Credit Repair is a Bad Idea

"You cannot repair your credit." Remember those words. That's from Tina Waller at the Better Business Bureau. And she's right. The BBB has recently received complaints about companies or individuals who promise to fix your credit.

Two women from Mobile recently filed complaints against a woman who said she could repair their credit. One paid her $185, the other paid her $370 to fix the credit of she and her husband. But since October, nothing has been done to change how their credit reporting file looks.

According to Waller, credit repair is an outright fraud. If there is negative information on your credit report, there is nothing that can be done legally to remove it.

Waller says some credit repair companies may send letters to credit bureaus disputing negative information. When that happens the credit bureaus are obliged to remove that information temporarily in order to re-verify it. But if the information is accurate, it will remain on your credit record.

The only true fix for a bad or dinged credit record is time. That means making sure all of your bills are paid on time while you work to improve your credit score.

Credit repair companies can charge hundreds of dollars in fees. If there is truly inaccurate information on your credit report, you can dispute it for pennies--the cost of a stamp. If you send a letter to the credit reporting bureau reporting the erroneous information, they are obliged to remove it until they re-verify it. If they cannot verify it, it will be removed.

The three largest credit bureaus are Equifax, Transunion and Experian.

You can get a free copy of your credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com

Btw: Be wary of another site, www.freecreditreport.com. This site is operated by Experian and in order to get your free credit report you have to sign up for credit monitoring at about $12.95 a month. The Federal Trade Commission has recently cracked down on this activity.