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.
Buying a dream home or even leasing a new car requires moderate to good credit. If you have a bad credit score not only will your dreams be out of reach, even taking care of your basic needs can become challenging? Interest rates and insurance premiums are higher and, in most cases, you will be stuck paying cash for your purchases regardless of the size. Thankfully there is no reason to be stuck with bad credit for another day with professional credit repair. Consumers in South Dakota have the option of fixing their credit on their own, but with the help of a reliable credit repair service, good credit is just around the corner.
South Dakota has a far lower cost of living than the national average in the US. By all measures, it's cheaper to live in South Dakota than most other U.S. states. This likely plays some part in the lower credit card debt levels that are present in South Dakota. The average person in South Dakota has a credit card debt of $4,585. Compare this with the national average of $5,193 per person.
Along with the affordability of the state, South Dakota also has very high average credit score numbers. The average credit score is 733 points, nearly 20 points above the national average of 714. While this is a very healthy credit score to have, it doesn't represent everybody within the state. If you're struggling with a low credit score, you may want to look into credit repair to identify any potential errors on your credit reports and have them removed.
There are no specific state laws in South Dakota addressing credit repair. Instead, the state relies on an existing federal law, the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA). This law gives guidance about what credit repair service means, how companies are allowed to communicate about the service, and the disclosures that need to be made about credit repair in every customer contract, among other things. It’s a broad law that helps customers avoid scams and malicious actors in the credit repair industry.
You are not required to work with a lawyer to do credit repair in South Dakota. There are many lawyers who offer the service and will do a great job with it, but there are also many legitimate credit repair companies that can do the same service. You are not required to work with a lawyer or a law firm at all, as long as the company offering the service is following all local, state, and federal regulations.
By hiring a credit repair service in South Dakota to help you fix your credit, you are making an investment into your future. With good credit, you can buy a home, move across the country, or even secure your dream job. It is important to have a realistic idea of what professional credit repair services can do before you get started. A South Dakota credit repair company will be able to have many derogatory entries stricken from your credit report. They can also help you get into medical debt, or a credit card debt consolidation plan. Many services also offer debt counseling which will help you learn critical skills needed to maintain a budget and avoid damaging your credit in the future. While there is no way to erase the legitimate debt, professional credit repair can get rid of inaccuracies and old accounts. It can also help remove negative marks such as late payments and overdue entries. Professional credit repair in South Dakota can help you with the following credit issues:
There are many other ways a credit repair company can go about fixing your credit. They can help you consolidate your credit card debt or medical debt to lower your bills and increase your score. They are also able to negotiate with debt collectors to reduce your payoff amount and even remove derogatory marks from your credit report. Depending on your circumstances, bankruptcy may even be the best option to help you get ahead of your debts and back on the path to financial health.
Along with repairing your credit and removing derogatory marks, learning how to manage your finances is also important. Most credit repair companies in South Dakota offer credit counseling as part of their credit repair package. You can also avail of this service on its own and if you are considering filing for bankruptcy, credit counseling is mandatory. Professional credit counseling helps consumers to understand how credit works, what decisions will result in certain outcomes, and how negative scores can affect what they are trying to accomplish. It also teaches consumers critical tips on creating a manageable budget and sticking to it. For people who have a problem with spending or for those who simply never took the time to learn how to balance their budget, credit counseling is a great way to learn how to use credit wisely. Most people who complete a credit counseling course are able to also maintain a good credit score post repair.
All South Dakota residents getting credit repair can expect to go through a process similar to this:
Step 1: Requesting copies of your credit reports
At the beginning of the process, you need to get a hold of your credit reports. These are records of all credit-related transactions made by you. They’re maintained by 3 separate credit bureaus operating in the US. You can request a free credit report at least once every 12 months from each of the individual credit bureaus. Make a request for your 3 different credit reports so that you can go through them to identify any potential errors.
Step 2: Going through individual credit entries
After your credit reports are in hand, you need to take some time to comb through each of the individual entries and look for inaccurate or incorrect information. Errors on credit reports are more common than you think. Depending on the type of error, it can have a huge impact on your credit score calculation. This is why you need to identify any information that could be incorrect, so it can be fixed or removed completely from your credit report.
Step 3: Disputing all inaccuracies
If you do identify any incorrect entries on your credit report, the next step is to dispute these inaccurate entries with the credit report bureaus. In your dispute letters, you need to identify the individual transaction that is incorrect as well as providing evidence to its falsehood. After this, the credit bureau is required to investigate the entry and report their findings back to you. The process can go back and forth a few times until the credit entry is fixed.
Note: Though you might expect a 3-step process to be fairly simple, each step is a bit more in depth than you might think from the outside looking in. It's beneficial to work with an experienced credit repair company so that you don't make any mistakes that might delay or cancel the process.
It's possible to improve your credit score by a lot in South Dakota if your credit report currently has inaccurate information on it. The credit repair process does not work on legitimate transactions recorded on your credit report, but it's vital for removing inaccurate information that could be dragging down your credit score unfairly.
In general, credit repair is charged as a monthly service fee. The average company will charge between $89 to $199 per month for credit repair in South Dakota, but you can find a wide range of companies offering a similar service for anywhere from $59 to $249 per month. An additional upfront contract setup fee will be included by most companies when you begin a contract for credit repair.
Because of the nature of this process, you can't expect credit repair to be done quickly. The average time it takes to complete the credit repair process in South Dakota is 3 to 6 months. This time frame is because the investigation and evidence gathering process can take a long time, especially since the credit bureaus are in communication with so many different people at once and are handling many different investigations simultaneously. Delays are inevitable, unfortunately.
Every city in South Dakota is eligible for credit repair service, regardless of its size, location, or any other factors. Larger cities like Sioux Falls, Rapid City, or Aberdeen have access to all of the same companies as smaller cities like Sturgis, Pine Ridge, or Mission. There are no restrictions on who you can work with for credit repair, as long as the company is following all local, state, and federal regulations for credit repair companies.