Before delving too deeply into what a credit repair agency does, let's first talk about what they cannot do. They cannot guarantee a better credit score. They cannot legally advise you to change your identity. And, unfortunately, they cannot eliminate legitimate debt. In fact, it should be noted that CRAs cannot do anything that you, the consumer, cannot do on your own.

What CRAs can do, however, is save you time, while providing accountability, experience and knowledge.

Think of it this way: say your car is broken down and you need to have it fixed. Perhaps you know what's wrong with your vehicle, but you do not own the tools or have the space needed to make repairs. So, you take your car to an auto repair shop. Or, maybe, you know what's wrong and have the tools and the space to fix it, but you don't have the time. You take your car to an auto repair shop. The point is, while you may have the tools or the knowledge (which can be found for free online), you do not always have the time to dedicate to repairs.

Credit repair services can be infinitely beneficial in that they save time and reduce the large amount of paperwork that is involved with credit repair. They have the time and the tools to:

• Find errors — Finding errors is the first, and most crucial, step in restoring your credit. According to the Public Interest Research Group, nearly 80 % of credit reports have at least one error. Errors can range from misreported actions (i.e. wrongful late payments or “last activity” records) to merged credit reports (sharing the debt of somebody with a similar name) to poor record-keeping (reporting debt owed where debt has been paid off). Finding these errors is the first step to having them removed, and that's where credit repair services come into play.

• Dispute errors — Disputing errors is where the true value of a credit repair service can be measured. Once an error is found, CRAs dispute the error through letters to credit bureaus and/or the creditors in question. Depending on how much questionable content or how many errors exist on your credit report, this can be the most time-consuming process of all. Not only do CRAs have easier access to the needed materials for filing disputes, they have access to the proper channels needed to expedite the process as quickly as possible.

• Awaiting response — Seeing as the creditors have the right, by law, of 30 days in which to respond to a dispute, waiting for a response can seemingly take forever. Once in the hands of CRAs, a consumer need do little more than check their account for new information and forward the results to the CRA as letters begin arriving in their mail from credit bureaus.

• Dispute errors again — As if the process were not time consuming enough already, errors sometimes must be disputed more than once before coming to the proper conclusion. If the process seems to be tedious to begin with, imagine waiting 30-plus days only to have to write a second dispute letter … and wait again.

• Watch for improvement — As long as the consumer follows the proper steps in consulting with a credible CRA, it is usually a matter of about 30 to 90 days before eliminations can be seen on credit reports, leading to improved credit scores. Most CRAs offer online accounts where the client can log in at any time to check on their progress. Like many things in life, credit repair is a service that requires patience in order to see results.

• Dispute next error — If the previous five steps seem like a lot, imagine doing that over and over for each and every possible dispute. Some credit reports can contain anywhere from a handful to a hundred different pieces of reported information. For each piece of information that may contain an error, the consumer must go through each of the preceding steps in order to have it removed. CRAs take the legwork out of the marathon that is so often credit repair.

While the ability to repair your credit on your own is there, the practicality of DIY credit repair is questionable, at best.