Many "credit repair" companies claim to remove negative credit with the flick of a wrist. Their advertisements make bold assertions and money-back guarantees: "Bankruptcy, tax liens, judgments... no problem!! One hundred percent guaranteed!! Credit report 100% cleared in 30 days!!" Can they really make such sweeping guarantees? While some credit repair companies are outright frauds, others are not frauds and they use the dispute process to obtain impressive results. In fact, they delete thousands of negative credit listings every day - regardless of whether or not the listings are technically accurate.

If you choose to hire a credit repair service, here are some things you should look for:

1.Do not use any credit repair service that doesn't follow industry standards or regulations.

2.Do not use a credit repair service unless it provides a written disclosure of your rights in relation to your credit history before asking you to sign a contract. The contract should include all the terms and conditions of payment, a detailed description of the services to be provided, including any guarantees of performance and an estimate of how long it will take to perform the contract. The agreement should also include a right to cancel lasting at least three days, in case you have second thoughts.

3.Do not use a credit repair service that doesn't provide you with a copy of Your Rights Under the FCRA.

4.Do not use a credit repair service that misleads you to think that you are unable to repair your own credit files.

5.Do not use a credit repair service that attempts to charge money before it has performed the credit repair services. Some companies, charge an enrollment fee, and then charge a monthly fee for the term of your contract. If they do have an up front enrollment fee, etc be sure that they have some type of refund policy in addition to the standard 3 day right to cancel.

6.Do not use a credit repair service that urges or offers to create a new identity for you by obtaining a federal tax ID. This is considered fraud and you may be subject to prosecution by following illegal advice.

I found a good company that not only provides a self help hand book but also provides credit repair services http://www.creditcpr.net . They currently charge $99 for their credit repair program or $15 for their self help handbook (electronic download). I used the self help handbook and found it very helpful. I referred some family members and friends to them and they enrolled in the credit repair program and so far, they've all had success...you can read their actual testimonials on their website http://www.creditcpr.net/testimonials.html My cousin was going to pay some lawyer $3,000 to repair their credit - wow! I was able to save them $2,901 by referring them to creditcpr.net. They were very happy and continue to get results.

Is it necessary to hire a credit repair service? No; you can effectively repair your credit files yourself. It's a tedious and time consuming task but with a little patience, and a lot of persistence you can get results with little to no cost to you. How so you may ask, simply by using the dispute process.

The dispute process enables credit bureaus to weigh information from consumers against information from creditors and to delete information that cannot be verified. It does not matter if the debt is yours or not. It must be accurate and verifiable. Your file can be right and not accurate. There are a few ways you can start to dispute negative items on your report:

1.You can get a copy of your report and dispute online via the credit bureau's website. You are entitled to one FREE credit report a year. To request your free credit report visit the official free credit report website a https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

Current Credit Reporting Bureau's:

Experian: http://www.experian.com

Equifax: http://www.equifax.com

TransUnion: http://www.transunion.com

If you have been denied credit recently, the company that denied you must provide you with a reason for their decision and the address and contact information of the bureau they used to obtain information on your credit report. You then have 30 days to request a free copy of your credit report.

Because information contained on each report may vary, as well as your credit score may vary; it is best that you obtain a copy of your credit report from all three credit bureaus. Recently, they have started using a combined credit score for lenders and financial institutions that provides them with combined credit score from all three bureaus. As of yet, not all credit reporting agencies have implemented this new process.

2.You can get a copy of your report and dispute via the mail using a form letter or a dispute form provided by the bureau. You can search GOOGLE, YAHOO, or MSN to find free sample letters to write to the bureaus. One site that I found very useful was: http://www.creditinfocenter.com/forms/ They have several free letters that you can use or modify to your own liking. You may have to use several different types of letters to send to the bureaus and even creditors or collection agencies.

3.If you feel you're not that good with the internet or just don't have the time to search you can always find a credit repair kit that includes step by step instructions on how to utilize the dispute process and provides the form letters for you. Check out http://www.creditcpr.net they offer a credit repair kit along with a membership program to have access to a credit specialist for questions and answers all for $15.00. Their credit repair kit is easy to understand and as far as I've seen the cheapest on the net. I find that other credit repair kits that I've used provide you with way too much information that you don't really need for $30-50 or more! I don't know about you, but I'd rather spend $15. Creditcpr.net provides you with a kit that deals with the dispute process and how to rebuild credit worthiness. They also provide you access via email to a credit specialist if you have any questions while you're going through the dispute process yourself. I found their service to be really helpful during my credit self improvement process.

Whichever option you choose above; once you start disputing negative items; the credit bureaus will contact your creditors on your behalf. Your creditors have 30 days to respond; if they fail to respond within the 30 day timeframe, the item is considered unverifiable and the bureau is required to remove the item from your report and send you an updated credit report.

What happens when a negative item is verified? If some of your negative items have been verified but you still want to attempt their deletion, you can send another letter and re-dispute the items again. I would recommend using a different letter than the first one you sent. You can also start contacting your creditors or collection agencies, asking them to provide you with proof (a document with your signature on it) that states you owe them a specific amount or debt. If they can't provide you with that proof by law they are reporting inaccurate information and are committing fraud. There are some great letters for this on the website I referenced earlier: http://www.creditinfocenter.com/forms/ Your creditors and/or collection agencies will most likely be non responsive. I would make two-three attempts with letters and if you continue to not get a response, forward a copy of the letters you sent to the credit bureaus. Be sure to indicate that you have diligently tried to contact the creditor for proof of verification and have not been provided that information. Since the bureau states that the item has been verified, ask the bureau to provide you with the documentation that they received to validate the item(s) in question. Most likely the credit bureau won't have this information and the item will most likely get deleted. If you continue not to get results, just repeat the process as many times as possible.

If you do your own research on the internet on how to repair your credit you will probably find websites that will contradict or frown on the dispute process, stating that it doesn't work or really provide results. You know what they say, don't believe everything you read! I used the same process that I've just outlined in this article and I was able to increase my credit score over 140 points within 6-9 months. Each case may vary depending on credit bureau cooperation, timely responses to correspondence and most importantly your participation. I only did it in my free time or whenever I felt like tackling the task that's why it took me almost 9 months. In many cases you can get results within a shorter timeframe, for example three months.

The simple truth is that you do not have to endure bad credit for seven to ten years as long as you feel comfortable challenging the accuracy or verifiability of your credit files. If so, it is possible to restore creditworthiness within a much shorter time. However you decide to address your credit challenges, realize that regardless of what you may hear in the news media, thousands before you have sought help and restored their credit.

It is important to also realize that you may not get every negative item of your report and only time and practicing good credit habits will eventually remove those items. If you are starting with a very low credit score, for example 400's or less - you can expect your score to increase to at least the mid 500's or 600's. Do not expect your score to increase to the 700 or 800's over night!! As I stated before; only time, good credit habits, paying your bills on time and limit your credit inquiries will eventually get you there. Consider this process a jump start or your second chance!

I hope you found this information helpful. Thanks for reading and good luck!