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.
Financial health is the only way to build lasting wealth. Holding down a good job and putting money away for the future is only one aspect of building wealth, maintaining a good credit score is another. If you are good at earning but not very good at managing your money, it can lead to poor decisions that result in derogatory marks on your credit report. Learning how credit works and how to maintain a good score will help you improve your score and creating wealth to last you a lifetime. For those who have derogatory marks on their credit report or are suffering from bad credit, a professional credit repair company in North Dakota will come in handy.
North Dakota’s cost of living is lower than the average, putting it on the more affordable side of US states list. Everything from housing to food and utilities costs less on average. This is likely part of the reason North Dakota has some of the lowest levels of credit card debt out of all 50 states. At an average of $4,356 per person, North Dakota’s state average is more than $800 less than the national average.
Lower levels of debt give some context for the average credit scores in North Dakota. The average credit score in the state is 733, a healthy credit score that’s 19 points above the US national average. While a score of 733 is good, not everyone will have a score this high, and many will have a much lower score. If your credit score is being affected by inaccurate entries on your credit report, you may be able to benefit from credit repair service to fix up your record and help improve your score.
There are no specific laws about credit repair in North Dakota. Instead, the state relies on existing federal laws aimed at credit repair companies. The main law in question is the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA). This law deals with how credit repair companies can operate, including:
Lawyers are not necessary in the credit repair process. In North Dakota, there are many lawyers who do provide reliable credit repair service, but there’s no requirement in this state or anywhere else in the US for a company to have legal qualifications before offering this service to people. This is a benefit for you, since it frees you up to work with any company you’re comfortable with, instead of forcing you to look only for a law firm.
The process for credit repair in North Dakota is the same as in other US state. It follows these basic steps:
Step 1: Making a request for your credit reports
Credit reports are central to the credit repair process. You need these reports in order to understand what’s being used to calculate your credit score, so you have to make a request to get your credit reports sent to you. This is something you’re legally allowed to request from each of the 3 major credit bureaus in the US for free at least once every 12 months. Since each credit bureau maintains their own credit reports, you need to ask for a report from each one separately.
Step 2: Checking credit reports for problems
Once you’re in possession of your 3 unique credit reports, it’s time to go through them carefully and look for anything that might be incorrect. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon to find problems on your credit reports. These could include anything from simple clerical errors to fraudulent charges on your credit accounts. Unless you’re keeping watch over your credit reports, errors can easily slip up the radar and sit on your report for up to 7 years.
Step 3: Contacting credit bureaus about any issues
There’s no way for you to remove entries from your credit report on your own. Instead, you need to contact the credit bureaus and request removal of specific entries. If you can demonstrate the inaccuracy of an entry, credit bureaus must remove it from your credit report. This will prevent inaccurate information from being used as part of your credit score calculations.
Note: Credit repair sounds easy. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as it sounds. There are only 3 steps to the process, but the final step involves a lot of follow up, presenting evidence, and communicating with credit bureaus. It’s best to have an experienced, reliable credit repair provider on your side to keep everything moving smoothly.
Having bad credit can limit you from getting good interested rates or even prevent you from securing certain types of credit at all. It is important to note that having a bad score doesn’t always mean that you won’t be able to secure an approval. What is on your credit report, both good and bad is just as important as your overall score. Every lender has its own standards they use when deciding to approve or deny an application. Some companies may only count the last few years of your credit history while others may disregard certain types of derogatory entries.
For example, if you have a currently solid history of paying your credit card bills and other open lines of credit, but have a past bankruptcy bringing your score down, creditors may still consider your application. Where you are applying for credit also plays a big role in what items on your credit report they will look at when considering approving your request. That being said, there are many things on your credit report that can also be fixed that can bring up your score. Working with a professional credit repair service in North Dakota will help you target those areas so that your score will improve and negative entries will be reduced.
Professional credit repair agents do many of the same things you can do yourself, but there are many advantages to using their services. They know which departments to connect with in order to produce results quickly and they also have more time to spend sitting on hold and negotiating with creditors. Also, they can help you settle accounts that are in collections and even have agreements made to remove negative marks as accounts are paid off. While you may be willing and able to do this on your own, it is much less stressful and time-consuming to allow the experts to handle it on your behalf.
Credit repair in North Dakota can be helpful if you are dedicated to the process, and if you choose a reliable company to help you. There is no quick way to repair your credit. In order to fix your score legally, it takes time, effort, and proper financial management. A good credit repair company will work with you to get rid of inaccuracies on your credit report that are bringing your score down. They will also look at your credit report and suggest other methods that fit your specific situation. For example, credit card consolidation may be effective if that is the most prevalent problem on your credit report. If late payments and old derogatory marks are most what is bringing your score down, they will help you set up automatic payments and work with the credit reporting agency to have old entries stricken from your record. With time and proper management of your finances, your credit score will start to increase, and your credit profile will also improve.
Credit repair will help you to remove derogatory marks on your credit report, but rebuilding your score takes a bit more effort. Credit counseling and debt management services are sometimes bundled into a credit repair package, but you can also take these services independently. Learning to manage your money, understanding how certain actions such as bankruptcy and debt consolidation will affect your credit, and many other things are covered by credit counseling courses. If you are having trouble maintaining your score, consider adding this option to your credit repair services to prevent further credit problems in the future.
You can make a big change to your credit score in North Dakota by removing inaccurate entries from your credit report. If there are any mistakes in your credit report, your credit score can be negatively impacted for as long as the entries remain on those reports. Getting these inaccurate entries removed could cause your score to improve significantly as the calculations are corrected.
There are many different price points for credit repair in North Dakota. You can expect to pay anywhere between $99 to $149 per month, but the average price is usually around $129 month. It’s charged as a monthly service since credit repair can take months and may involve a lot of communication with 3 different credit bureaus. You will also be asked to pay an upfront setup fee at the start of the contract period.
You can expect credit repair to take between 3 – 6 months for most people in North Dakota. This is an average that’s consistent around the US since you’ll be making disputes with the same 3 credit bureaus, no matter which state you live in. There can always be delays in the process, which with why the average time period is so broad.
Every city, county, and town in North Dakota has access to the same credit repair companies. There are no areas within North Dakota where you can’t get credit repair. Whether you’re living in a larger city such as Fargo, Bismarck, or Minot, or you’re living in a smaller city like Casselton, Hankinson, or Elgin, you’re able to work with any company that offers credit repair in the state of North Dakota.