Finding the Top Credit Repair Service

The credit repair industry has become a crowded place. The credit crisis has led to increased lending restrictions that made having a high credit score far more important than it had been in years. No longer able to get approved for credit, thousands are looking to credit repair services for help. Hoping to cash in on the trend, new credit repair companies are being created seemingly every day claiming to be experts at fixing bad credit.

With so many inexperienced credit repair companies coming onto the scene, many of which are simply turnkey businesses using a third party software solution as the backbone of their product, it becomes a challenge to determine which companies can be trusted with your credit. To help separate the credit repair companies from the amateurs trying to make a quick buck, here are three suggestions for spotting a quality credit repair service:

1) Check for experience - Setting up a credit repair service is remarkably simple. All a person needs is a website and a few hundred dollars to purchase a credit repair software package. Staying in the business and producing good results for customers is harder. The best credit repair services usually have a history of helping people which not only indicates a stable business, but it is also a sign that the company operates within the confines of the law since most shady credit repair companies have a short lifespan.

A credit repair company's BBB report will list how long it has been in business. If the company does not have a BBB report, it may be a red flag since the company may be very new. If you are unable to determine how long a company has been operating, you can try performing a WHOIS search of their domain name to see how long it has been since it was registered, but if it takes that much work, you are probably better served looking elsewhere.

2) Look for a "brick and mortar" presence - The Internet is ideal for commerce, but the process of working to repair your credit reports is more effective when conducted offline. Established credit repair companies usually have a physical place of operations that you can use as a guide to how stable the company is. Satellite imagery services like Mapquest are great tools for checking out the company's headquarters. Grab the company's address, pull up a map and see if the company has their own building, operates in an office complex, rents out a spot in a strip mall, or has the mailing address of a personal residence.

3) Look at pricing and payment options - Drafted in the mid nineties, the Credit Repair Organizations Act establishes rules that credit repair companies must abide by. One of these is to only accept payment for services after they have been performed. This restriction was created to protect consumers from credit repair scammers who would charge large upfront fees and never provide the expected services.

Naturally, you should avoid credit repair providers who require an upfront payment (yes, there are still many in operation despite this regulation).

In addition to finding out how much and when you will be expected to pay for credit repair services, make note of the payment options. Most reputable online companies will, at a minimum, give you the option to pay via credit card on their website or over the phone. Additional payment methods may also be accepted.

Be wary of companies who only accept checks or money orders as you do not have the same protections in place to recover your money if something goes wrong. Also watch out for companies who employ third party payment processing such as Paypal since this may be a sign of a fly by night credit repair service. Finally, as with any online transactions, when providing payment information online, make sure the webpage is secured. Before keying in your credit card on a webpage, make sure the address of the page starts with "https" and your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc.) displays a padlock or similar icon indicating the connection is secure.

With so many inexperienced credit repair organizations entering the market, many of which are turnkey businesses using third party software to power their service, it becomes difficult to know which services can be trusted with your credit reports. Here are some suggestions for identifying a reputable credit repair company.

Many people who begin searching for the top credit repair company end up selecting Lexington Law to help them with their credit. Lexington Law has established itself as a leader in the credit repair industry as is evidenced by the over 1 million negative items clients saw removed from their credit reports in 2009.