing Act to get them to correct the listings. You will likely need to work with collection agencies in this same way.
All of the communications need to be documented in writing. There are also some accepted protocols that you will need to follow when you are dealing with the individual parties. If you do not follow the accepted procedures it is possible that you could even inadvertently lower your credit score rather than raise it.
There is some major forethought that should go into the decision of repairing your credit yourself. Do you have the time to spend? It may end up taking a substantial amount of your time. How valuable is your time? Also, do you have the emotional capacity to remain neutral about your own finances? Many people are very emotionally charged about their own finances and if you lose composure with anger or tears you will hurt yourself more in the long term.
If you think you have the time, the energy and the emotional capacity to remain neutral then you should absolutely take advantage of your right to repair your credit yourself. However, if you have any doubts about these important considerations you should look into the advantages of a credit repair professional.
