ViraScoop
In a time in which so many people are burdened with financial obligations, the benefits of credit repair can be sweeping. One of the leading firms in that industry, Lexington Law uses legal professionals to help consumers improve their credit scores by working to remove inaccurate or unfair negative items from their credit reports. This can be a significant benefit to people who are unsure about accomplishing this themselves.
However, are there any real advantages to be gained from paying someone to do this for you?
Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of Lexington Law credit repair.
What is Credit Repair?
For those whose credit histories reflect debt problems or errors, challenging the information on their credit reports can be of benefit. Credit bureaus are obligated to investigate any disputed entries on the reports they provide. Firms like Lexington Law will review your credit report to identify and challenge questionable items on your behalf.
They contact the reporting bureaus and creditor(s) in question to request the removal of disputed items from your credit report. If they are deleted, your credit score will improve as a result of the removal of these negative entries.
Here’s the thing though, you can do all of that yourself — for free. Which brings us to our first and perhaps the single most significant con of credit repair services.
Pros and Cons of Lexington Law Credit Repair
Credit Repair Pros: You’ll have trained professionals reviewing your credit report, identifying potentially damaging entries and filing disputes to get them removed. This can be a tedious and time-consuming process, so having someone doing the heavy lifting for you can be advantageous.
You’ll save the time required to acquire your credit reports and review them. You’ll save the time required to draft dispute letters and send them. And, you’ll save the time required to follow up on those disputes to ensure they move along in a timely fashion.
Moreover, Lexington Law has provided these services online since 2004. This means it’s experienced, well connected and potentially effective. According to the company’s website, more than 500,000 consumers have engaged its services over the years.
Credit Repair Cons: You can do all of that on your own — for free.
Further, reading Lexington Law reviews at www.Bills.com will reveal most of the negative ones revolve around clients misunderstanding the nature of the firm’s work.
If one doesn’t carefully read about the services offered, or pay close attention when they’re described, they can come away with the impression credit repair is a sure thing. Meanwhile, the reality is it depends completely upon the nature of the entry and the temperament of the creditor.
In other words, no credit repair firm extant can help you remove a negative entry if it stems from a legitimate beef. However, those firms can and will bill you for trying. In other words, you will pay whether the effort expended on your behalf is successful or not.
The only ways to get a verified negative item off of your credit report are to pay the obligation in full, wait for it to drop off organically (which takes seven years from the date it was posted) or reach and fulfill a settlement agreement with the creditor.
The Bottom Line
With all of that said, credit repair firms do provide a legitimate service. However, it is critical to recognize the pros and cons of going that route before you sign. After all, while they will do all of the legwork, they cannot guarantee their efforts will bear fruit. Moreover, they will bill you for those exertions either way. And again, you can do everything you need to do to dispute errors on your credit report yourself – for free.
