Credit Repair: Hire a Pro or Do it Myself?
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Denied a Loan, Job or Insurance Because of Bad Credit?
In today's economy, having a few blemishes on your credit history is pretty common. People have lost their jobs, lost their homes, had cars repossessed, and so on. So of course there are negative remarks added to their credit history as a consequence of not paying their obligations as agreed. Some information is accurate and some are just mistakes that need to be addressed.
These negative remarks or 'blemishes' then make it more difficult for that consumer to obtain new credit and even a new job. So, when a lender or employer looks at the credit history of the applicant, they see a very one-sided story which makes the applicant look either dishonest or irresponsible. And what is the result? The applicant is rejected, the loan is denied or the job is given to someone else.
This creates the need to repair the damaged credit. If you googled "credit repair" the results you see returned are a few multimillion dollar credit repair companies, or, you see allot of "Do it yourself credit repair" articles, books, and software kits and some anti-credit repair propaganda.
So you are given a choice of either hire a pro, do it yourself, or just live with it. So which of these should you do? The answer really depends on your personal skill levels, how much time you have, and how much it costs.
On one hand, the do it yourself authors will typically downplay the value of the credit repair companies claiming they charge to much or are scams or whatever. They make credit repair sound really simple, and all you need to do is buy their book or software to learn how to do it yourself. Yeah, How convenient, don't hire a pro, instead buy my book! That's oddly self serving if you ask me.
On the other hand, the credit repair companies will typically make their services sound so complex and intimidating that there is NO WAY you could do it yourself. Some claim to be large law firms and make it sound like you need a big army of attorneys because it is so doggone hard. Oh come on! no it's not! Yes, it requires some skill time and know how, but it's not rocket science.
Then are also big banks who do not want you to repair your credit, who spew huge amounts of anti-credit-repair propaganda. And why do they do that? Because, if you have no negative comments on your credit history, then they have to give you the best interest rates and the best deals. But, with all the bail out money they have taken, and investigations proving long term dishonest and fraudulent practices, I think we can agree that their opinions are questionable.
A simple comparison to understand credit repair
Credit repair is a process of attempting to clean up the credit history. With all the information on your credit report, you need to understand, if it doesn't help you, it hurts you. To make it simple to understand, lets use an analogy:
Suppose you have a big ugly spot on your shirt, and you want to clean it so you can wear it to your job interview, or when you go to the bank and apply for a loan. What do you do? You do it yourself, right?, you put the shirt in the washing machine with your other dirty clothes, put in some soap and after a while, you are wearing a spot-free shirt.
We all know it's not that simple, but you get the general idea. The shirt is like your credit history and the spot is like that late payment, charge-off or repossession. But, anyone who has had a blood stain that went from the washing machine to the dryer knows, that spot is set for life. Throw the shirt away, buy a new one. But you cannot do that with your credit history, it is yours for life and the remarks are there for 7 to 10 years more.
You could spend $49.95 for a book and many hundreds of hours learning the process and do it yourself and become a credit repair pro. Or you could hire a credit repair company save some time and paper-cuts and be out a few hundred bucks.
Our recommendation is that you make the choice best suited to your personality and personal skills. If you are an accomplished do it yourself-er, then do that, but do it right - if not, hire a pro!
But, if you are like the many millions of people who buy a book, but then don't follow through, or give up when you hit the first obstacle, then our suggestion is don't buy the book. Much like the blood stain on a shirt, it will be set in for life if you do it wrong, so too is repairing your own credit. You can do a lot of damage that can take a long time to repair if you do it wrong.
It is not our intention to make credit repair sound complicated, or make it sound really simple because it's not. Save yourself some time, and brain damage and hire an affordable credit repair company. Preferably a company who needs your business, but whose business is more than 5 years old, and as always, make an affordable choice.
