Credit repair services

Credit repair services: what they do, what they cost, and what none of them can do

By Ryan Bonelli, Founder and Responsible Editor, Credit Defense HubUpdated Sep 5, 2026 Pending named subject-matter reviewEditorial standards

Also searched as: credit repair companies · credit restoration services · credit report fixing service · companies that fix your credit

Short answer

Credit repair services dispute items on your credit reports with the bureaus and the businesses that reported them — the same free process the Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you. They cannot remove anything accurate and current, and federal law bars them from charging before the work is done. Published prices run about $79 to $140 a month.

We are not a credit repair company and do not rank or refer to one — nothing on this page is for sale

Last reviewed 2026-09-01 · every figure below carries a source and a date

Law before prices

Every rule here cites the statute (CROA, FCRA) or the agency page it comes from, with the date we checked it.

The free version, in full

Dispute-letter templates and the step-by-step path a company would bill for are linked below at no cost, no email required.

One check before paying

A ten-line scorecard, six of them legal requirements. One “no” on those six ends the evaluation.

What do credit repair services actually do (and what can’t any of them do)?

A credit repair company pulls your reports, looks for items that are inaccurate, incomplete, unverifiable, duplicated, or older than the law allows, and sends disputes to the bureaus and the furnishers. It may also draft goodwill requests and debt validation letters. That is the whole legal toolkit. Every piece of it is a consumer right you can exercise yourself at no cost, and the FTC says so directly.

What no company can do, at any price: delete a late payment, collection, charge-off, or bankruptcy that is accurate and current. The CFPB’s answer is five words long: “No one can do this.” Texas goes further and requires every registered credit services organization to hand customers a written statement that accurate information cannot be permanently removed. The value a service can honestly sell is time and organization, not a private channel to the bureaus. See what credit repair can and cannot do for the item-by-item map.

Do I need a credit repair company near me?

Short answer

No. Location is irrelevant to credit repair. Disputes travel by mail and web portal to Equifax, Experian, TransUnion, and the furnisher — never to a local office. What matters is whether the company follows the Credit Repair Organizations Act and is registered or bonded in your state if your state requires it. Both are checked online in under an hour.

A “near me” search mostly surfaces whoever bought the ad. Here is the check that actually tells you something, in the order many people run it:

Check 1
State registration and bond
Many states layer a “credit services organization” law on top of CROA. Texas is a clear example. There, a credit services organization must register with the Secretary of State before doing business and post a $10,000 surety bond. It must also give each customer a written disclosure naming the surety company (Texas Finance Code ch. 393, verified 2026-09-01). To find your state’s rule, start at the USAGov state consumer protection directory and ask the attorney general’s office or Secretary of State whether the company is registered and bonded. A company that advertises in a registration state without being registered is breaking that state’s law before it ever touches your file.
Check 2
CFPB Consumer Complaint Database
Search the exact company name in the CFPB complaint database. One complaint proves little. A repeated pattern — the same surprise fee, the same promised deletion, the same trouble canceling — is the signal.
Check 3
FTC enforcement record
The FTC enforces CROA and publishes its cases. Search the company in FTC cases and proceedings. The pattern is not theoretical. On August 10, 2026 the FTC announced that a federal court had temporarily halted a network of 16 related credit repair entities. The FTC alleges the network collected nearly $200 million through illegal advance fees, false removal promises, and identity-theft reports filed without customers’ knowledge. Those are allegations to be decided by the court — and every one of them maps to a check on this page.
Check 4
The paperwork CROA requires, before any payment
A written contract listing the services, the total cost, and the expected timeline; a separate written statement of your credit file rights; and a cancellation form good for 3 business days. A company that cannot produce all three before asking for a card number has already answered the question. Full walkthrough: how to verify a credit company.

How much do credit repair services cost?

Short answer

Published ranges as of September 1, 2026 run about $79 to $139.99 per month, plus a setup or “first work” fee of about $45 to $195. Six months of service therefore totals roughly $520 to $1,035 before any result. The same disputes, filed yourself, cost $0 plus optional certified postage.

Six months of credit repair at the lowest and highest published prices compared with doing the same disputes yourself
Six months of disputes	Low published price	High published price	Do it yourself
Setup / first-work fee	$45	$195	$0
Monthly fee × 6	$79 × 6 = $474	$139.99 × 6 = $839.94	$0
Credit reports	Included or free	Included or free	Free weekly at AnnualCreditReport.com
Total	$519	$1,034.94	$0 (+ optional certified mail)

Price ranges: published by Money.com in “5 Best Credit Repair Companies of September 2026” (published 2026-09-01), quoted here as ranges only. We do not endorse any company on that list and receive nothing from any of them.

Three legal rules sit underneath every price. First, CROA § 1679b(b) bars a credit repair organization from charging for a service “before such service is fully performed.” That is why lawful companies bill at the end of a month for that month’s completed work. It is also why the CFPB warns that payment plans structured to collect earlier are still illegal. Second, the contract must be in writing and state the total cost before you sign. Third, you can cancel without penalty for 3 business days. If the company sold to you by phone, the Telemarketing Sales Rule adds a fourth rule. It cannot charge until it gives you a consumer report, generated more than six months after the promised results, showing those results. Details and the math on whether paying is ever worth it: how much credit repair costs and DIY vs. hiring a company.

How long does credit repair take?

Short answer

One dispute round takes about 30 days, because the Fair Credit Reporting Act gives a bureau 30 days to investigate (45 in some cases) and five business days to report the result. Several rounds run to months. Accurate items are not on that clock at all: they age off on the fixed 7-year or 10-year schedule, and no service shortens it.

That is the whole honest answer, and the service sites agree with it when pressed: one national company’s own FAQ says it cannot predict how long repair will take and that clients typically stay about six months. Six months of a monthly fee is what the cost table above prices. Two timing facts matter more than any average. First, a company must state its expected timeline in the written contract before you pay (CROA, 15 U.S.C. § 1679d) — a company that will not commit on paper is telling you something. Second, disputing an accurate item does not speed anything up: if the bureau verifies it, it stays; if the bureau calls a blanket dispute frivolous, it does not have to investigate at all.

Sources: 15 U.S.C. § 1681i(a) (30-day reinvestigation, 45-day extension, 5-business-day notice of results); CFPB, “How long does information stay on my credit report?” (reviewed 2025-09-05); verified 2026-09-01.

How do I choose the best credit repair company?

Not from a ranking — including one from us, which is why we do not publish one. Use a scorecard. Ten checks, each a yes or no. The first six are legal requirements; a single no on any of them ends the evaluation. The last four are judgment calls that separate an organized company from a merely lawful one.

Ten-check scorecard for evaluating a credit repair company: six legal requirements and four judgment checks
#	Check	If the answer is no
1	Written contract with services, total cost, and timeline, provided before payment	Disqualifying (CROA)
2	No fee of any size collected before the promised service is performed	Disqualifying (CROA)
3	Cancellation form for the 3-business-day window handed over with the contract	Disqualifying (CROA)
4	Written statement of your credit file rights under state and federal law	Disqualifying (CROA)
5	No guaranteed deletions, score promises, or “new credit identity” offers	Disqualifying (CROA and FTC guidance)
6	Registered and bonded in your state, if your state requires it	Disqualifying (state law)
7	Will send you a copy of every dispute letter and every bureau result	Serious concern
8	Does not discourage you from contacting the bureaus yourself	Serious concern (CFPB red flag)
9	No repeated complaint pattern in the CFPB database or FTC case library	Weigh the pattern
10	Disputes only items you have reviewed and believe are inaccurate — no blanket challenges	Serious concern (frivolous-dispute risk)

The full method, including the questions to ask on the first call and how to weigh a money-back guarantee, is in how to choose a credit repair company. For what the law requires of every company, see credit repair companies: what to know.

What is the difference between credit repair and credit counseling?

Short answer

Credit repair disputes items on a credit report for a fee. Credit counseling, usually nonprofit, helps you budget and repay debt, sometimes through a debt management plan. The CFPB’s line is that counselors advise on managing money and debts, while repair, settlement, and consolidation companies are typically for-profit and charge for actions you can take yourself for free.

Credit repair, credit counseling, and debt settlement compared by what each does, who typically runs it, how it charges, and what it cannot do
Service	What it does	How it charges	What it cannot do
Credit repair (for-profit)	Sends disputes about items on your credit reports to the bureaus and furnishers.	Monthly fee after each month’s work; no charge before service is performed (CROA).	Remove anything accurate and current; promise a score.
Credit counseling (usually nonprofit)	Budget review, education, and optionally a debt management plan that lowers rates or stretches terms with your creditors.	Often a free first session; a modest monthly fee on a plan. Never advises you to stop paying.	Erase debts; change what is accurately reported.
Debt settlement (for-profit)	Negotiates lump-sum payoffs below the balance, usually after you stop paying creditors.	A percentage of the debt; by law no fee until a settlement is reached and one payment is made.	Guarantee a saving or a timeline; stop collection or lawsuits while you wait.

Source: CFPB, “What is the difference between credit counseling and debt settlement, debt consolidation, or credit repair?” (Ask CFPB 1449, reviewed 2024-05-15; verified 2026-09-01).

The practical test: if the problem is what the report says, the free dispute path below is the tool. If the problem is what you owe, a nonprofit counselor is the first call, and the options are compared on debt relief and debt management plan vs. settlement.

Can a service remove collections, charge-offs, late payments, or hard inquiries?

Short answer

Only when the item is wrong. Every negative item is disputable if it is inaccurate, belongs to someone else, cannot be verified, is duplicated, has a re-aged date, or is past its reporting window. The same item, when accurate and current, stays until it ages off. That line is set by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and no fee moves it.

Negative items by type: when each can be removed, when it stays, and when it ages off
Item	Can come off when	Stays when	Ages off
Collection account	Not yours, wrong balance, re-aged date, duplicate of the original account, past 7 years; paid medical or medical under $500 under current bureau policy	Accurate and current — paying updates the status but does not delete it	7 years from first delinquency
Charge-off	Wrong balance, wrong date of first delinquency, double-counted with a collection, not yours	Accurate and current	7 years from first delinquency
Late payment	Paid on time but reported late, wrong severity, or a creditor grants a goodwill request	Accurate — goodwill is a request, not a right	7 years
Hard inquiry	You never applied (possible identity theft)	You applied	About 2 years
Bankruptcy	Wrong status or dates, or past its window	Accurate	7 years (Chapter 13) or 10 years (Chapter 7)

Reporting windows: CFPB, “How long does information stay on my credit report?” (last reviewed 2025-09-05; verified 2026-09-01). Medical collections: the CFPB rule that would have removed most medical debt was vacated by a federal court in July 2025 and never took effect; the under-$500 and paid-collection exclusions are voluntary bureau policies.

The problem-by-problem guide is removing negative items from a credit report, with the item pages behind it: collections, charge-offs, late payments, medical debt, and goodwill letters.

Credit repair for mortgage approval — what do lenders actually do?

A mortgage lender pulls reports from all three bureaus and underwrites from what is actually there. Nothing a repair company does changes that file except a successful dispute of a genuine error, and a bureau dispute generally takes 30 days, up to 45. That single fact sets the strategy. Errors are disputed well before an application, not during underwriting. Accounts still marked “in dispute” are worth raising with the lender early, because some underwriting systems flag them.

A rapid rescore is a different tool, and it belongs to the lender. It applies when a borrower has documented proof that something changed — a card paid down, or an error a creditor has already agreed to correct. The lender asks its credit reporting vendor to update the file and re-pull scores faster than the standard dispute cycle. It is ordered by the lender with the borrower’s documentation. It is not sold to consumers, and it cannot remove accurate items. A repair company offering to “rapid rescore” you directly is describing something it cannot do.

What borrowers control is timing: paying card balances down before the statement closes so the reported utilization is low, opening no new accounts and taking no new hard inquiries between application and closing, and keeping every payment on time through the closing date. The mortgage-specific sequence is in credit repair for mortgage approval; the score mechanics are in improve your credit score.

Can I do credit repair myself for free?

Short answer

Yes. The FTC’s own words: anything a credit repair company can do legally, you can do for yourself for little or no cost. The reports are free weekly, disputes are free by law, and the letter templates are free below. What you give up is time and paperwork, not access — there is no channel to the bureaus that only companies can use.

The same four steps a company would bill you for, in the same order. Each links to the full guide and, where one exists, a free template. The full self-guided version is do-it-yourself credit repair.

Step 1
Pull all three reports free
Weekly, at the only official source, AnnualCreditReport.com. Then read what came back.
Step 2
Dispute genuine errors with each bureau and the furnisher
One specific, documented dispute per item. Guide: how to dispute credit report errors. Templates: bureau dispute letter and furnisher dispute letter.
Step 3
Ask, where asking is all that is left
For an accurate late payment on an otherwise clean account, a goodwill letter is a request the creditor may decline. For a collector, a validation request is a right.
Step 4
Build while the clock runs
Accurate items age off on the FCRA schedule whether or not anyone is paid. In the meantime, on-time payments and low utilization are the two factors that move scores. Start at fix credit and rebuild credit.

What this page is not

Credit Defense Hub is an educational publisher. We are not a credit repair organization, a law firm, a lender, or a lead generator, and we do not accept payment from any credit repair company to be listed, ranked, or recommended. The price ranges above are quoted from a third-party publication and dated. If you were charged in advance or promised a deletion, the recovery sequence is in what to do if you were scammed.

Two offers that end the conversation

A “CPN” or “new credit identity” is not a repair product; using a substitute number on a credit application can be a federal crime. And advice to dispute items you know are accurate, or to report identity theft that did not happen, makes you the one signing a false statement. See credit repair scams.

Frequently asked questions

Is a "credit restoration service" different from a credit repair service?

No. "Credit restoration," "credit report fixing service," and "credit repair" describe the same regulated activity: disputing items on a credit report for a fee. Any company that sells improving a credit history for money is a credit repair organization under federal law, whatever it calls itself, and the same CROA rules apply.

What is the best company to fix credit?

There is no single best company, and this site does not rank them. What can be checked is compliance: a written contract before payment, no fee until the promised work is performed, a 3-business-day cancellation form, the required rights disclosure, state registration where required, and a clean pattern in the CFPB complaint database. A company that passes every check is a candidate. One that fails a legal check is not, no matter how it is rated elsewhere.

Do I need a credit repair company near me?

No. Disputes go to the three bureaus and to the business that reported the item, by mail or web portal, from anywhere. A local office adds nothing to that process. What matters is whether the company follows federal law and is registered or bonded in your state if your state requires it, and both of those are checked online.

How much do credit repair services cost in total?

Published ranges as of September 2026 run about $79 to $140 per month plus a setup or first-work fee of roughly $45 to $195. Over six months that is roughly $520 to $1,035 before any results. The do-it-yourself version of the same disputes costs nothing beyond optional certified postage.

Can a credit repair service remove collections or charge-offs?

Only if the item is inaccurate, unverifiable, duplicated, re-aged, or past its 7-year reporting window. A collection or charge-off that is accurate and current stays until it ages off, and the CFPB states plainly that no one can remove it. Paying the debt updates the status but does not delete the history.

Can hard inquiries be removed from my credit report?

An inquiry you did not authorize, such as one tied to identity theft, can be disputed. An inquiry from an application you actually made is accurate and stays until it ages off, which is generally about two years. Most scoring models stop counting an inquiry well before that.

Does a goodwill letter remove a late payment?

Sometimes, at the creditor’s discretion. A goodwill letter asks a creditor to remove an accurate late payment as a courtesy. No law requires the creditor to say yes, and no service can force it. It costs a stamp, which is why some people try it once the account is current again.

Can credit repair get me approved for a mortgage?

No service can promise an approval. What lenders actually respond to is accurate reports, low card balances at statement close, no new accounts before closing, and disputes resolved before underwriting rather than during it. A rapid rescore, when one is used, is ordered by the lender with documentation, not bought by the borrower from a repair company.

Terms used on this page

CROA FCRA Furnisher Date of first delinquency Goodwill adjustment Hard inquiry

If you do only one thing today

Before paying anyone, run the two free checks that take less time than reading a contract:

Search the company’s exact name in the CFPB complaint database and read for a repeated pattern.
Ask your state attorney general’s office or Secretary of State whether it is registered and bonded.

Every figure on this page carries a source and a date — see how we verify what we publish.

Go deeper

Sources

Educational information — not advice

This page provides general educational information about credit, debt, and consumer protections. It is not legal advice, financial advice, or credit repair services, and reading it does not create any professional relationship. Laws, procedures, deadlines, and dollar amounts vary by state and change over time.

For advice about your specific situation, consult a licensed attorney or qualified financial professional. See our full disclaimer.