What to Look for in a Contract with a Credit Repair Agency

Your most important tool against bad credit repair deals is your credit repair contract. Before you sign any kind of contract with a credit repair agency, you need to make sure you're protected.  

Most contracts are written by the credit repair agency and are naturally written more for their benefit than yours. That said, if you know what to look for, you can make sure that everything you need is covered in the contract. 

Here are the most important clauses to look for in any credit repair contract. 

What They're Agreeing to Do 

• The contract should explicitly state exactly what the credit repair agency will do for you. 

For example, they might commit to sending X letters to X agencies to help you remove items from your report. They might agree to follow up with those companies, as well as to advise you on lawsuit opportunities. 

• If you're having them also take on a debt consolidation role, make sure you also cover all your bases there. The agreement should spell out explicitly how the consolidation process is handled and what kind of support you'll have during the process. 

The Cost Structure 

• The contract should contain details on how the program is priced. Any implied verbal guarantees should be written into the paperwork. There should be no additional costs that you don't understand, no fine print with extra fees. 

• Different credit repair agencies charge differently. Some require an upfront fee, others don't. Some charge a percentage of debt and some charge a flat fee. 

• If you're just having the repair agency remove items from your credit report for you, usually the payment will be made in the form of a "per item" fee. For example, an agency might charge $250 for each item they can remove from a credit report. 

Make sure you understand the cost structure and any additional costs before signing the paperwork. 

How Long before You Can Expect Results 

• The contract should have a set duration. Six months to one year is a good period of time for an extensive credit repair project. 

• If a contract doesn't have a set duration, make sure you have a crystal clear cancellation period. After all, if you've seen no results for six months, you want to make sure you can back out and find someone else to help you. 

These are some of the most important things you should look for in a credit repair contract. Before you sign anything, make sure you read over every line and fully comprehend everything you're signing. If the contract accurately represents everything that you talked about verbally and you believe it's a good deal for you, then sign the paperwork.

Understanding Your Credit Report and Score

Your credit score is based on a formulation used by the credit reporting agencies that creates a general average of your credit history and assigns a number to show whether you have excellent, good, fair or poor credit. While, your credit score is an average of your credit history, it is often the first thing creditors look at when deciding whether or not to give you a loan or credit account. While, you are unable to change the credit score directly, you can change and better your overall credit and credit report which will directly reflect on your credit score.

When looking for a way to improve your credit score there are many steps in the process and it will take a little bit of time for the improvements you make to reflect on your credit score. You can go through the process alone, or you can enlist the help of a credit counselor which can help with the process, paperwork and the law on what you are allowed to change and dispute and what you are not.

1-    Request all of your current credit reports 

Your credit report is available from each of the three major credit reporting agencies, including Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. All of these agencies have a web site where you are able to order your credit report that can be delivered in paper form or instantly electronically. Once you have your credit reports, print them out. This will take lots of paper, but it worth it to have them spread out in front of you for the best results when looking over them. 

2-    Know your credit

You may not know your current credit or have kept up with what is on your credit report until now. This is a big mistake. You should purchase, or get a free credit report, once a year to check for mistakes or fraud. If you never have, you will need to pay extra close attention to the items on your credit report.

3-    Go through your credit report with a highlighter

Go through every part of your credit reports including the personal information, highlight anything that is incorrect. This should include wrong addresses, misspelled name(s), any accounts and other items you don’t recognize. Also, mark items that are yours but that you may want to dispute the balance, interest rate or other parts of the account.

4-    Follow the directions for disputing inaccurate information

At the end of the printed and electronic credit reports are the instructions on how to dispute items on your credit report that you feel are inaccurate. You can complete this process in writing or online. When doing so you will need to provide ample proof of the item you are disputing, whether that’s receipts for an item you paid or proof of your identity to dispute an identity or past address problem. You should also always make copies of everything you send to the credit reporting agency.

Regardless, of the information you find on your credit report, it’s important to understand how credit works and how you can improve and dispute the information on your credit report. The most important thing to take away from this is the need to get all three of your credit reports every single year to check for inaccurate information. This is not only smart financial practice, but one of the best ways to protect yourself from identity fraud.

What Debt Collectors Can and Can't Do

Debt collectors are like mosquitos. They can be annoying and they’re hard to dissuade. Fortunately, there isn’t a whole lot a debt collector can do besides call you and send you mail. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) spells out the actions that a debt collector may and may not undertake in the process of collecting a debt. 

Your state has additional laws that may limit debt collectors even further. It’s worth investigating these laws, so you understand the rules and can play the game accordingly. 

What Debt Collectors can do: 

1.  Call you directly between the hours of 8 am and 9 pm. However, you have the right to request not to be contacted by phone again in the future. This request must be done in writing. You can also insist that the debt collector only contact your attorney instead. 

2.   Contact you via mail. However, it can’t be obvious to someone looking at your mail that the correspondence is from a debt collector. Postcards aren’t permitted, since the nature of the correspondence would be obvious. 

3.  Take you to court. The details are very state specific, but your creditors can certainly take you to court. For smaller debts, this rarely happens. If you had the money, you’d have already paid it. If it you don’t have it, an expensive legal proceeding isn’t worth the effort. 

4.   Request postdated checks. This is allowed under the FDCPA but may not be permitted under your state’s debt collection laws.

5.  Report your payment delinquency to the credit bureaus. Paying your bills on time is an important part of your credit score.

6.  Accept less than the full amount as payment in-full. This can be a great option to get the collection agency off your back. The debt may appear as “settled” on the credit report, which harms your score. You may also have to pay taxes on the amount of the debt that was forgiven. 

Debt collectors must follow the laws provided by the FDCPA and your state of residence. If you owe money, it’s reasonable to expect that your creditor will try to collect that debt. However, there are limitations. Many collection practices are illegal. 

What Debt Collectors Can’t Do: 

1.  Call you on a Sunday. Monday through Saturday is fair game, but even debt collectors have to take a break on Sundays.

2.  Call you after 9 pm or before 8 am. They only way debt collectors can call you outside these hours is with your permission.

3.  Contact your employer. Unless the debt is related to non-payment of child support, your employer is off limits. They also can’t contact you at work if they know you don’t want to be bothered there.

4.  Contact your friends, family, or neighbors regarding your debt. They can, however, contact these people to determine your address or phone number. It cannot be revealed that you owe money.

5.   Use threatening language over the phone. Vulgar language or the threat of prison or loss of reputation isn’t permitted.

6.  Call you repeatedly in a short period of time. This is open to interpretation. But if you’re constantly receiving calls, it can be considered harassment under the FDCPA. You can sue the debt collector in this case.

This is the short list of items that many debt collectors have been known to violate. Familiarize yourself with the FDCPA for additional restrictions. Remember that these rules only apply to debt collectors and not the in-house collection employees of your creditor. See your state laws for additional guidance. 

Debt collectors may be annoying, but they are required to follow the law just like everyone else. Each violation of any of the rules can carry a $1,000 fine and debtors have been very successful collecting these fines in court.