What Is a Credit Inquiry Removal Letter?

A credit inquiry removal letter is a tool that you’ll use to remove an unauthorized hard inquiry on your credit report. This letter requests the credit bureau to remove the inquiry, asserting that it was not authorized by you. We’ll explore how these unauthorized inquiries can appear on your report, steps to address them, and actions to take if they result from identity theft.

How to Write a Credit Inquiry Removal Letter

When you write a credit inquiry removal letter, there is some key information that you’ll need to include. For example, you’ll need to provide your personal information, information on the inquiry you are disputing, and your official request to open an investigation (dispute).

Below is a sample credit inquiry removal letter to help you get started. 

[Today’s Date]

From: [Your Name]
[Street Address] 
[City], [State] [Zip]
[Phone Number}

To: [Credit Bureau Name]
[Street Address] 
[City], [State] [Zip]

RE: Request for Investigation of Unauthorized Credit Inquiry

To whom it may concern,

I am writing to dispute an unauthorized inquiry on my credit report. I retrieved a copy of my credit report from your organization on [date you pulled your credit report] and noticed a credit inquiry that I did not authorize.

I contacted [Lender’s Name] regarding the unauthorized inquiry and requested that they remove the inquiry from my credit profile. 

At this time, I am requesting that you launch an investigation into the inquiry by [Lender’s Name] to determine who authorized it. 

If you find that my claim is true and the inquiry is invalid, I am requesting that it be removed from my credit report and an updated copy of my credit report be sent to the address listed above upon resolution of the investigation. 

If you find that the inquiry is valid, please send me proof along with a description of your investigation procedures within 15 days of the closure of this dispute. 
Thanks in advance for your assistance with this matter.

Sincerely,

[Your Signature]

[Your Name Printed]

Download credit inquiry removal letter templates:

 Credit inquiry removal letter template for Microsoft Word
 Credit inquiry removal letter template for Google Docs
 Credit inquiry removal letter template in PDF

Once this letter is complete, you can mail it to the appropriate credit bureau. Each bureau may have additional requirements for what information you need to send with your dispute letter. This can include proof of identification, your social security number, proof of residence, etc.

1. Experian’s requirements
2. TransUnion’s requirements
3. Equifax’s requirements

While it doesn’t cost anything to initiate a dispute, it is highly recommended that you send your letter by certified mail; this way, you have clear documentation of when it is received.

You can send your letter and copies of other required documents to the three credit bureaus at the following addresses:

Why Should You Be Concerned About Unauthorized Inquiries?

A hard inquiry or hard pull occurs when a creditor or lender checks your credit

Nobody can make a hard inquiry on your credit report unless you authorize it. Usually, your signature on an application form authorizes the hard inquiry. Any hard inquiry that is not supported by your signature is unauthorized.

It’s important to understand the difference between hard inquiries and soft inquiries. Soft inquiries may be made without your authorization. You’re the only one who can see them and they don’t affect your credit.

Hard inquiries will affect your credit. They are part of the New Credit portion of the FICO score calculation. Having too many inquiries can indicate to a creditor that you are financially unstable.

When you’re looking for unauthorized inquiries on your credit report you are concerned with hard inquiries. An unauthorized hard inquiry can hurt your credit score. It could also be an early warning of identity theft.

How to Tell if an Inquiry Is Unauthorized

If you are not already signed up for a credit monitoring service, it can be difficult to spot a fraudulent or unauthorized credit inquiry. 

You will start by pulling your credit reports. Not just one, but all of them. Many lenders will pull just one credit bureau when making a hard inquiry, so you will have to search through all of your reports.

Hard inquiries will appear in your credit report’s Inquiries/Requests for Your Credit History section. Each inquiry will display the lender that performed the inquiry along with the date the inquiry was completed. 

If you don’t immediately recognize the inquiry, a good first step is to contact the lender listed. They will be able to help you confirm why your credit was pulled and who authorized it.

If the inquiry was a simple mistake, i.e., someone typed in the wrong social security number, they should be able to resolve the error for you. You may have also authorized an inquiry without realizing it.

If the lender confirms that the inquiry was unauthorized and not a clerical error, you will need to remove the inquiry from your report (dispute) and take steps to prevent future fraudulent activity. 

How to Write a Credit Inquiry Removal Letter

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Dispute a Hard Inquiry Online

All three major credit bureaus support initiating a dispute online. Starting an online dispute can save you time and money over initiating a dispute by mail or via phone. 

To begin a dispute, you’ll need to create an account with the credit bureau. This account will allow you to initiate disputes, upload documents, and check on the status of your dispute.

Once you create an account, you can file a dispute. The credit bureau will then review the information, ask you for supporting documentation as needed, and communicate with the lender to obtain further information. For full details on creating an account and initiating a dispute, check the dispute webpage for each credit bureau. 

1. Experian
2. TransUnion
3. Equifax

Some credit bureaus offer additional features with an account, such as setting fraud alerts, viewing updated credit reports, etc. 

How Long Will the Dispute Take? 

A dispute can be resolved in a few short days if the lender agrees with the dispute and replies to the credit bureau quickly. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires the credit bureau to respond to your dispute in writing within 30 days. 

If the dispute results are in your favor, the unauthorized inquiry will immediately be removed from your credit report. If the dispute results are not in your favor, you can always try re-initiating a dispute with additional documentation of your claim. 

Halting Future Fraudulent Inquiries

When you find fraudulent inquiries on your credit report(s), you’ll want to take steps to prevent future fraudulent inquiries as you begin the dispute process. You’ll have to assess the situation. Was there one unauthorized inquiry or many? Did someone actually open an account in your name?

If you determine that identity theft occurred, your first stop should be the Federal Trade Commission’s identity theft website. You’ll find full instructions on how to report and recover from identity theft.

Some of the actions you can take include: 

• Filing a police report
• Sending an identity theft complaint to creditors and banks
• Notifying the credit bureaus of fraudulent activity
• Place a fraud alert on your credit
• Setup a credit lock or credit freeze
• Utilize identity theft insurance and restoration services

Most importantly, you’ll want to continue to monitor your credit reports for any future fraudulent activity.

Will Disputing an Inquiry Improve Your Credit?

In the case of fraud, it is always important to take steps to investigate the unauthorized inquiry as this can help prevent future fraudulent activity. There is no guarantee that disputing the inquiry will impact your credit score. FICO estimates that a single inquiry has less than a 5 point impact on your credit score. 

Hard inquiries are part of what makes up the New Credit portion of your credit score. However, this factor accounts for only 10% of your overall credit score. Not all hard inquiries are weighted the same way. Newer inquiries have the most significant impact. Once inquiries are 1 year old, they no longer affect your credit score. And after 2 years, they fall off your credit report. 

Final Thoughts 

When you are suffering from identity theft or fraud, having a hard inquiry removed from your credit reports is likely the furthest thing from your mind. And that is okay. You may choose to address the fraud first and worry about fixing your credit later. 

But once you do get around to initiating disputes with the credit bureau(s), the process is thankfully simple. You can file a dispute by mail or online yourself, free of charge, and you are guaranteed a response within 30 days. 

So don’t stress out. Initiate the dispute and the problem should be solved quickly.

More Letter Templates

Our collection of free, fully-customizable letter templates is there to help you write effective letters when you need to set up, cancel or complain about something.

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The post How to Write a Credit Inquiry Removal Letter appeared first on FinMasters.

What is Boom?

Building credit isn’t easy. You need credit to build credit, and you can’t get credit without meeting credit score requirements. There are lots of credit-building products out there, but many of them require you to take on debt, buy things you don’t need, or pay steep fees.

Rent reporting services allow renters to report what is usually their largest monthly expense to the credit bureaus. The downside is that most rent reporting companies charge significant amounts for their services. Boom cuts the cost of rent reporting dramatically while offering other valuable services, all in a convenient app format.

Boom is a rent payment app that offers two services.

• BoomReport reports up to 24 months of rent history and your ongoing rent payments to all three credit bureaus.
• BoomSplit lets you break up your rent payment, making several payments each month. Boom will make a single payment to your landlord on the scheduled date.

Boom is a new company, founded in 2020 and based in Glen Cove, NY. It’s a venture capital-backed startup led by co-founders Rob Whiting and Kirill Moizik.

How Does Boom Work?

BoomPay is an app. You can download it for free from Google’s Play Store or the Apple App Store.

You can close your Boom account directly from the Boom app.

BoomReport

To use BoomReport you will need to meet four requirements.

• You must be over 18
• You must have a valid Social Security number
• You’ll need a formal rental agreement within the last 24 months.
• You’ll have to pay by a rental portal or a bank-linked payment system. Boom can’t report payments made in cash or by money order.

You can report a prior lease, even if it has expired and you don’t live at that address anymore. You don’t need to use the BoomPay app to report past payments, but you will need to use it to report ongoing payments.

Boom will verify your lease and check your bank’s records to verify your payments. Once they are verified, they will report up to 24 months of rent payments to the three major credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.

Boom claims that in most cases, the new tradeline will appear on your credit report and become part of your credit score within 7-10 days after they verify your data and submit your record to the credit bureaus. Verification and submission will usually take four days, which means you could see a change in your credit score in as little as two weeks.

Your landlord doesn’t have to be involved at all, a substantial advantage.

As of July 2022, BoomReport offers an expanded tile system: tap on an address and you can instantly view your lease details, a list of verified months, and additional products available for purchase.

Boom also offers “issue cards” that will pop up on your app if there’s any issue preventing accurate reporting of your payments. You’ll be told what the issue is and what you need to do to resolve it.

Will Late Payments be Reported?

Credit bureaus do not consider a payment late until 30 days after the due date. Rent payments made less than 30 days after the due date will be reported as on-time payments.

Payments made over 30 days late will be reported as late payments and could harm your credit. Boom recommends that you only report past payments on leases where you had a 100% on-time payment record.

How Much Will You Build Your Credit

It’s impossible to predict this with any certainty, and the same is true of any credit-building method. Boom can place a tradeline with up to two years of payment history on your credit record. That will have a positive impact, but the size of the impact will depend on many factors. Boom says that they expect the increase to be between 10 and 100 points.

As with any credit-building method, the impact will be most visible for people who have a thin credit file with a short credit history and a limited number of tradelines. If you have no credit history or history without enough data to generate a score, it could mean the difference between having no score and having a score.

Your account will appear in your credit file, but some credit scores may not be affected: remember that you have many credit scores. All VantageScores and the most recent FICO credit scores will reflect rent data, but the popular FICO 8 score does not. Rent reporting cannot improve your FICO 8 score.

If a lack of records is holding your score down the impact could be large. If you have a large number of records the impact is likely to be diluted and less visible.

BoomSplit

The BoomSplit service is only available if you pay your rent using a rental portal, like RentCafe or Appfolio.

BoomSplit allows you to break your rent payments into several smaller installments. It’s ideal for renters who are paid weekly or bi-weekly and would like to deduct a portion of their rent from each paycheck.

Boom will make a single on-time payment to your landlord. You can pay Boom back on any schedule that you set. If you fall behind, you can set up a payment plan with Boom and avoid late fees and the embarrassment of late payments.

Boom will not draw a payment from your account if you don’t have the funds to cover it, which protects you from costly overdraft fees.

The BoomSplit service does not require the consent or participation of your landlord.

BoomSplit is still in “early access” mode and can only accommodate a limited number of users.

Boom Pricing

Boom is one of the most affordable rent reporting services available. It’s also one of the few rent reporting services to report to all three credit bureaus, so you’re getting more impact for your payment.

These are Boom’s fees:

• Enrollment fee: $10
• Past rent reporting (up to 24 months): $25
• Ongoing rent reporting (one-year subscription): $24
• Ongoing rent reporting (if paid monthly): $2/month
• BoomSplit monthly subscription: as low as $9

As of July 2022, you may now add a second address for $10 for past reporting and $24/year for ongoing reporting.

You can use BoomReport without using BoomSplit.

Let’s compare that to the cost of Esusu Rent Report, one of the only other rent reporting services to report to all three credit bureaus.

* Total for 24 months past reporting and one year of ongoing payments.

Many rent reporting services that report to only one or two credit bureaus are more expensive than Boom, making this an outstanding value in the rent reporting market.

Boom Customer Reviews

Boom is a new company with a limited operating history. The number of customer reviews available is limited, but they are still worth a look.

Customer reviews have to be taken with caution. Review sites try to assure authenticity, but some companies do seed positive reviews and some negative reviews may be from customers who failed to understand the product or how it works.

On Google Play Boom has 183 reviews with an average of 4.4 of 5 stars. The bulk of the reviews are five-star:

Most of the positive reviews say that Boom does exactly what it says it does. For example:

Negative reviews typically involve procedural and setup problems. For example:

Reviews on Apple’s App Store are very similar: 495 reviews with an average of 4.6 of 5 stars, broken into a large number of positive reviews praising the app and a smaller number of frustrated complaints about setup issues. There are also a small number of early reviews from users who claimed that payments were made late or returned.

It is normal for a new company and a new app to have some setup issues. Over time we’ll see whether they are able to settle those issues and resolve the setup problems. In the meantime, we see nothing in these reviews to suggest that the app does not perform as indicated. Just be aware that some people have had some issues getting it set up.

Issues with late or returned payments are more serious since they may produce late fees and affect your credibility as a tenant. Some potential users may wish to wait and see how reviews emerge in the future to see if the Company has resolved these problems. They don’t seem common, but you don’t want that to happen to you.

Boom Alternatives

Rent reporting companies have been available for some time, and we have reviewed 12 of the best rent reporting services. These services have traditionally charged fairly high prices for their services and have often reported to only one or two credit bureaus, limiting their appeal to renters who want to build their credit.

New companies like Boom and Esusu Rent are offering flexible, user-friendly rent reporting services that report to all three major credit bureaus at much more reasonable costs.

It’s smart to review several options before selecting any financial service. The older rent reporting companies are still worth a look, and if you prefer to deal with a company that has an established track record you may prefer to use one of them. If you’re willing to take a chance on a new player, Boom can place a two-year tradeline on your credit record in only two weeks at a minimal cost.

We’re not generally fans of paying to build credit, but if you’re trying to start building credit this is a fairly compelling value proposition.

Other Ways to Build Credit

There are many ways to build credit if you have no score or a thin file, and there are many ways to rebuild a bad credit score. Rent reporting is one of them, and it’s a way to use an existing expense to build credit. It can also be a way to put up to 2 years of past payments on your credit history, an advantage if your credit history is short or nonexistent.

Before you decide on rent reporting, consider these alternatives.

• Become an authorized user. Asking a friend or relative to add you as an authorized user on their credit card is a fast and free way to build credit.
• Use a secured credit card. Secured credit cards are easily available and offer the convenience of a credit card. Many have no fees.
• Use a credit-builder loan. Credit-builder loans put an affordable installment loan on your record and are easy to get, but there will be a cost.
• Use a credit-building debit card. Companies like Extra, Sequin, and Sesame Cash offer debit cards that can build credit.
• Use your bill payments. Services like Experian BOOST and eCredable Lift can put your bill payments on your credit reports.

All of these can help you build your credit history. Rent reporting can help too. You’ll have to decide which combination suits you best and how much you are willing to spend to build credit.

Is Boom Worth It?

Boom can put up to two years of rent history on your credit report in as little as two weeks, and follow it up with continuing rent reporting. There is a cost, but it’s substantially lower than that of most competitors. If rent reporting is going to be part of your credit-building strategy, it’s one of the most cost-effective rent reporting services we’ve seen.

There are some downsides. You won’t get a discount for adding a spouse, partner, or roommate to your account, though the low cost compensates for that. Late payments will be reported and could hurt your credit.

Conclusion

This review is designed to help you decide whether Boom is the right rent reporting service and the right credit repair tool for you. All decisions on these questions are subjective and there’s no solution that’s right for everyone!

If you are looking for ways to build credit, examine the various types of credit-building tools and decide which types of tools will work best for you. If you’re considering rent reporting, we hope this review will help you decide whether Boom is a service you’d like to use.

The post Boom Review 2024: Cheapest Way to Pay (and Report) Rent appeared first on FinMasters.

Beware of any claims promising to remove legitimate entries from your credit report or achieve fast, dramatic improvements in your credit score. These are often signs of a credit repair scam.

There are three stages to repairing credit: understanding your credit report, dealing with (and possibly correcting) negative entries that are already on your report, and forming a new, positive credit record to improve your score.

Let’s break that down into eight actionable steps.

8 Steps to Rebuild Credit:

1. Understand Your Credit Report
2. Fix Any Errors
3. Check Your Negative Entries
4. Pay Your Bills on Time
5. Watch Your Credit Utilization
6. Use Credit Wisely
7. Manage Your Accounts
8. Use Credit-Boosting Services

1. Understand Your Credit Report

Start by pulling your most recent credit report. All consumers can request one free report every year from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.

For more information on free credit reports, see our guide on where to get your free credit report.

Not all creditors report to all three bureaus, so your credit reports may be slightly different. You can get all three simultaneously, but many people prefer to get one every four months, which allows you to monitor your credit at regular intervals throughout the year.

It’s critical to review all of the information reported. There’s a lot of information packed into them and no small amount of financial jargon. So before you start, it might be a good idea to familiarize yourself with how to read a credit report. Some of it may surprise you, and you may have forgotten some of the entries. You may also find mistakes in your credit reports.

You may be terrified of what you’ll see on your credit report. Many people are. Don’t let the fear stop you from taking control. Credit reports can be ugly, but they can also be improved.

You can’t rebuild damaged credit if you don’t understand the damage. Knowing what’s on your report is the first step toward dealing with your score head-on.

2. Fix Any Errors

One of the fastest ways to improve your score is to correct errors on your credit reports. Over a third of all credit reports contain errors, most of them being related to their personal and account information.

There’s a wide range of possible mistakes. The discrepancy could be:

• The wrong name, address or phone number.
• Accounts on your profile that don’t belong to you.
• Incorrect debt information.
• Wrong balance information or credit limit reported.
• More than one listing for the same debt.
• Discrepancies in late payment information.
• An account is listed as closed, when it’s open, or vice versa.
• Other incorrect information.

In other words, there is a lot of room for error on your credit report, and these errors can do real damage to your score.

If you notice any discrepancies, look on your credit report for instructions on how to report them. You can submit disputes online or through the mail, but it is your responsibility to call attention to mistakes. If you don’t, they will go unnoticed.

You do not have to pay anyone or get help to report a mistake on your credit report. You can learn how to dispute a credit report entry and do it yourself. The credit bureaus are required by law to investigate any error you report and inform you of the outcome.

3. Check Your Negative Entries

Unpaid debts and accounts that have been sent to collection agencies can do serious damage to your credit score. You cannot remove a legitimate negative entry from your credit report, but you may be able to reduce the impact these accounts have on your credit. Here are some things to try.

• Pay or settle your debt. If you pay your debt or reach a debt settlement, the entry will still be on your credit report. Closed accounts have less impact on your credit than open ones and some newer scoring models downgrade the impact of paid and settled collection accounts.
• Ask for a goodwill deletion. If you have a single negative entry with an otherwise good credit record, or if your record with a creditor was previously good, you can ask the creditor to delete the entry. They may not agree to do it, but it can’t hurt to ask.
• Pay for delete. Some collection agencies will accept a pay for delete agreement, meaning that they will delete a record in exchange for a payment. You’ll need to get an agreement in writing.

These methods may not be able to remove all records of an account from your record, but they may be able to reduce its impact.

Older entries on your credit report have less impact on your credit score than newer entries, so as time goes by those old black marks will do less and less damage.

Once you’ve done all you can to resolve your credit report issues, it’s time to build up a positive record to offset the history that damaged your score.

4.  Pay Your Bills on Time

Debt can hurt your credit score, but it can also help your credit score. The single most important component of your credit score is payment history: your record of paying debts and bills on time.

Making payments late or missing payments harms your credit score. Making payments on time helps your credit score. It may be a struggle, but making every payment on time will help you get out of debt and is the single most important thing you can do to boost your credit.

If you’re having trouble keeping up with your payments and you’re not sure what to do about it, you can try some of these methods of getting out of debt.

5. Watch Your Credit Utilization

Credit utilization is the percentage of your available credit that you are actually using. It is a major factor in calculating your score: it’s worth about 30% of your credit score in some scoring models^[2]. You can improve your credit utilization by using less than 30% of your credit limit on all credit cards. If you can use less it will help more.

Keeping credit card balances low helps you in more than one way. If your balance is low you are more likely to pay it off in full on or before the due date. That means less money going to interest payments and more money in your pocket.

Quickly determine your credit utilization ratio using the calculator below:

Go to the full page to view and use the calculator.

6. Use Credit Wisely

You need to use credit to build credit. If you’re recovering from bankruptcy or completing a debt management plan, you may have closed credit accounts, and you may not qualify for new ones. If you’re in that position, consider these alternatives:

• Use a secured credit card. A secured credit card is issued to you with a credit line that is equal to the amount you pay in a security deposit. For instance, if you secure a credit card with $500, then your credit line will remain at $500. Keep your balance below 30% of that, pay it off in full every month, and you’ll be building a positive credit history.
• Use a credit builder loan. Many banks and credit unions offer credit builder loans. The lender holds the loan proceeds in an account, you make the payments, and you get the lump sum when the payments are complete. Your credit report will show an installment loan. Lenders take minimal risk so they are willing to lend to people with impaired credit.

These alternatives will provide you with credit accounts that will be reflected on your credit report. Make every payment on time and you’ll build up a positive payment history.

Remember that your credit mix affects your score. Keeping both revolving accounts (like credit cards) and installment accounts (like a student loan, car loan, or credit builder loan) open will improve your credit mix.

7. Manage Your Accounts

You will want to avoid closing old accounts and opening too many new accounts. You might think closing an account would look better on your credit profile, but the opposite is true. Closing an account will reduce your number of open accounts and could shorten the average age of your open accounts. Closing an account will also lower your total credit limit, which raises your credit utilization.

Opening new accounts can also affect your score. Each time you open an account a hard inquiry is recorded on your profile. The impact of one hard inquiry is minimal, but if those inquiries add up it looks like you’re desperate for credit, and that can hit your score.

8. Use Credit-Boosting Services

Many of the bills you pay are not normally reported to the credit bureaus, so they do not help your credit. Several services are emerging that close this gap. 

Experian offers the Experian BOOST program, which synchronizes with your bank account and reports your on-time utility and mobile phone payments. If you have a positive payment history, your credit score may improve.

Experian BOOST is specifically for utility and cell phone payments, but there is a similar program for regular rent payments. If your property manager participates in the Experian RentBureau program, you receive credit for rent payments.

Experian’s programs only affect your Experian credit report.

TransUnion offers a similar credit-boosting program called eCredAble Lift, giving you the ability to affect another one of your credit reports. 

Grow Credit places streaming service bills on your credit report.

If you rent your house or apartment, you can get a big credit score boost by reporting your rent. Companies like Boom and Rent Reporters will report your rent to the credit bureaus.

We’ve reviewed 12 of the best rent reporting services, and if you’re considering rent reporting the review is a great place to start.

How Long Do Negative Items Stay on Your Credit Report

The process of rebuilding credit can feel unbearably slow, but time eventually works in your favor. Negative entries on your credit report drop off within specific time frames. Here is a snapshot of how long negative marks stay on your profile:

• Late payments are reported for seven years from the first missed payment.
• Public record items also remain on your report for seven years.
• Bankruptcies are on your report for 7 to 10 years.
• Hard Inquiries remain for up to two years.

In each case the impact of the entry on your credit score will decline as the entry ages.

To summarize, rebuilding credit requires several steps.

• You’ll need to understand your credit reports and the way that your credit score is generated.
• You’ll need to spot and dispute any inaccuracies and discrepancies and do what you can to resolve negative accounts.
• You’ll need to follow up by making positive changes going forward, managing your finances in a way that boosts your credit score.

These strategies will slowly but surely improve your score. You’re also likely to find that you’re improving the overall state of your finances. That combination of benefits is worth the time and effort!

The post How to Rebuild Credit: 8 No-Nonsense Strategies That Work appeared first on FinMasters.

Why Consider Lexington Law Alternatives

Lexington Law is a popular credit repair company, but it may not be the right choice for everyone. They do not offer a money-back guarantee. They are not accredited by the Better Business Bureau and have a C- BBB rating.

Some clients have reported hidden charges, such as initial setup fees. There are also complaints from customers who say they were still billed after unsubscribing.

Lexington Law is also facing a lawsuit from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), alleging illegal marketing and billing practices.

On August 28, 2023, the CFPB announced that it had entered into a proposed settlement with Lexington Law. The settlement will have to be approved by the court.

The settlement imposes a $2.7 billion judgment and over $64 million in civil penalties against Lexington Law and its partner companies. The group behind Lexington Law is also banned from any telemarketing activities for 10 years.

Lexington Law has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, laid off 900 employees, and shut down 80% of its operations. It is not clear how much of the fine will be paid or whether Lexington Law, CreditRepair.com, and their related companies will remain in business.

Read our full review of Lexington Law to learn more about their services.

Top 3 Alternatives to Lexington Law Credit Repair

We selected these companies as the best overall alternatives to Lexington Law based on price, service, and results:

1. Credit Saint
2. Sky Blue
3. Ovation

All three companies are our choice for the overall best credit repair services as well. The detailed reviews should help you choose the one that best fits your situation.

No credit repair company can guarantee that legitimate accounts will be removed from your record. Disputing accurate information is generally a waste of time, so paying someone to do it for you may not be something you want to do.

1. Credit Saint

Credit Saint is BBB-accredited and carries an A rating. The company has operated since 2004.

Their program operates in 45-day cycles, and you’ll receive regular reports informing you of negative items deleted from your credit history. Credit Saint’s 90-day repayment guarantee backs the program.

Credit Saint offers three levels of service: Credit Premium, Credit Remodel, and Credit Polish. Not all customers need higher levels.

Credit Saint customers give the company generally high marks:

• Onboarding is said to be professional and complete.
• Pricing is clear and there are no reports of overcharging or billing after services are terminated.
• Effectiveness is mixed, with reported credit score increases from 7 to 200 points. Some reviewers may have unrealistic expectations.
• Customer service after the onboarding process gets mixed reviews, with some customers complaining of long hold times and multiple calls.

Credit Saint is known for sticking to its money-back guarantee, although there is not much guidance for customers who want their money back.

No complaints have been filed with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or CFPB.

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Want to know more?
Read our full review of Credit Saint
Lexington Law vs Credit Saint detailed comparison

2. Sky Blue

Sky Blue has been in business since 1989. It is customer friendly and has experienced staff that allows plans to rebuild and optimize credit. Sky Blue isn’t BBB accredited but is rated A+.

Results are not guaranteed. It has helped some clients in just a couple of months, while others said they were enrolled for a year and didn’t see a single result. Other customers reported an increase of 100 points.

Customer reviews are largely positive:

• Onboarding is fast and easy, with clear explanations.
• Pricing: Overall, reviews for pricing are great. One review claims overcharging.
• Effectiveness: Results are 50-50. They helped some customers within just one to a few months while some claimed they were enrolled for a year and saw not a single result. Based on reviews, customers got up to a 100+ score increase.
• Customer service: Blue Sky gets positive reviews. Customers say they respond promptly and contacting them is easy.

No Complaints have been filed with the FTC or CFPB. 

Sky Blue Credit uses a cycle of 35 days, ten days faster than the typical 45-day cycle most credit repair firms use.

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Read our full review of Sky Blue

3. Ovation Credit Services

Ovation is BBB-accredited and rated A+. This is one of the few companies that offer an upgrade service that allows you to add an option anytime.

It also offers various discounts ranging from $30-$50 and 10%-20% for:

• referrals
• senior discounts
• military discounts
• couples discounts

Ovation provides free credit advice, customized customer dashboards, 24/7 access to financial tools, and credit monitoring.

Customer reviews are mixed:

• Onboarding is generally said to be professional, though some reviewers complained that salespeople were pushy.
• Pricing received some complaints, with some clients claiming that they were still charged even after they canceled their subscriptions.
• Effectiveness also gets mixed reports. Some reviews say it took some time to see results, although there are also reports that their scores improved in just a short time.
• Customer service: generally positive. Case advisors are knowledgeable and extremely helpful to their clients.

As with all credit repair companies, complaints about effectiveness may be related to unrealistic expectations. Customers expecting legitimate, verifiable negative accounts to be removed are bound to be disappointed.

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Compare Companies

All of the recommended companies provide very similar services.

• Free consultation to analyze your credit report, identify disputable records and recommend a course of action.
• Disputing credit report entries with credit bureaus.
• Debt validation letters to force creditors to confirm information.
• Hard inquiry removal.
• Complaints to government agencies.
• Credit monitoring, identity theft protection, and other continuing services.

Not all companies offer all of these services, and some may be offered in a company’s higher-priced packages. It’s important to clarify what services you need.

The chart below will help you compare our recommendations head to head. 

[1] 90-day money back guarantee if no negative items are removed
[2] 90-day refund policy if requested within 90 days of enrollment
[3] No-Risk Refund Policy: if failed to provide agreed upon services, no fee will be charged for that month

​​Do You Really Need a Credit Repair Company?

Many credit repair companies advertise themselves as the solution to all credit problems, but the truth is that they don’t do anything for you that you couldn’t do yourself.

If your credit report is complex, you have numerous disputable entries, and the whole process leaves you completely confused, you might be better off with a credit repair company.

If your credit problems are relatively simple and your credit report has only a few negative entries, a DIY approach might serve you better. Remember, there is no way to force credit bureaus to remove records that are accurate and verifiable, and you can dispute inaccurate records yourself.

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This Esusu Rent review will explain how their services work and help you decide whether or not it makes sense for you to sign up for them.

What is Esusu Rent?

Esusu Rent was founded in 2018 by Abbey Wemimo and Samir Goel, an immigrant and a child of immigrants, respectively. Wemimo and Goel’s mission is to “dismantle barriers to housing for working families.” To help eliminate delinquencies, housing evictions, and homelessness, Esusu provides the following services:

• Rent reporting that shares up to 24 months of rental history and continuing rental payments with the three major credit bureaus
• Rent relief that covers between one and three months of rent for people experiencing financial hardship while living in properties Esusu works with

The business’s name comes from a Nigerian practice where a group of individuals regularly contributes in fixed amounts to a group fund, then distributes the total to each member on a rotating basis.

How Does Esusu Rent Work?

Esusu is a rent reporting service that property managers can buy. It shares your monthly payment activities with Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. That gives you an opportunity to improve your credit by paying on time. It also helps your landlord attract credit-conscious tenants.

Esusu works directly with your landlord to access your payment data, so there’s nothing you need to do to facilitate the process besides opt-in. You can do so using the Esusu website or their mobile app.

Either way, you’ll be able to monitor your VantageScore 3.0 with Equifax data from your dashboard. Esusu claims you should expect your rental payment data to show up on your credit reports between two and eight weeks after the onboarding process.

Esusu can report up to 24 months of previous rental payments to the credit bureaus, but only if you’ve held your current lease for that long. If you’ve recently moved to a building using Esusu, they won’t be able to access historical data from your previous leases.

Traditionally, rent payments haven’t had any impact on consumer credit. Landlords don’t report them to the credit bureaus by default. Even if they did, previous versions of FICO scores ignored them as a credit scoring factor.

However, the VantageScore algorithms and most recent FICO scores will consider any rental payments in your credit reports. As a result, rental reporting services are becoming more popular. You should still be aware that FICO 8, the score most popular with lenders, will not include rental data even if it’s on your credit report.

When rent payments show on your credit reports, you have an additional incentive to make your payments on time. That benefits your property manager since it reduces the need to chase down late-paying tenants.

Warning: The Esusu independent renter program lets you report your monthly payments even if your building doesn’t use their services. It’s not live currently, but you can sign up for the waitlist on their website.

Will Late Payments Be Reported?

Sharing your monthly payments through Esusu Rent is almost risk-free since they never share harmful data with the credit bureaus. Typically, data furnishers report you once you’re delinquent by more than 30 days, but Esusu promises they never will.

Instead, Esusu will generally stop sending your data to the credit bureaus entirely and close your account. If that happens to you, you’ll have to wait at least six months before you can sign up for their services once again.

Learn More: Missing even a single monthly payment can cause your credit to suffer, but it might not be too late to fix the issue. Here are some ways to get them off your credit report early: How To Remove Late Payments From Your Credit Report In 3 Easy Steps.

How Much Will You Build Your Credit?

Esusu Rent claims that renters who used their rent reporting services in 2020 saw their credit scores increase by 51 points on average during the year. However, they say your actual increase could be anywhere from 20 to 100 points, depending on your other financial activities.

Esusu can also benefit you if you’re credit invisible, meaning your credit history is too limited to generate a credit score. In these cases, Esusu claims that using their services usually results in a score in the mid-600s. 

Of course, there’s no way to know for sure how much using Esusu Rent will benefit you, if at all. There’s little chance it could hurt your score since they won’t report any negative data, but mishandling your credit in other ways could cause your score to drop despite your rent reporting efforts.

Rent Relief

In addition to their reporting services, Esusu provides limited rent relief to households experiencing financial hardship. Only those living in buildings that Esusu already works with are eligible.

If you’re selected, Esusu will pay your landlord directly to cover between one and three months’ rent, depending on factors like your total monthly rent and loss of income. However, it’s a loan, not a gift, and you must pay back the balance over time. Esusu follows this policy to keep their fund evergreen.

To receive relief, you must fill out a brief pre-screen form online. If you meet the initial criteria, Esusu will follow up with additional questions to confirm your eligibility. Presumably, they’ll want to see some proof of your financial struggles.

Eligibility Requirements

Unfortunately, you can generally only sign up for Esusu’s rent reporting services if your landlord already has an arrangement with them. If they don’t use Esusu already, you can suggest it to your property manager by namedropping Freddie Mac, but it’ll probably be easier to go with a different rent reporter.

If your building uses the software already, you should be eligible for their rent reporting and rent relief programs, assuming you’re 18 years of age and pay the rent for your residence.

Esusu Rent Pricing

Unlike other rent reporting services, Esusu is free, as long as your building already uses the program. Esusu makes money by charging the property manager for the rent reporting services instead of the renter. If your landlord buys Esusu Rent’s software, you need only opt-in to start sending your data to the credit bureaus.

Some customer reviews claim that they signed up as independent renters in the past, paying $50 for 24 months of historical rent reporting and $50 for ongoing payments. However, this option is no longer available on the Esusu website, and the reviews mentioning this seem somewhat outdated.

As for their rent relief service, Esusu generally sets you up with a 0% interest loan with no fees that follows a 12-month repayment plan. You usually have to start paying your balance back the month immediately after you receive your loan.

Warning: Some customers have reported their property managers for passing on the cost of Esusu’s rent reporting services to tenants, which is against the company’s policies. If your landlord uses the software and charges you for it, contact Esusu directly. They can help you get a refund.

Esusu Rent Customer Reviews

Because Esusu Rent is a relatively new company founded in 2018, the customer reviews online are limited. However, they’re still valuable points of reference.

Unfortunately, Esusu Rent’s current customer reviews are mixed. Some consumers report no difficulties using the service. They praise its benefits for people who might otherwise struggle to build credit.

More recent reviews posted on WalletHub suggest that many tenants are still happy with the service.

Some users complain that Esusu doesn’t deliver on its promises. That’s expected to some degree since customers are more inclined to leave reviews when things go wrong, but the negative comments are still concerning.

Some complaints are about the mobile app itself rather than Esusu’s services. Customers report issues like an inability to log in and a lack of a user-friendly dashboard or interface.

However, customers also complain about much more worrying problems. Multiple reviewers report that Esusu failed to share their data with the credit bureaus on time. Others say their payments showed up for a few months, then stopped updating.

Notably, a significant number of the negative customer reviews seem to be from individuals who paid $100 for their independent renter service, which their website shows as currently unavailable.

It’s possible that Esusu encountered too many issues with it and removed the option so they could improve their systems. However, there’s no guarantee that the same problems aren’t prevalent in the landlord-sponsored program.

Some more recent complaints on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) page indicate that some tenants may be enrolled against their will or not given the chance to opt out. It’s not clear whether this is a problem with Esusu or with the landlord.

Fortunately, there’s at least one consistently positive thing to note. Esusu’s customer service seems to be responsive and proactive. They answer customer complaints across all platforms with apologies for any difficulties and solutions to move issues forward.

Warning: Always take customer reviews with a grain of salt. Businesses can falsify positive ratings to increase their scores, and customers often leave negative reviews after misunderstanding products or services.

Is Esusu Rent Worth It?

Your decision to Esusu rent is probably more in your property manager’s hands than your own. If they’ve purchased the software for your building, Esusu Rent is probably worth using, assuming you’re confident in your ability to pay on time.

However, if your landlord hasn’t purchased the software, it’ll probably be more work than it’s worth to pitch it to them. You’d likely be better off choosing a different rent reporting service or focusing on other ways of building credit.

Esusu Rent Alternatives

Esusu Rent is far from the only rent reporting service on the market. If your property manager isn’t interested in the software, you have plenty of other options. Many are better established than Esusu and have greater flexibility for independent renters.

For example, Rent Reporters was founded in 2012, making it one of the oldest rent reporting services. They’re only average in their prices and the flexibility of reporting options, but they’ve maintained a reputation for excellent customer service all these years.

Credit Rent Boost is another sensible option, receiving glowing customer reviews and an A rating from the Better Business Bureau. Their prices are among the lowest available for individual renters, they have more reporting options than most, and you get a nice discount if you and a roommate sign up together.

Boom is a relatively new app-based option that reports to all three credit bureaus and also allows split rent payments.

If you’re considering a rent-reporting service, you should understand that there are two types of rent reporting.

• Landlord-enrolled services get their payment information from your landlord. They require your landlord’s cooperation, but they can report cash payments.
• Non-landlord-enrolled services get their payment information from your bank. They don’t involve your landlord, but they will only work if you pay by check or automatic withdrawal.

Learn More: If you’d like a more in-depth explanation of the best rent reporters on the market, check out our comprehensive guide: 12 Best Rent Reporting Services In 2024.

Other Ways to Build Credit

Rent reporting services are a great way to improve your credit score without taking on more debt. If you have an extensive, positive rental history that you can report all at once, they’re also one of the rare ways to get a quick boost to your score safely.

However, they’re far from the only way to build credit. Here are some other great ways to increase your score, even if you have bad credit:

• Get a secured credit card: You need to provide a cash deposit equal to your credit limit to qualify for secured credit cards, making them much safer for lenders. As a result, they’re attainable even with a poor credit score.
• Use a credit builder loan: Credit builder loans are like secured installment loans. Your lender keeps the proceeds until the end of the repayment term. As a result, many providers don’t even check your credit when you apply.
• Become an authorized user: If someone close to you has a credit card with excellent payment history, they can add you to the account as an authorized user for free with no credit check. It’ll put their card on your credit report.

Even if you sign up for rent reporting services, you’ll want to take advantage of other credit-building options. Rental payments aren’t enough to build a well-rounded credit history and optimize your credit score. You’ll also need a diverse mix of credit accounts, manageable debt levels, and a long record of timely payments.

Learn More: If you’re looking for more ways to improve your credit score, check out some of our favorite suggestions: How to Build Credit: 11 Best Ways.

The post Esusu Rent Review (2024): Rent Reporting and Relief appeared first on FinMasters.

What is Credit Repair Magic?

Credit Repair Magic is a system of tools and resources you can use to understand credit better and work towards fixing it. As founder Bruce Hurley says, this system is a “low tech solution.”

The problem the founder presents is one where the credit bureau rejects a dispute as frivolous because their automated system recognizes your template as one used by a credit repair agency. 

The Credit Repair Magic system is said to improve your chances of a successful dispute by forcing the automated system to send your dispute to an actual person for review. 

If the name “Credit Repair Magic” doesn’t already sound infomercial-ly to you, the website design definitely looks the part with all of the “but wait, there’s more” sections. Some of the claims are very questionable. For example, the website states that Credit Repair Magic offers: “The world’s most effective system for permanently removing negative items from your credit reports.“

This claim is made without noting that there is absolutely no way anyone can assure that legitimate negative items can be removed from a credit report. Claims like this raise immediate questions about the Company’s honesty.

Questionable marketing styles aside, the purpose of this software seems to be to provide users with educational resources on credit and credit repair with the end goal of teaching the user how to “game” the credit system. 

How Does Credit Repair Magic Work?

Credit Repair Magic offers a self-guided process for credit repair. This program is not so much a piece of software but a series of pdf documents and spreadsheets. 

This system doesn’t take any actions for you; instead, you will be given step-by-step instructions on how to find and dispute negative items on your credit report.

How to Access Credit Repair Magic

Step 1: Click any of the Get Instant Access Now buttons

Step 2: Enter your email address and payment information

Step 3: You immediately get access to the online resources with the option to download the materials directly to your computer. 

How to File a Dispute

Step 1: Obtain a copy of your credit report

Step 2: Circle negative items and write explanations for the dispute

Step 3: Write a cover letter

Step 4: Mail your dispute letter

Step 5: Download the tracker, and use the spreadsheet to track your disputes

Step 6: Wait for a response from the credit bureau

Step 7: Follow the guidance on the next steps to take if your dispute is rejected. 

For an inside look at the process, check out the video here. 

How to Cancel

Credit Repair Magic is a one-time purchased product. There is no need to cancel anything. None of your sensitive information is saved on their portal, so all you’d need to do is delete any material downloaded on your computer. 

Extra Features of the Credit Repair Magic System

Credit Repair Magic’s base system is a tutorial on filing credit disputes. 

Beyond the credit dispute process (which includes a dispute tracker and lifetime upgrades), they also offer additional resources and materials for helping you understand and improve your credit faster. 

This includes:

• Credit Repair ebook (131 pages)
• Condensed credit repair ebook
• Audio instructions
• Shortcuts for credit repair
• Guidance on settling collections
• Tips for negotiating your mortgage
• Resources on credit piggybacking
• Other tips and tricks for improving your credit

Many of these extra materials, audio files aside, are written material. These are educational resources and not true tools. Most of the information presented can be obtained for free with a basic internet search.

You can get all this, and more, completely free. For example, check out our resources on credit repair. You’ll find everything you need to repair credit yourself there.

Pricing 

Credit Repair Magic has a one-time fee for lifetime use. This fee is $97. 

Once paid, you can access the materials from any deceive you own, directly download them to your computer, and use the system to assist in the credit repair process for yourself as well as all of your friends and family. 

Bruce, the founder, even advises that you can use this system to help launch your own credit repair business. 

As a part of the low, one-time fee, you get lifetime access to upgrades and a 60-day money-back guarantee. If you are not satisfied with the system, you can request a full refund during this 60-day window. 

Customer reviews

Good luck finding honest reviews for this product. The Better Business Bureau page for Credit Repair Magic has an A+ rating, but only because there are no reviews or complaints despite the fact that this software/system has been around since 2011. 

There are no reviews on Trustpilot or Facebook either. There are some reviews on affiliate marketing sites that get paid if you click on the Credit Repair Magic link, but those are generally not reliable sources.

The closest thing to reviews you will find are some honest comments on a youtube video that takes a look at the Credit Repair Magic system. 

Many of the commenters point out that there is nothing really special about this system. Everything offered is information you can access for free through a simple Google search. 

Although Mr. Hurley himself does offer his own rebuttal of the system. 

Mr. Hurley does not provide any evidence to support the claim that making a complaint illegible to e-OSCAR (the automated dispute processing system used by the credit bureaus) improves the probability of a successful resolution.

3 Credit Repair Magic Alternatives

Credit Repair Magic is a system of tools and resources for credit repair. This makes it most like traditional credit repair software services. So when looking at the competition, we looked at companies that provide credit repair software, both to individuals and businesses. 

To see how the level of service offered by Credit Repair Magic compares to some of their competitors, below is a table comparing them to three of their top competitors. 

To read more about how Credit Repair Magic stacks up against the competition, check out our roundup of the best credit repair software.

Price-wise, Credit Repair Magic easily beats out the competition, but the level of service they offer is the lowest. So in a sense, you are getting what you pay for. 

The upside is that since this is a one-time charge and the system is open-ended. So, if your credit repair takes time, or you want to help someone else repair their credit (i.e., a spouse), you can do this more easily with Credit Repair Magic than you can with any of their competitors.

Is Credit Repair Magic Worth It?

If you want to learn more about credit and really understand the credit repair process, then perhaps credit repair magic would be a good tool for you. 

Mind you, all the templates and educational resources are ones you could find yourself for free on the internet. But, if you find yourself searching for credit repair and somehow end up watching train videos 6 hours later, then having all of the credit repair research done for you might be worth the $97 and time wasted on fruitless Google searches. 

Another good candidate for this program would be someone considering launching a credit repair business. With its multiple templates, spreadsheets, and other resources, the system could be a useful low-cost platform for dipping your toes in the credit repair business world. 

That said, it wouldn’t be a long-term business solution; there are other better (and more expensive) credit repair software platforms that better serve credit repair businesses. 

It is also worth noting that to make this system worth the price, you’ll either need to be disputing multiple items or helping others file disputes. 

Credit Repair Magic is not going to be a good system if you:

• Don’t have the time to file disputes yourself
• Have no desire/time to learn about credit repair
• Are looking for a credit monitoring service
• Have an established credit repair business
• Only have a few negative items on your credit reports
• Just want somebody to fix it for you

In the above cases, you’d be better off pursuing the services of one of Credit Repair Magic’s competitors.

The core of the Credit Repair Magic pitch seems to be the idea that you can bypass the automated dispute processing system and force a review by a human being by hand writing your dispute letter and making it deliberately difficult to understand. We have no way to verify the accuracy of this claim, and no evidence to support the claim is provided.

We also notice that the Credit Repair Magic website implies (though it is not specifically stated) that the system can remove even legitimate negative items from your credit report. This is highly questionable. Any legitimate credit repair service should warn that not all negative records can be successfully disputed and that a credit bureau has no obligation to remove a legitimate record.

Credit disputes can be an effective way to remove records that contain errors, but any claim or even suggestion that there is a sure way to remove legitimate records is not honest.

Verdict

The system Credit Repair Magic offers might be helpful for some people, but for the majority, there is probably a better option out there. 

The system focuses on reading materials, spreadsheets, etc., and is a bit time intensive. While account setup is quick and easy, filing disputes is not. 

The intro video advises that you’ll need to spend 30 minutes or more working on a dispute. This is just for one credit bureau and does not include time spent reading the materials or mailing your letter. 

It is also worth pointing out that the advertising and recommendations of this system are semi-shady. Some of the claims are questionable and the implication that any negative record can be successfully disputed is very questionable.

For instance, their super-secret method for getting your disputes through is to slow everything down by forcing a manual review. Since the credit bureau only has 30 days to resolve your dispute, this improves the chances of the dispute going in your favor. 

What Mr. Hurley doesn’t tell you is that a creditor can at any time add the disputed item back to your credit. So “timing out” the dispute is not a guaranteed method for repairing your credit. 

The Credit Repair Magic system also suggests other temporary credit repair short-cuts, like credit piggybacking. In reality, these techniques can help build credit if you have a thin credit file, but they are unlikely to have a significant impact if you already have seriously damaged credit.

The claim that you can “Increase Your Credit Score By 140 To 210 Points In Just 3 Weeks By “Borrowing” Someone Else’s Credit” – a direct quote from the Credit Repair Magic website – seems highly questionable.

Really, the most significant upside to this system is the low cost paired with a 60-day money-back guarantee. This makes Credit Repair Magic a relatively risk-free option to try out. 

The post Credit Repair Magic Review 2024: A Tutorial On How to Repair Your Credit appeared first on FinMasters.

Can they do what they say they do? Let’s find out.

What Services Does Credit Versio Provide

Credit Versio is a credit repair software package designed to help you navigate the credit repair process yourself without needing to hire a professional. Think of it as a guided DIY credit repair option.  

During the dispute creation process, Credit Versio will help you generate a letter with the wording needed to dispute your individual issue. For instance, a dispute letter for an inquiry and a dispute letter for a collections account would be presented differently. 

If you have many items you need to dispute, this letter generation can save you some time. But you’ll still have to physically print and mail the letters yourself. 

Credit Versio also tracks the dispute process by monitoring your credit. They’ll note credit score changes, which items were removed from your credit reports, and which items were verified. 

They can also help you navigate the process of creating follow-up dispute letters if you didn’t get the result you wanted the first time. 

This DIY approach to credit repair gives you greater control over the credit repair process compared to hiring a credit repair company, and the cost is much lower

The downside is that the DIY approach requires you to not only do some of the work but also know a decent amount about credit to ensure that your actions will help you and not hurt you. 

How Does Credit Versio Work?

Using Credit Versio’s dispute letter generator, you can, in theory, dispute all of the negative information on your credit reports that is damaging your credit score.

Remember that disputes are not always successful. If an account is legitimate and does not contain errors a credit bureau has no obligation to remove it. 

How to Setup Credit Versio

Credit Versio works closely with partners Smartcredit and IdentityIQ, both of which are identity theft monitoring services. If you already have an IdentityIQ or Smartcredit account, go straight to step 3. If you don’t, you’ll need to go through the entire process.

Step 1: Select the credit monitoring package you want. Credit Versio offers 3 options. 

Step 2: Enter your information, verify your identity, and specify a payment method to complete your credit monitoring account setup. 

Step 3: Using your credit monitoring account information, Credit Versio will link to your credit reports for all 3 bureaus. If you already have an IdentityIQ subscription but not the Secure Max plan, you’ll need to upgrade at this time.  

Step 4: Credit Versio will analyze all 3 reports, look for any information/account that is negatively impacting your credit, and flag this account/information. 

How to File a Dispute

Once you have an account set up with Credit Versio, they will automatically begin going through your credit reports to look for issues affecting your credit. For each issue they find, they will suggest the appropriate dispute action, like disputing a collection account versus disputing a hard inquiry. 

Step 1: Select the Create a Dispute option on your dashboard. 

Step 2: Choose the credit bureau that you want to file a dispute with; Experian, TransUnion, or Equifax. 

Step 3: Credit Versio will display all the issues negatively impacting your credit. Select all items (late payments, inquiries, public records, etc.) that you want to dispute. 

Step 4: You’ll need to add the reason for each disputed item. Credit Versio will automatically suggest the most appropriate reason, or you can select a different reason. The reason you choose will determine the wording of your dispute letter.  

Step 5: Once you’ve finished, Credit Versio will generate your dispute letter(s) and email them to you. You can now go through the dispute creation process for the other credit bureaus. 

Step 6: You’ll need to physically mail your dispute letter(s) to the credit bureaus. Review each letter Credit Versio generated, print it, and then send it to the appropriate credit bureau. 

Step 7: Credit Versio will track the progress of your disputes and show you which items are being disputed, which have been successfully disputed, and any that were verified as correct. And they’ll show you how the changes affected your credit score. 

Step 8: Credit Versio will guide you through creating subsequent rounds of dispute letters for any failed disputes. 

You can view the entire dispute creation process in video format as presented by Credit Versio. 

How to Cancel Your Subscription

Canceling Credit Versio services is a bit complicated. Since you only get access to the dispute software through Credit Versio, contacting them to cancel services will not cancel your credit monitoring subscription. 

Credit Versio can remove your account information when you request cancellation. Still, subscription cancellation will need to be processed through Smartcredit or IdentityIQ. 

Credit Versio can help you, but you’ll be able to cancel your subscription more quickly if you contact the credit monitoring company directly. 

Other Features Offered by Credit Versio

In addition to the dispute creation and tracking process that Credit Versio offers, you also get access to all of the credit monitoring tools of its partners. 

If you selected IdentityIQ, these additional features include 

• $1 million in identity theft insurance
• $25k for identity protection of your children
• Monitoring of all 3 credit bureau reports
• Monthly report and score updates
• Enhanced credit monitoring (daily TransUnion checks)
• Dark web monitoring
• Identity theft alerts
• Access to a credit score simulator

If you selected a Smartcredit subscription, you’d get features like

• $1 million in identity theft insurance
• Enhanced credit monitoring (for Premium subscriptions)
• Credit Actions (similar to disputes)
• Access to a score simulator
• Credit reports & scores for all 3 credit bureaus (the basic plan will charge a fee)
• Money manager tool

Many of these extra features can only be accessed through the partner’s websites. They are not available through the Credit Versio website. 

Pricing

Credit Versio partners with credit monitoring services to give customers credit repair tools. Because of this, you will need to signup for either Smartcredit or IndentityIQ’s credit monitoring service to use Credit Versio’s services. You can do this directly through Credit Versio’s website. 

Each credit monitoring package offers slightly different features and resources. Below is a comparison of the available credit monitoring/repair packages. 

If you already have a Smartcredit Basic or Premium account, then Credit Versio is 100% free. If you have an IdentityIQ account, you’ll need to upgrade to Max (if you don’t already have it) in order to use Credit Versio’s platform. 

Credit Versio is able to offer their credit repair software for free as they make money from their credit monitoring partners. 

Neither Credit Versio nor their credit monitoring partners provide any money-back guarantee or refund. 

Credit Versio Customer Reviews

The reviews of Credit Versio’s services are generally positive. They have a 4.5 rating on TrustPilot, with many reviews, like the one below, thanking them for helping improve their credit scores. 

While many of the reviews are great, not everyone has success using the service. Not all negative items can be successfully disputed, and a few users point out that you can dispute items yourself for free.

Some less positive reviews seem to stem largely from confusion over how the credit repair process works. For example:

In reality, it doesn’t matter how repetitive your dispute letters are. Nobody will ever read them. Your letter is processed by an automated system, and as long as it contains the basic information the system is looking for, the outcome will be the same no matter what you say.

Another example:

It’s not clear what this reviewer is getting at, but he doesn’t seem to know that legitimate records cannot be removed from a credit report by any means, including “consumer law”.

This doesn’t mean that negative reviews are inherently illegitimate. If you’re reading reviews, though, you should be aware that some frustration and even anger may often be explained by a simple lack of awareness.

Credit Versio Competitors

Credit repair comes in many forms. This includes free online resources, credit repair software packages, and subscriptions to credit repair services. 

Generally speaking, the more work you are willing to do, the less you’ll have to pay for the credit repair solution. And vice versa. 

To see how the level of service offered by Credit Versio compares to some of their competitors, below is a table comparing them to three of their top competitors.

In the short term, Credit Versio is an affordable credit repair option if you are familiar with how credit works and want to take a hands-on approach. 

But in the long term, their monthly subscription model isn’t good for your wallet when compared to some of the credit repair alternatives. If you plan to use a service for an extended period of time, it may not be the best choice.

Check out our review of credit repair software solutions for a full breakdown of Credit Versio’s closest competitors. Or, if you are leaning more towards a credit repair service, take a peek at our list of top credit repair companies. 

Is Credit Versio Worth It?

If you have a dozen or more negative accounts affecting your credit reports and you want a low-cost, hands-on opportunity to repair your credit yourself, then you might be an ideal candidate for Credit Versio. 

But, this software is not for everyone. If you don’t clearly understand credit and how disputes work. In that case, it might be better to hire a full-service credit repair company. 

Or, if you only have one or two negative items on your credit report, you would probably be better off trying to fix these yourself, for free. 

Another thing worth considering is whether or not you currently have a paid-for credit monitoring service. If so (and it is not through Smartcredit or IdentityIQ), then it doesn’t make much sense to purchase Credit Versio’s credit monitoring as well. 

Verdict

Credit Versio is a credit repair software service that you can use for free if you have a credit monitoring subscription with one of their partners. With a subscription, you can monitor your credit, protect your identity, and use Credit Versio’s user-friendly, free software to file and track disputes. 

But it is important to keep in mind that there are a lot of factors that impact credit. Credit Versio can only help with one of these; filing disputes. Disputes are only effective if an entry in your credit report is incorrect.

You’ll still need to tackle other credit repair actions like paying off collections, sending goodwill letters, etc. 

To use Credit Versio’s service properly, you’ll need to know how credit repair works. Or you could find yourself doing more damage to your credit (i.e., reviving old debts) than good.  

The post Credit Versio Review 2024: DIY Credit Repair appeared first on FinMasters.

What is DisputeBee

DisputeBee’s core service is a credit repair software package designed for credit repair businesses, but they also provide credit repair software for individuals. 

Their software works in conjunction with IdentityIQ to identify the negative items on your credit reports and guide you through the dispute letter process. 

They have templates and options for disputing a wide variety of issues, including collections, late payments, inquiries, bankruptcies, and more. They also have built-in features to help you track all of your disputes. 

All the tools and resources they provide are designed to help you navigate the credit repair process quickly and effectively. 

Access to the software is provided on a monthly subscription basis with an additional subscription requirement for credit monitoring. 

The streamlined process makes this software an excellent option for those with a lot of items to dispute. The price point might be too high to be of sufficient benefit to users with only a few disputable accounts. 

How Does DisputeBee Work?

There are a few different processes that DisputeBee utilizes. For instance, there is one process for signing up and another for importing your credit reports. 

Here we’ll look at all the key processes you’ll need to know for using DisputeBee to assist in your credit repair efforts. 

How Do You Sign Up?

In order to use the DisputeBee software, you’ll first need to create an account. 

Step 1: Go to the Sign-Up page and create a username and password.

Step 2: Choose either the Individual plan (personal credit) or the Business plan (credit repair businesses). Learn more about the plans

Step 3: This takes you to your dashboard. Go to Settings. 

Step 4: Fill in your Basic Information (important for filing disputes).

Step 5: Go to Billing and select your desired subscription plan.

Step 6: You will be prompted for payment information.

Step 7: Once you select Pay and Subscribe, your subscription will be active.

How Do You Import Your Credit Report?

Before you can file a dispute, you’ll need to import your credit reports. This will require you to pay for a subscription to IdentityIQ if you don’t already have a membership. 

Step 1: Select the Import Now option from your dashboard. 

Step 2: Click the link DisputeBee provides to sign up (this will get you a discount). If you already have an IdentityIQ membership, skip to step 5.

Step 3: You will be redirected to IndentityIQ’s website. Select the Get Yours Now option. 

Step 4: Proceed through IdentityIQ’s account setup process, including creating your account, verifying your identity, and entering a payment method. 

Step 5: Back on DisputeBee’s website (Import option), enter your login info for IdentityIQ, and select Import. 

Step 6: Your credit reports will now be imported and displayed along with your credit scores. 

How Do You File a Dispute?

Once your credit report has been imported, the option to create disputes on the Disputes page will become available. 

Step 1: Select New Dispute.

Step 2: Select the type of dispute (this includes inquiries, late payments, collections, tax liens etc.).

Step 3: You’ll need to locate the items you want to dispute, choose a dispute reason and select the credit bureaus you wish to dispute them with. Then click Next. 

Step 4: DisputeBee reviews the next steps you will need to take before giving you the option to create the disputes. 

Step 5: Review, edit, and download the generated dispute letters. 

Step 6: Print and mail each dispute letter, then mark it as sent on DisputeBee.

Step 7: Once you receive a reply (good or bad), enter that info into DisputeBee using the Received Reply option. DisputeBee will then guide you through any further suggested actions. 

How Do You Cancel Your Membership?

Canceling your membership is easy. 

Step 1: Log into your account and go to your billing settings.

Step 2: Select the Cancel option.

Step 3: Your cancellation will take effect at the end of your billing term.

Note: If you would like a refund, you’ll need to email DisputeBee’s support to request one. You’ll have up to 90 days after your last payment to request a refund. 

This only cancels your DisputeBee membership.
If you want to cancel your IdentityIQ credit monitoring membership, you’ll need to do that through IdentityIQ’s website. 

DisputeBee Features

Most of DisputeBee’s services revolve around creating disputes. This includes generating letters and tracking dispute progress. Their process and templates support various dispute types, including inquiries, collections, bankruptcies, late payments, etc.

Additionally, their credit monitoring partner, IdentityIQ, offers services such as refreshed credit scores, credit alerts, and identity theft protection. 

For those looking at DisputeBee’s Business option, there are several different services this package offers. This includes:

• Unlimited client accounts
• Unlimited team member accounts
• Bulk generating & print options
• Custom letter templates
• Client portal
• Billing integration
• Contract integration
• Sending mail (USPS) via API

You can preview many of these features before you pay by creating a DisputeBee account and watching the tutorials available on your dashboard. 

DisputeBee Pricing

DisputeBee keeps the pricing simple. They have just 2 subscription options: Individual and Business. 

The Individual option, designed to help you repair your own credit, costs $49/month. 

The Business option, with tools and resources for managing multiple credit repair clients, costs $129/month. This subscription plan supports an unlimited number of clients and staff. 

DisputeBee even offers you the option to create an account and preview their dashboard, tools, and templates before you commit to a subscription. 

You can cancel your membership at any time, but your cancellation won’t take effect until the end of your membership month. For instance, if your bill is due on January 18th and you cancel your services on January 24th, you’ll retain access to the software until February 17th. 

If you are unsatisfied with their service, per DisputeBee’s terms of service, you can request a refund of your most recent month’s membership. 

Note: To get full use out of the DisputeBee platform, you’ll need to import your credit report. This will require a subscription to IdentityIQ. The service costs $29.99/month. 

DisputeBee Customer Reviews

Many of the reviews for DisputeBee are positive. 

There are multiple 5-star reviews on Google, and while some are obviously fake, others are not. 

Many individuals report success with using the software to quickly improve their credit scores. 

And many of the positive reviews also cite excellent customer service. 

The few negative reviews regarding DisputeBee involve customers who did not get the results they were looking for. 

For instance, the below customer was happy with the software but canceled because none of their disputes were successful. 

The one complaint that DisputeBee received on their Better Business Bureau page involved a customer who had their credit score drop. But, the DisputeBee staff quickly pointed out that this is because the customer disputed the wrong items (i.e., valid accounts). 

DisputeBee Alternatives

To see how DisputeBee compares matches up to the competition, below is a table comparing them to three credit repair alternatives (software and services). 

DisputeBee is one of the more expensive options on this list, especially when you factor in the required IdentityIQ membership. For example, it would be $78.99 a month for DisputeBee versus Credit Versio’s $29.99 a month.

DisputeBee is a self-guided do-it-yourself experience and not a true credit repair service, so the price point seems a bit too high. 

That said when you compare the features, design, and customer service of DisputeBee to other credit repair software options, DisputeBee comes out way ahead. For more information, see our full comparison of the best credit repair software.

Is DisputeBee Worth It?

If you are looking for a cheaper alternative to credit repair services, one that puts you in control of the credit repair process, then DisputeBee might be the solution for you. 

DisputeBee supports a wide variety of dispute types, far more than their competitors support. And their dispute process is easy to navigate, with tutorials every step of the way. 

This allows you to use their credit repair software effectively even if you don’t have in-depth knowledge of credit and credit repair. 

Yes, you can file disputes on your own for free. But, if you have a lot of items that need to be disputed, the time DisputeBee can save you in generating dispute letters will be worth the subscription cost. 

If you only have one or two items you need to dispute, the subscription cost won’t be worth it.

Or, if you have absolutely no knowledge of credit and no time to learn, you might be safer going with a full credit repair service.

Verdict

Whether you are a credit repair business looking for a system to help you manage your clients or an individual who needs help filing disputes, DisputeBee has a solution. 

The DisputeBee software is easy to use with a well-designed dashboard and multiple tutorials explaining every step of the process. 

The software subscription has a 90-day money-back guarantee. 

The only downside is that this software becomes expensive in the long term. If you paid for DisputeBee and IdentityIQ for a full 12 months, you would be out $947.88. 

So, while this service is a great credit repair option, if you are not getting results within the first few months, we recommend you cancel the service. And if you don’t have many items to dispute, your better offer to pursue a cheaper alternative. 

Remember: No credit repair software or service can guarantee results, especially if there are no errors on your credit report. Credit bureaus have no obligation to remove legitimate accounts.

The post DisputeBee Review 2024: Self-Gudied Credit Repair appeared first on FinMasters.

What is Credit Detailer?

Credit Detailer offers credit repair software packages to individuals and credit repair businesses. 

This software helps streamline the process of filing disputes by generating and printing dispute letters. The color-coded display for client accounts and dispute tracking can help keep things organized. 

While Credit Detailer offers its software to individuals and businesses, its primary focus appears to be selling to credit repair businesses. Their professional software includes features for managing unlimited clients, invoices/billing, marketing materials, access to a client portal, and more. 

Their personal credit repair package is the same software with the client management features removed. 

The price point is low (for a business), but many of the software’s features are antiquated. There is no way to integrate with common billing and bookkeeping apps, nor can you import credit reports. This is understandable, considering the software was created in 2007 and last updated in 2019. 

But it begs the question, is Credit Detailer still a viable option for credit repair businesses? 

How Does Credit Detailer Work?

The credit repair software offered by Credit Detailer is in a downloadable format restricted to one computer. This can boost your information security but also limits your flexibility. 

To begin using Credit Detailer, you’ll need to purchase and download the software. As part of the initial purchase, you’ll also receive 30 minutes of help installing and setting up the software. 

How to Sign Up for A Free Trial

Credit Detailer gives you the option to try out their software before you buy. While this trial is limited to demo data, it can still be an excellent resource for researching whether or not Credit Detailer will work for you. 

To begin, select Download Free Trial from the Credit Detailer website. This downloads a zip file to your computer. 

Double-clicking the file will start the installation process. Once installation is complete, you’ll be able to open the program using Microsoft Access. Warning, this program cannot be run with newer versions of Access. Credit Detailer recommends the 2013 version. 

You can now begin exploring the features of the Credit Detailer software, but some features will be locked. 

You can unlock some of these features by activating your free trial using the current access code (DEMOCODE24) and your email address. This gives you full program access for 7 days. 

How to File Disputes

Once you’ve purchased the Credit Detailer software, you can begin using it to file and track disputes.

Below is a summary of how to begin filing disputes. 

Step 1: Obtain your credit report(s). 

Credit detailer does not offer any kind of credit report or score resources. You’ll need to obtain copies of your credit reports on your own. 

Step 2: Enter credit items. 

Once you have your credit reports, you’ll need to enter the negative items into Credit Detailer’s software manually. This includes providing creditor names, account numbers, type of negative remark, and more. 

Step 3: Generate dispute letters. 

On the Print Menu tab, you’ll have the option to print 1st, 2nd, and 3rd dispute letters. You can enter a date and bulk print letters for all your credit items. Once printed, you’ll need to physically mail the letters.  

How to Manage Your Clients

The basic dispute creation process works the same as it does for the personal credit repair package. You can add credit items, print dispute letters, and track disputes. But there are additional features and tools geared toward helping you manage your clients. 

You can use the List of All Clients feature to view/sort/search through your list of clients. Selecting a client will let you view their personal information, credit information, payment information, active disputes, and custom printing options. 

Using the Follow Up List feature, you can quickly locate client accounts that require actions (i.e., needing the next set of dispute letters, follow-up letters, etc.). 

You can add new clients using the Add A New Client feature. 

And if you want to view stats on your clients/business, information like where your clients were referred from or how many have unpaid balances, you can use Credit Detailer’s custom Reports feature. 

For more info on using the Credit Detailer professional software to create new client profiles and manage their credit items, check out this YouTube video.

Additional Features Offered by Credit Detailer

Most of the features available through Credit Detailer’s software deal with dispute creation and tracking or managing credit repair clients. But, the company does offer a few extra features. 

For the personal credit repair software, Credit Detailer gives you the option of purchasing coaching sessions. These sessions range from 1 hour up to 3 hours of coaching. These expert coaches can help you navigate the Credit Repair software and avoid the common pitfalls of credit repair. That said, these coaching services are not free. 

Credit Detailer provides access to their education center full of credit repair guidance, tips, and tricks at no extra cost.

The professional version of Credit Detailer comes with the education center, support of unlimited clients, and a custom report generator, but there are some additional add-on features  (for a fee). 

• Technical support – schedule a call with a technical support specialist. 
• Upgrades – update your software as changes are released. 
• Status portal – a feature that allows your clients to view the current status of the disputes you have filed on their behalf.

As an additional feature, both the personal and professional software packages are available in English and Spanish. 

Credit Detailer Pricing 

Credit Detailer’s pricing is a bit complicated with their bundling and add-on services.

For those looking for personal credit repair, there are two packages to choose from: 

In contrast, the base professional software costs a one-time fee of $399. It supports unlimited clients and comes with 30 minutes of installation support. 

But beyond this base software, Credit Detailer offers a host of add-on services and bundles. 

For credit repair businesses, there are 3 bundles:

Credit detailer does offer the option to pay for these packages on an installment basis for a $9.99 one-time fee.

Credit Detailer also offers several add-on services to go with their professional software.

Credit Detailer does offer all potential customers a free trial. This free trial lets you explore many of the software’s features but only using testing (fake) data. 

If you decide to move forward with purchasing the software but end up unhappy with the features or functionality, Credit Detailer offers a 30-day refund with “no questions asked”. 

Credit Detailer Customer Reviews

What do the customers think of Credit Detailer’s software? 

Credit Detailer posts several testimonials on their website. But like any company selling a product, they only post positive reviews, no negative ones. 

Interestingly, the most recent review on the testimonials page is 4 years old, with most of the  reviews dated between 2008 and 2010. 

Credit Detailer has no BBB page, no Trustpilot reviews, and zero reviews on Google. Their Facebook page has exactly two posts from 2016 and zero engagement. 

Even their YouTube channel seems to have stagnated with the last video posted in 2019 with the comments turned off. One video posted in 2008 seems to have some credible reviews, including this one about their personal credit repair software. 

Considering the age of existing reviews/testimonials and the general lack of reviews (negative or positive), this brings up doubts on whether this software is still in widespread use. 

Credit Detailer Alternatives

To see how Credit Detailer matches up to the competition, below is a table comparing them to three credit repair software alternatives. 

Credit Detailer publishes their own list of their competitors, links to their websites, their prices, and contact information. This can be useful when researching and comparing credit repair software companies. 

You can also check out our roundup of the best credit repair software options. 

So, how does Credit Detailer stack up against the competition?

Their price point is on the lower side. A one-time fee of $399 for a lifetime license is much cheaper than companies charging $100 monthly. But the features of Credit Detailer’s software are a bit lacking. While they offer unlimited clients, you are charged $200+ for each additional download. 

Alternatively, most of the cloud-based software options offer unlimited team members. 

Also, Credit Detailer has minimal marketing, billing/invoice, and credit monitoring tools. The newer competition offers a wider range of tools and services to credit repair businesses.  

Is Credit Detailer Worth It?

Credit Detailer’s one-time fee might be a worthwhile solution if you are considering launching a small credit repair business. The system supports unlimited clients and provides educational resources that are useful for getting your business off the ground. 

Later, if you decide to grow your business and hire more staff, the fees for additional licenses might become a problem. 

With the requirement of manual credit item entry, Credit Detailer is also a poor choice for those wanting to repair their own credit. 

Verdict

If you are looking for a solution to repair your own credit, skip Credit Detailer. With its low price, single download style, and support of unlimited clients, the software that Credit Detailer offers is best suited to owners of small credit repair businesses. 

The high price for additional features, antiquated manual entry process, and lack of integration options make this software a poor choice for just about everyone else.

If you are considering Credit Detailer as a credit repair software solution, we highly recommend that you do your research on the competition first. There are newer software options (cloud-based and downloads) that offer many additional tools, integration options (i.e., QuickBooks, USPS shipping, etc.), and automation. 

The post Credit Detailer Review 2024: Software for Experts appeared first on FinMasters.

Credit Repair Cloud is a software package that claims to offer an all-in-one solution for credit repair businesses. In this review, we’ll look at the features, pricing, and customer reviews to determine if Credit Repair Cloud lives up to the hype.

What is Credit Repair Cloud?

Credit Repair Cloud is a subscription-based credit repair software sold to credit repair businesses. This software is not usable for individuals looking to repair their own credit. 

Credit Repair Cloud’s software offers features to help businesses manage their clients and a whole host of other features for managing the other aspects of their business. 

This all-in-one software package could address many business needs for small credit repair companies or those looking to launch a credit repair business. 

In fact, the company promises that its software is “everything you need to start a life-changing credit repair business.” And they really stand by this theme of changing lives with credit repair. 

They readily publish on their homepage the number of credit repair successes as well the number of business owners who have reached the $1 million mark. 

That said, the price point for their software is high, which could be a problem for the cash-strapped entrepreneur just launching their business. 

How Does Credit Repair Cloud Work?

Credit Repair Cloud is software designed for use in credit repair businesses. The software lets you generate disputes, mail letters, manage your client information, and even provides additional business tools/resources. 

Below we’ll take a detailed look a how your business can use the key features of this software. 

How to Sign Up for a Free Trail

Credit Repair Cloud offers a free 30-day trial of their software. Most features are unlocked, with just a few premium options hidden. Otherwise, you can use the trial just as you normally would to run your business. 

To sign up for the free trial, click the Start 30-Day Free Trial button on Credit Repair Cloud’s website (button featured on several pages). 

This will take you through 3 guided setup steps. 

1. Enter your name and login information to create an account. 
2. Enter your address and credit card information. Warning, this automatically signs you up for the paid version, which will auto-charge after 30 days if you don’t cancel. 
3. Sign up for the Credit Hero Challenge (this step is optional and requires an additional fee). 

Once you’ve signed up, you now have full access to begin using the credit repair software. Just remember to cancel before your 30 days are up if you don’t want to be charged. 

How to Manage Your Clients

The Credit Repair Cloud software lets you manage existing clients and generate leads for new clients. 

Using the Add New Client feature, you can enter the client’s basic info, and they will be invited via email to complete their account setup. Your client will access the portal, where they will be walked through signing contracts, identity verification, and credit monitoring setup.

Once setup is complete, you can use the Select an Existing Client option to view their credit reports, generate disputes, send them an invoice, and more. 

To help attract new potential clients, there is an Audit feature that generates a report of the current issues with their credit and how you can help them. 

To help you manage your time, there is a Schedule feature for organizing client meetings. There is also a document Library with 100+ templates, customization options, and access to the Academy where you can learn more about credit repair and running your business. 

How to Generate Disputes 

Once a customer has signed up for credit repair, they can view their dashboard and go to the Pending Report tab. 

This displays the client’s current credit reports. Scrolling through this page, click the items you wish to dispute on your client’s behalf. You can then specify a dispute Reason (i.e., inquiry not authorized) and Instructions (i.e., remove the item from my credit report).

Once you are finished selecting items and specifying reasons and instructions, you’ll need to save your work (button at the bottom of the page). 

Then you can proceed to the Dispute Wizard, where you can select the type of dispute letter you need (i.e., Round 1) and select the items you want to include in the letters (one for each credit bureau).

The dispute letters will then be automatically generated, and you can now create follow-up tasks.

Finally, you’ll need to print these letters and mail them to the credit bureaus.

How to Cancel Your Subscription

Canceling your subscription is straightforward. 

Simply log in to your account dashboard and select the Cancel option. 

If you were still in your free trial period, you will not be charged anything. 

If you are several months or more into your subscription, you will still have to pay for the current month and retain services during this time. You’ll want to take this opportunity to export your client information as needed. 

Credit Repair Cloud Additional Features

Each of Credit Repair Cloud’s subscription plans offers a few base features, including unlimited storage, a client portal, and unlimited leads. Additionally, Credit Repair Cloud offers a whole host of other resources to help manage all the needs of your credit repair business. 

Their listed features include

• Importing online credit reports
• Automated letter finder
• Capture leads and signups (from a website or blog)
• Dispute automation
• KPI business dashboard
• Import clients and leads (from other software)
• 1-Click credit audit
• CRM (contact relationship management) features
• Free web hosting (2 months)
• Batch printing of dispute letters and other materials
• Affiliate tools
• Developer API / Zapier
• Client and affiliate portal
• Comprehensive dispute library (100+ templates)
• Client onboarding services
• Client signature capture
• Dedicated support
• Credit repair training

The above are considered the “core features” that come with all of Credit Repair Cloud’s software subscriptions. 

Credit Repair Cloud Pricing

The pricing of Credit Repair Cloud’s subscriptions is based on the number of clients your credit repair business has. The more active clients you need to manage, the higher your monthly price. 

Credit Repair Cloud offers 4 base plans. You can add extra clients and/or team members to each package for a nominal fee. 

*You can save 20% on the monthly price if you pay annually instead.

Each of Credit Repair Cloud’s packages includes all of its tools and resources, including unlimited storage, a client portal, and more. 

Credit Repair Cloud doesn’t offer any kind of refund, but you can cancel your service at any time. What they do offer is a free 30-day trial. This trial allows you to explore most (but not all) of the features of their credit repair software. 

Credit Repair Cloud also has a recommended add-on for those just launching their credit repair businesses. It’s called the Credit Hero Challenge, and it includes tips for launching your business. The cost for the materials is $47 with the purchase of a Credit Repair Cloud subscription. 

Credit Repair Cloud Customer Reviews

Credit Repair Cloud has a direct link to their Trustpilot reviews on their website. And while at first, it seems like they are just showing positive reviews, if you view their complete list of reviews on Trustpilot, you’ll see that they are indeed overwhelmingly positive. 

Many 4 and 5-star reviews thank Credit Repair Cloud for their detailed educational materials. In fact, that is the only thing most of them mention. 

It is a bit disconcerting that most reviews are so positive and only talk about the training and not actually using the software. So we dug a little deeper and found a detailed 1-star review that exposes why. 

Note: It turns out that Credit Repair Cloud offers incentives for reviews. They give you a one-time credit and promise that the best review will get an entire month of service for free! This makes the majority of these positive reviews untrustworthy.

Further 1-star and 2-star reviews also cite poor customer support. 

And if you go to their BBB page, you’ll see 1 complaint centered around poor support. 

There is also 1 review that lodges a seriously concerning accusation that Credit Repair Cloud steals clients. 

Credit Repair Cloud Legal Troubles

It is worth mentioning that Credit Repair Cloud is currently navigating a lawsuit filed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). This lawsuit alleges that Credit Repair Cloud (CRC) is training and encouraging their customers (credit repair businesses) to charge their clients incorrectly. 

According to the CROA (credit repair organizations act), a credit repair company can’t charge for services until these services are complete. 

Furthermore, since most credit repair companies utilize telemarketing strategies to land new clients, they must adhere to the TSR (telemarketing sales rule), which states they can only charge the client once 6 months have passed. 

Since CRC encourages credit repair businesses to charge upfront and monthly fees, this directly violates the TSR and potentially the CROA. 

While forcing credit repair companies to eat costs for 6 months seems a bit harsh, the law is in place to prevent individuals from being scammed. 

With many credit repair services, negative items are removed from your credit report(s) only to reappear a few months later. But if you already paid for the services months ago, you have little recourse. 

Forcing companies to wait six months before they charge you helps ensure that the changes you see on your credit reports are long-term, not temporary. 

This litigation likely won’t be wrapped up anytime soon. The CFPB also has a similar pending lawsuit against Lexington Law which has been ongoing for 3 years. 

If you are considering opening a credit repair business with CRC or another software, you should follow these two cases closely as the final findings could have a huge impact on the future of the credit repair industry. 

Credit Repair Cloud Alternatives

To see how Credit Repair Cloud matches up to the competition below is a table comparing them to three business credit repair software alternatives. 

The features offered by Credit Repair Cloud are much more extensive than their competition (i.e., Credit Detailer). You not only get credit dispute creation and tracking tools, but you also get a wide variety of business resources. 

But the cost per month is pretty high, and the employee and client limitations are a big negative considering there are competitors that support unlimited clients. 

For a full comparison of the competition, check out our article on the Best Credit Repair Software.

Is Credit Repair Cloud Worth It?

If you want to launch your own credit repair business, then the software provided by Credit Repair Cloud might be a good fit.  

Their automated system for generating disputes as well as integration with various credit monitoring, invoicing tools, and training resources make them a sort of one-stop shop for credit repair businesses. 

But, you should gather the necessary funds first. The software subscription is pretty pricey, and while some of the training is free, a lot of the advanced classes are not. And there are other premium fee-based add-on services (i.e., website hosting). 

Credit Repair Cloud could also be a useful tool for those who already have small to medium-sized credit repair businesses. If you are using an outdated system (like Credit Repair Magic), moving to Credit Repair Cloud could save you a lot of time in managing your clients. 

But, you are largely on your own with navigating the client import process. 

Credit Repair Cloud is not good for those who have large credit repair businesses, as the lack of support in importing your existing clients would likely cause more of a headache than it is worth. Plus, the more clients you have, the more you have to pay.

Other individuals who might want to stay away from Credit Repair Cloud include those

• Who hate spammy, upsell emails
• Want flat upfront pricing
• Have a client count or team member count that is high
• Dislike cloud-based services due to information security concerns
• Are nervous about the pending litigation

It is also worth noting that this credit repair software is not designed for personal use. That said, you could, in theory, use the free trial period to start repairing your own credit. Just be sure to cancel before the trial is up, or you’ll be out $179. 

Verdict

Credit Repair Cloud is advertised as credit repair in a box. And essentially, that is what it is. The comprehensive cloud-based software has all the tools and resources you need to launch a credit repair business from scratch. And the different levels of subscription are tailored to the size of your business. 

But, the subscription price is high, and Credit Repair Cloud has a host of premium training and services you can only access for additional fees. 

And there is currently pending litigation to deal with. 

Credit Repair Cloud could be an excellent tool for your credit repair business, but waiting until the litigation settles to purchase this software might be a better move. Having a backup plan in place if you do decide to use this software might be good. 

The post Credit Repair Cloud Review 2024: All-in-One Software Solution appeared first on FinMasters.