By Leona Allen

The best credit repair services won't set unrealistic expectations, but can take much of the hassle out of fixing your credit score. None of these companies perform magic, but the best credit repair services certainly can help a great deal in improving your credit score.

Hundreds of companies offer credit repair services today, but according to the Federal Trade Commission, most of them are scams. If they claim that they can erase bad credit, or guarantee to raise your credit score, you should be very wary.

According to the FTC, it is not possible to legally remove accurate and timely negative information from a credit report. Suggesting that you dispute all negative entries on your credit report, for instance, is illegal.

The best credit repair services won't ask you to pay in order to get your credit reports. Under federal law, anyone can get their credit report from each of the three credit-reporting agencies (TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax) once every twelve months for free.

Most, if not all of the things these companies will do for you are things you can do yourself, but it may be very helpful for those who may not be aware of what their options are. Doing some of the work on your own might actually lower their fees, or of course you can simply do it all yourself instead.

Besides credit repair services, there are companies called "debt consolidators". These debt consolidators won't directly fix your credit, but instead they work with you to help bring your outstanding debt under control - a big step towards long-term credit-worthiness.

They accomplish this by contacting your all of your creditors, and negotiating a 'settlement' agreement on your behalf. This will be a small fraction of the actual outstanding debt. Then they add these amounts into a single sum. Based on your budget and ability to pay, you send a single amount each month to the company, who breaks it up and then sends a portion to each creditor.

The best credit repair services won't help much if the factors that led to credit problems don't change. Further, they don't provide the kind of "bailout" that erases bad debt like filing bankruptcy will. That being said, what they can do is help you to get your feet back on the ground and help set you on the road to improving your credit score, and in turn your whole financial future.

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