Free Credit Repair

Free credit repair sounds like an oxymoron if you listen to all the advertisements these days about how much these companies charge to fix your credit. But free credit repair is within your reach. You must be willing to do some research and dig deep to fix some problem areas, but consumers can fix their own credit, without paying the fees charged by credit repair companies. Read on for more about free credit repair methods.

I have had a credit score that is lower than I want because I need to buy a new car soon. I am finding I don’t qualify for the really low interest rates, but I’m not willing to buy at a high interest rate. So I started looking for free credit repair methods. What I discovered is that there are definitely benefits to some of the free credit repair methods, but there are also benefits to fixing my credit the old fashioned way.

Some of the free credit repair companies I called when I saw the signs on the side of the road. You’ve seen them. They claim to fix your credit in days instead of weeks. They claim it won’t cost you anything. They claim it is all perfectly legal. I found out that some of their practices are not legal.

One company I checked out with the Better Business Bureau (always a wise idea when you’re looking into something as significant as your credit report) had so many claims against them for defrauding customers that I simply quit looking at them. They apparently will open a new credit report under your name, creating a new credit identity. That’s illegal, by the way. I was not willing to buy into their claim that they could fix my credit overnight, considering at least one of their practices was illegal. I could have found myself in legal trouble! No thanks.

Other companies had hidden fees. They said they would fix my credit for free, but as we got into the process, they began to ask me to cover certain expenses on my own. I don’t know about you, but to me, free means no money changing hands. It’s not always what they say it is! Be careful.

I did find some credit counseling companies that were quite helpful, and they really were free. These companies help by contacting your creditors on your behalf to lower your interest rates, stop your late fees, and negotiate lower payments. These companies close your accounts as they get paid off as part of the negotiations with the credit card companies. As you pay off debt and accounts are closed, the amount of credit available to you, which shows up on your credit report, gets lower. That can be a good thing if you are carrying too much available credit, but it can be a drawback if you are trying to show that you can have a credit account and not be using everything you have available.

The counseling companies really didn’t charge anything, and they were a great help in getting payments lowered and fees slowed down or stopped. They did all the negotiating with the credit card companies, which is definitely a perk if you hate talking with people about your financial struggles. But I found that for me, the best way to fix my credit was to change the way I was living.

I discovered that I really was buying things on credit that I couldn’t afford to pay off in a reasonable amount of time. That was resulting in higher interest payments, which was making it hard for me to pay on time, which increased my late fees. Also when I missed a payment on a card that had been a reasonable interest rate, the rate went through the roof and my problems just multiplied.

So instead of looking for the easy way out, I decided to take my credit repair into my own hands. I cut up all but one of my cards, and got back to living on what I could pay for in cash. That meant I had to give up some of my luxuries, but I was by no means uncomfortable.

As I would find myself reevaluating whether to eat out or eat it, each time I ate in, I took the money from the potential meal out and applied it to a bill. Each time I got close to paying off a bill, it encouraged me to get it paid off faster. Every time I paid one off, I could take the money I had been spending on that one and apply it to another one.

It was not the easy way out, but I fixed my credit within a relatively short period of time. I changed my spending habits, and honestly, I put myself in a healthier financial situation than I have ever had before. The amount of credit I have versus what I have used has raised my credit score dramatically, and I was able to buy the car I needed with a great interest rate.

Free credit repair methods are not always what they are cracked up to be. Some of them are honest about providing truly free credit repair. Others are out to pull the wool over your eyes. If you are considering free credit repair companies, do your homework. Find out what the shortcomings in your credit score are, and take productive steps to fix those areas. You will see your credit score go up, even if it’s only small amounts at the beginning. If a free credit repair method works for you, use it, but know what you are walking into before you get in so far that you can’t get out.