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 score and your credit history play a big role in your life. What is listed on your credit report tells lenders if you can be trusted with lines of credit for home loans and credit cards. It also lets employers know if you are able to manage your money effectively, which can factor into their hiring decisions. Even when you apply for insurance, your credit score will determine the rate of interest and the coverage amounts you qualify for among other things. If your credit score is holding you back, it may be time to consider bringing in a professional Nebraska credit repair agency to help.
Nebraska is a very inexpensive state to live in. It has a lower cost of living than most other US states, including lower real estate prices than most of the nation. Related to this, Nebraska also has low average credit card debt per person. Sitting at $4,536 per person, Nebraska credit card debt numbers are more than $600 lower than the national average of $5,193 per person.
In Nebraska, the average credit score is 731 points, 17 points above the national average of 714. This is a strong average, but many residents of the state may not reach this level because of mistakes that are present on their credit reports. If your credit report has inaccurate entries on it, your credit score might be lower than it should be. Credit repair is this the easiest way to get these inaccurate entries removed from your credit report.
Nebraska’s Credit Service Organization Act (Neb Rev Stat 45-801) addresses how credit repair companies are allowed to operate within the state. This law places a couple main restrictions on these companies, including:
In the US, there’s a federal law that provides guidance for all organizations offering credit repair as a service to customers. This law is the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA), and it addresses issues like setting up contracts for credit repair, payment structures that are allowed, and how companies are allowed to communicate with customers about the service the offer.
While you can choose to work with a lawyer to do credit repair in Nebraska, it's not necessary. Lawyers regularly offer this service to their clients, depending on what kind of law firm they are, but many Nebraska companies also offer credit repair service that's reliable and effective. Experienced companies can perform the same services that a lawyer would provide you and may offer other complementary services alongside it.
You can expect the credit repair process to involve these 3 steps in Nebraska:
Step 1: Make requests for credit reports
In order to start the credit repair process, you have to have information about what’s being considered for your credit score. Credit reports are the foundation for your credit score, since they hold the entries that are used to calculate your credit score. These credit reports are created by 3 credit bureaus that operate in the US. All 3 bureaus maintain their own reports, and they are all entitled to send you a free credit report every 12 months upon request.
Step 2: Examine each report for mistakes
Once you've requested the credit reports from the credit bureaus, you need to comb through them and look for any entries that may be incorrect. Inaccurate entries are not always fraudulent. Some are the result of mistakes during the data entry process. Your credit reports may contain information for someone else, or incorrect information about something that you did. Any type of mistake on your credit report should be removed so that it doesn't interfere with the calculation of your credit score.
Step 3: File disputes with credit bureaus
If, and only if, incorrect entries are found on your credit report, you need to file a dispute letter with each credit Bureau that lists that entry on their credit report. Since these credit reports are maintained independently, not all bureaus will have the same information. Some may include the inaccurate transaction while others do not. Dispute letters need to contain evidence that proves the inaccuracy of the entry in order to trigger an investigation into it.
Note: Although the process is straightforward, it's not quite as simple as it sounds. Legally speaking, you can do credit repair on your own. However, it's more complicated than it sounds from the outside, especially when you need to follow up with any of the credit bureaus.
Fixing your credit takes both time and effort in order to be effective. The first step is to dispute inaccuracies in your credit report. Once those are removed, the next order of business is to have old accounts removed that should have fallen off of your credit report. In many cases, this can bring up a credit score by as much as 100 points. For late payment entries and overdue entries, negotiating with the creditors to have the marks removed once the account is current is also an option.
Credit repair companies will do the above-mentioned things. In addition to these, however, they will often work with your creditors to help lower and pay off the debt listed on your credit report. After completing the dispute process and ascertaining that amounts are actually correct and owned by you, they will suggest moving your higher interest rates cards over to your lower ones. This can save you money as well as lower the amount of total debt. They also will work with high overdue balances placed in collections to try to get them settled for a much smaller amount. This will help your overall score improve as the collection marks begin to decrease and fall off of your credit report. While you may be able to do many of these on your own, a professional credit repair company will have the time and the skills to make the process much more efficient.
There are many ways to deal with high levels of debt. Consolidating your debts is one way to get ahead of them while settling accounts in collections is another option. For people who are unable to come to an agreement with their creditors, or if your debts are simply too high to be able to ever catch up with, bankruptcy is also an option. It is important to think carefully when considering bankruptcy because it prevents you from building credit or even getting approved for a loan for between seven and ten years. There are also other things to consider before you file for bankruptcy.
In fact, bankruptcy is such a serious step that according to the law, a consumer must enroll and participate in a government-approved credit counseling program at least six months before they actually file. These sessions will help you learn how bankruptcy relief will affect your credit and how to manage your money going forward and also give you alternatives to filing for bankruptcy. You must choose a credit repair service that is on the list of government-approved agencies which can be found on the website of the U.S. Trustee Program - https://www.justice.gov/ust. Making sure the company you choose is on the approved list is important otherwise you may be forced to repeat the process when it comes time to file.
Credit scores can be greatly improved in Nebraska through credit repair. This only works if you have inaccurate entries on your current reports. Because credit scores rely heavily on your payment history and other information from your credit report, any mistakes on that report can be highly detrimental to your score. By removing those inaccurate entries, you can quickly make a positive impact on your credit score.
Credit repair is paid for on a monthly basis. Since you can't predict how long it will take to finish credit repair, companies charge a monthly fee from the beginning to the end of the process. The average monthly fee charged in Nebraska for credit repair is between $89 to $179. You can find companies offering this service in a wide range of price brackets, anywhere from $59 to $249, depending on what they offer with the service. Most companies may also charge a one-time upfront setup charge.
The average time it takes to complete the credit repair process in the state of Nebraska is between three to six months. Keep in mind that this is only an average. It's difficult to predict the exact amount of time it will take for any customer to go through the process. Credit bureaus ma create delays throughout the process as they request more information to complete their internal investigation of the inaccurate entries.
Credit repair is a service that's available in everywhere in Nebraska. From larger metro areas like Omaha, Lincoln, or Bellevue to smaller cities around the state such as West Point, Dakota city, or Sutherland, credit repair companies that are registered to work within the state can provide service to anyone, regardless of the location.