Mortgage, automobile, and personal lenders have long relied on your three-digit credit scores to determine if you are credit worthy enough to qualify for a loan. In addition, lenders also rely on your credit scores to determine the interest rate you’ll pay on these loans. Today, it’s not just the lenders that rely on your credit scores–a number of employers tap into the credit information of job applicants when making hiring decisions.
As a result, many people search for credit repair in Houston, Texas to find services from professionals who can improve their credit scores. However, when seeking such services, there are numerous questions in a consumer’s mind, such as how long does credit repair last, and what does “restoring credit” mean? Is it different from credit repair?
No need to worry–we’ve got you covered with all the information you need to understand credit repair (also known as credit cleaning) to help you make informed decisions.
What Is Credit Cleaning?
Cleaning up your credit is just another way of describing credit repair. Credit repair involves the analysis of your credit report to identify any inaccurate negative items, and then removing these inaccuracies from your credit report with the goal of increasing your credit score.
Steps Involved in Credit Cleaning
The first step is to obtain your credit reports from each one of the three major credit bureaus—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Each of these credit bureaus issues a credit report every twelve months. The next step is to review your credit reports carefully for the inclusion of any incorrect information. Credit repair essentially involves the removal of the following errors:
- Accounts that don’t actually belong to you (which may be a result of identity theft)
- Duplicate accounts, such as debts that are sold multiple times by the lenders, which may appear as separate accounts on your credit file
- Payments reported as late that weren’t actually late
- Incorrect inquiries, including hard inquiries that you didn’t approve
- Inaccurate data or personal information, such as misspellings or old addresses
- Missing accounts that could positively impact your credit report
- Incorrect balances that could lead to incorrect credit utilization amounts
Once these inaccuracies are identified, a consumer has the right to file a dispute to rectify the situation so that they no longer affect their credit scores.
How Can Credit Repair Companies Help?
Although credit repair or credit clean up is something every individual can do on their own, people often consider using professional credit repair service providers to help them with the task. Credit repair companies, like The Phenix Group, can use their knowledge and expertise of the credit repair process to help guide you through the journey toward your desired credit score.
How Much Does Credit Cleaning Cost?
Credit cleaning can be done for free if you do it yourself, or you can hire a credit repair company for their help and guidance. Each company has its own pricing structure–in general, companies bundle their services into packages and charge monthly fees. Prices range from $19 to $149 per month, depending on the services you sign up for. There may also be set-up or enrollment fees, as well as cancellation penalties.
Summary
Cleaning your credit on your own won’t cost much, but the process can be overwhelming and complicated. If you don’t feel comfortable with the process or don’t want to devote the time needed to follow it through to the end, you can retain the services of a professional credit repair company in Houston, such as The Phenix Group, to do the work for you.