Are you looking for professional help to improve your credit score? We have reviewed 42 credit repair companies and have selected 7 that could help you challenge credit inaccuracies, dispute negative items on your credit report and raise your credit score.
Credit repair agencies in Idaho use a variety of methods to help consumers pay down their debts and get rid of negative marks on their credit. The first step is usually getting a copy of the credit report and then disputing any items on the report that are inaccurate. Another common strategy is to request the credit reporting agencies to drop any duplicate accounts or accounts that have passed the legal date by which they are required to drop off. Despite these efforts, there may still be more issues on the credit report that need special attention. One way to help manage larger debts is through the consolidation of open lines of credit, including medical debt. By consolidating not only will payments get easier to manage, but the DTI will also decrease which will give your credit score a nice boost.
Idaho is fairly average in terms of living costs, debt, and credit. Not only is it right in the middle of the cost-of-living charts, but the average person in Idaho has lower-than-average credit card debt. The average in the US is $5,193, but Idaho sits at a healthier $4,793 per person.
The average credit score in Idaho is slightly above the national average score. At 725, it’s 11 points higher than average, and it’s a good credit score. Although this is a good enough score to help you access many credit products, there’s still room for improvement. And, that’s if you’re sitting exactly at the average! If your credit score is lower than Idaho’s state average, you might be able to benefit from credit repair. It’s not a solution that works for everyone, but in some situations, credit repair could be instrumental to increasing your credit score.
The Idaho Collection Agency Act (ID Code 26-2221) gives some guidance to how credit repair companies can interact with their customers in Idaho state. The main impacts of this law are requiring that credit repair companies:
Federal law lays the basic groundwork for credit repair in the US. The Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA) gives a great foundation for how these kind of companies can advertise to potential customers, how they have to set up their contracts, and what they’re legally allowed to offer as a service. There’s also a provision that bars credit repair companies from demanding upfront payment before services have been provided to the customer.
No, there’s no requirement for credit repair to be done by a lawyer in the state of Idaho. While lawyers can and often do provide this service to their customers, there are also a lot of legitimate businesses doing credit repair that are not law firms. Technically, credit repair can be done by anyone, but it’s still a good idea to work with a reliable company that has a track record of successfully providing credit repair to others.
In Idaho, the credit repair process follows 3 basic steps:
Every 12 months, you’re able to request a credit report from the major credit bureaus operating within the US. These bureaus all have their own reports, so it’s important to request a credit report from all 3 separately. Each report is different, and some might have entries that aren’t present on the others. Credit reports can be requested online, and you can get a hard copy or soft copy.
Credit reports contain entries that are related to how you handle debt. They will show your payment history for debt-related items, such as credit card or loan payments, as well as open credit accounts and active debt. Look closely at each credit report, checking for inaccuracies in the information. Errors on credit reports are quite common, but they’re not always malicious, so it’s a good practice to go through your credit report and keep up with the entries that are there.
You’re entitled to dispute entries on your credit report that are false or inaccurate. This involves sending a dispute letter to the credit bureau with the incorrect entry on their credit report, then following up as they investigate the claim. All credit bureaus must accept genuine dispute letters, but they have to be presented with the correct evidence and information to accomplish anything.
Note: Credit repair is not a complex process, but it’s tedious. Even though you can follow this process yourself, it’s often better to work with a credit repair company to help you push for the right results and to get your disputes resolved more efficiently. There’s a lot of effort that goes into drafting the letter itself and then continuously following up with the credit bureau until they remove the inaccurate transaction.
Mention debt and chances are you will automatically start to think about, bills, credit cards, mortgages, and the like. These are sources of debt, but one of the biggest forms of debt on most people’s credit reports is medical debt. Dealing with insurance companies or medical billing companies on your own can often be more stressful than actually paying the bill. If you are also suffering from bad credit due to your medical bills, it can make everything ten times worse.
Are you dealing with a low credit score that is a result of medical debt? If you live in Idaho, there are options available to help find relief. With so many people out of work keeping up with premiums has become harder than ever. A large percentage of the Idaho population who let their insurance lapse but needed medical care are now facing collection calls, copious amounts of collection letters, and of course, negative marks on their credit report. If you are one of the many Idaho residents who have suffered a dip to their credit score due to medical debt, professional credit repair can help. Not only can professional credit repair companies work with you to reduce your medical debt, they can also help you rebuild your credit. Unlike other forms of debt, there is no specific time after which medical debt must automatically be removed from your credit report. Working with a credit repair company that has experience dealing with medical debt is the best way to have it removed from your credit report. Idaho credit repair companies may be able to negotiate with the billing department to lower past due bills, check for errors in billing, and create a manageable payment plan to help you get up to date. They may also help to get medical collection agents off your back and off of your credit report.
If your credit report has any false entries on it, these can have a huge negative impact on your credit score. With credit repair, you can get these false entries removed and have your credit score judged based only on what you’ve actually done. If there are inaccurate transactions recorded in your credit report, especially payments made late or missed entirely, credit repair is going to make a big difference to your credit score.
On average, you can expect to pay between $99 - $249 per month for credit repair, although the full range is somewhere closer to $130 per month. Most companies charge a setup fee upfront, which is usually the same as or less than the monthly fee. You can cancel your service at any time, but as long as you continue using their credit repair service, you’ll pay the monthly fee.
Credit repair is a long process. The average time it takes from start to finish is 3 – 6 months. Even though credit bureaus are obligated to respond to dispute letters within 30 days, the first response is usually not enough to get your credit report fixed. It often takes a lot of following up until your credit report is finally fixed. Credit repair companies handle all this for you, keeping on top of the progress and pushing credit bureaus to respond.
There are no cities in Idaho where you cannot get credit repair services from a legitimate company. Idaho has a large range of towns and cities, but all residents in the state can still get credit repair. Whether you live in Boise City, Meridian, or Nampa, or you live in the smaller cities like Driggs, Wallace, or Dayton, credit repair is not location-specific, as long as the company providing the service is following local regulations.