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.
Your credit is a big part of who you are. It is a record of where you have been, purchases you have made, and a visual tabulation of your ability to manage money. Your credit score is used to determine if you will be extended financing for a variety of things such as when you want to buy a new home or car. If you have bad credit however, everything becomes much hard and also more expensive. If you have bad credit and are interested in turning things around, a credit repair service in Kentucky may be just the help you need.
Kentucky is a very affordable state to live in. It has a lower cost of living than most of the US. Naturally, this is reflected in the amount of debt the average person in the state has. In Kentucky, the average credit card debt per person is $4,715.
Unfortunately, credit scores in Kentucky are lower than average. The average credit score in the state is 702, 12 points below the national average of 714. These averages are good enough to get decent conditions for a loan or credit card, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement. If your credit score is getting dragged down by inaccurate information that’s been applied to your credit report accidentally, credit repair can help you get rid of these false entries.
There are no laws in Kentucky that directly impact credit repair companies in the state. Some state laws may affect all businesses that operate in the state, but no laws exist that deal with credit repair as an industry.
There is a federal law that impacts all credit repair companies in the US. It’s known as the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA). Under this law, any companies offering credit repair services in the US need to follow specific guidelines. These include regulations about how contracts can be set up for each customer, what services are allowed to be offered for payment, how payment can be charged, and more.
Credit repair may seem like a complicated process, and while it is difficult, it is also easy to understand. Credit repair is basically the act of having negative entries on the credit report removed. This is done by challenging inaccurate and old items entered on the report and also working with collections agents to bring accounts into good standing and remove the late notations on the report. Most companies will also pair credit rebuilding services into their credit repair packages. Though you can do this all on your own, Kentucky credit repair companies can get it done quicker and with fewer hassles.
Credit repair can get rid of things on your credit report that are dragging your score down. Items that don’t belong to you, old collections that are no longer valid, and negative entries that are a result of fraud are just a few things that can be fixed with credit repair. Items that can no longer be validated and discharged bankruptcies can also be taken off of your report through credit repair efforts. Depending on the type of credit repair service you hire, you may be able to get rid of late fees, missed payments and collections through consolidation. Not only will this get rid of negative marks on your credit, it will also help boost your score as you make on-time payments.
Credit repair is a service that can be offered by anyone, not just lawyers or law firms. In Kentucky, you don’t have to hire a lawyer for credit repair because there are no legal requirements for who can do it for you. Instead of looking for a law firm, check on a company’s reputation and experience with doing credit repair for others in the state. Legally speaking, you can also opt to do credit repair for yourself. The problem is that without having experience doing it, you’re going to have difficulty drafting appropriate dispute letters and following up with credit bureaus on your own. It’s better to rely on the expertise of a reliable credit repair company instead.
Kentucky has a straightforward credit repair process. It goes like this:
Step 1: Making a request for your credit reports
Everyone has 3 credit reports. These come from the 3 main credit bureaus that operate in the US. Each bureau keeps track of credit-related activities that are reported about you by businesses you interact with. You’re entitled to a free credit report from each bureau once every 12 months, which you can request online or by mail.
Step 2: Analyzing your credit reports
Take a close look at the 3 different credit reports. Check if everything is in order. If there are inaccuracies in your credit report, it can have a huge negative impact on your credit score. Make sure you check any negative entries especially, but also check any neutral or positive transactions that could be inaccurate since these can all impact your credit.
Step 3: Drafting and sending dispute letters
If you find any inaccurate information in your credit reports, you need to draft a dispute letter to send to the credit bureau. This letter will request an investigation into an entry on your credit report that you know to be incorrect. Dispute letters should be written to all the credit bureaus that include the inaccurate entry on their credit reports.
Note: While the process only involves 3 main steps, it’s more complicated than it seems. You can attempt it yourself, but you may not be successful if you try it yourself since you need to send in specific information and evidence in your dispute letters to each credit bureau. It’s better to work with an experienced credit repair company who can get the job done with a lot less hassle.
Once a correction has been made to your report, the Credit bureaus will send you a notice. Credit repair agencies will monitor your report to see if any deleted items are reinserted. Sometimes a creditor will prove the validity of a debt later down the road which is what causes it to be reinserted on your credit report. If collections agents or companies are harassing you, a credit repair service has the ability to make them stop by issuing a cease-and-desist letters. Consolidation of medical or credit card debt are also common ways credit repair companies work to fix your credit. They are able to work to have charge-offs and collections entries taken off your credit report as well.
Credit scores that are based on 100% accurate credit reports cannot be improved by credit repair. However, if you have inaccurate entries on your credit report, your credit score could be improved significantly by having these removed. Credit repair is important because it allows your credit score to be based on your own merit, with no false entries affecting your score.
Credit repair in Kentucky ranges from $79 - $199 per month, but the average is closer to $89 - $129 per month. Instead of paying a flat rate, credit repair companies charge per month because of the variation in how long the process can take. Most companies will charge an upfront setup fee as well, but the monthly fee is a normal practice that goes on until your credit repair is complete.
For most people in Kentucky, credit repair can be finished in between 3 – 6 months. Unfortunately, the process can take months because of delays in getting the credit bureaus to act on inaccurate information you find. While they must respond to legitimate credit entry disputes within 30 days, your credit report will rarely be fixed within that time.
There’s nowhere in Kentucky where credit repair is restricted. You can get just as good of credit repair service in Ironville, Wickliffe, or Magnolia as you can in Louisville, Lexington, or Bowling Green. As long as the credit repair company you want to work with follows state and federal regulations, you can work with any company you please from within the state or elsewhere.