Credit Repair is about making credit reports more accurate, removing negative items that bring your credit scores down, getting qualified or the best interest rates on home loans, automotive loans, getting credit cards and reducing debt through negotiations or credit counseling, promoting proper budgeting, education and establishing new credit. It is a systematic process for challenging items by formal dispute. Credit repair is not debt consolidation, credit counseling or debt negotiations however, and should not be confused with these.
So, how long does credit repair typically take? Every person will have unique credit problems and the time required will be different for each individual. Progress can be seen within the first 60 days or sooner. It depends on the severity of the individual's credit report and the cooperation from the credit bureaus, creditors and consumers. Credit repair is a reiterative process and should be sent in carefully timed rounds. Severe cases can take anywhere from 6-12 months but, others can be very fast within 3-6 months.
Credit repair is legal and is why they have the Fair Credit Reporting Act in place to spell out legal rights and protocols for disputing your credit report. The Federal Fair Credit Billing Act allows the right to request broad amounts of information regarding billing and payment history from a creditor. The Fair Debt Collection Practice Act gives people the rights and protections against the activities and duties of debt collectors. Because some credit repair companies do some questionable things and make false promises to mislead consumers, the Federal Trade Commission enforces consumer protection developed by the Credit Repair Organization Act or CROA.
Is it legal to have accurate information removed? There are NO laws whatsoever, that say credit information must be reported in the first place. There are NO laws that say the credit bureaus have to even exist. There are also, NO laws that say the credit report information has to remain for a set period of time. As a result, accurate and truthful information can be removed from the credit report legally if it is not verifiable, within a allowable reporting period or one hundred percent accurate.
