The Best Credit Repair Companies

Wednesday, December 11th

2024 Credit Repair Company Reviews

Sky Blue Credit

• Two tiers of service, priced at $79/month (or $119/month for couples) and $99/month (or $149/month for couples)
• Unlimited actions on your behalf
• Pause or cancel service anytime
• Condition-free 90-day refund policy/guarantee
• "A+” rated by the BBB
• In business since 1989

Believe it or not, "happy” and "satisfying” are two words that actually describe the credit repair experience when you work with Sky Blue Credit. They've been walking side-by-side with individuals and couples since 1989, delivering focused yet user-friendly service. Whether you need help strategizing on how to qualify for a mortgage or you don't know if you should accept a credit offer, their best-in-class support team is ready to work it out with you.

Easy-to-understand, all-inclusive pricing

We love how straightforward Sky Blue Credit is, in terms of what they offer and at what price. Here's the rundown:

• Basic Service ($79/month individual, $119/month couple)
• 3-bureau reports and scores
• Unlimited credit bureau disputes
• One-on-one consultations as needed
• Credit score tracker
• 24/7 access to client portal
• 60-day credit updates
• Full Service ($99/month individual, $149/month couple)
• All of the services of Basic
• Creditor interventions
• Inquiry disputes
• Debt validation letters
• Cease and Desist letters
• Personal information correction letters
• 45-day credit updates
• Credit builder tool

Personalized attention and unlimited interventions

Unlike many of its rivals, Sky Blue Credit doesn't limit how many actions they'll take on your behalf from one month to the next. Whatever makes sense for them to do, they'll do it. They'll also create a personalized credit-building strategy with you: you may need to pay down certain debts or actually open a new credit line, and their experts will both make suggestions and offer support along the way. You're not just a nameless, faceless client when you work with Sky Blue Credit.

What they do and what they don't

They're also very clear about who they can help and who they can't. Sky Blue Credit is designed to optimize your credit score, especially through getting credit reporting errors fixed. However, if you're struggling with legitimate debt or trying to use credit repair as an alternative to bankruptcy, Sky Blue Credit will redirect you to credit counseling, debt settlement, or other options.

Exceptional 90-day refund policy

Sky Blue Credit offers a condition-free, 90-day refund policy and satisfaction guarantee. It's really impressive: any time in the first 90 days after enrollment, all you have to do is tell the company why you're not satisfied, and you'll get a refund for what you've paid so far. That's it: no exceptions, no exclusions, no big hoops to jump through. You won't find any other credit repair company that offers such an ironclad, risk-free guarantee.

Clients absolutely love this company

And, as you might expect, this credit repair service has an exceptional reputation. Not only does Sky Blue Credit have an "A+” rating from the Better Business bureau, but there were only 3 complaints filed with the BBB in the last three years. That's almost unheard of in any industry, not just credit repair. Better yet, in most places we looked, Sky Blue Credit's reviews were almost always a perfect 5 stars. One person pointed out that the person with whom they spoke didn't try to oversell them; instead, when the rep determined that this wasn't going to be the right path for the customer, they pointed her in another direction. Another raved about the fact that they got a call from Sky Blue Credit saying that the client should take a break from paying for services, since their credit situation had reached "optimal” status - imagine that, a credit repair company that doesn't keep billing you indefinitely! A third client, who works as a mortgage lender and frequently has to refer prospective homebuyers to credit repair services, said that he was so impressed with his personal experience here that he'll refer all of his future clients to Sky Blue Credit. It's hard to find anyone with something bad to say about this company, and we love that.

#1 credit repair service by far

You'll have no problem understanding why Sky Blue Credit remains at the top of our list for another consecutive year. Everything about this credit repair service conveys trust and ease, from the easy-to-navigate website to the hand-in-hand approach to client support. This company delivers on its promises, and so we can't recommend Sky Blue Credit any more highly. If credit repair is on your urgent to-do list, this 5-star service should be your first pick.

Credit Saint

• 3 tiers of service, priced from $79.99 to $139.99/month
• First work fees of $99 to $195
• 90-day refund policy (if you qualify)
• "A-” rated and accredited by the BBB
• In business since 2004

Credit Saint's tagline is "#1 for a reason”, named by some top financial sites as the best in the credit repair industry. Will you put them at the top of your list? Maybe. They've been working with clients since 2004, using a multi-faceted approach to tackling credit issues and helping people understand how to improve and maintain their scores.

Choose from 3 tiers of service

There are three packages to choose from at Credit Saint, and they're ranked by their overall aggressiveness towards the "repair work” you need done:

• Credit Polish ($79.99/month, $99 first work fee): this is considered the "medium” aggressiveness tier. It includes challenges to the three credit bureaus (but not unlimited), credit score tracker and analysis, creditor intervention letters, access to educational content, online chat from 9a-7p EST Monday-Friday, and Saint Legal Watch
• Credit Remodel ($109.99/month, $99 first work fee): at the "high” level of aggressiveness, you get the same benefits as the Polish plan, as well as inquiry targeting, a personalized guide to building your credit, one-bureau credit report and score, and real-time account sync
• Clean Slate ($139.99/month, $195 first work fee): this is the most aggressive tier and the right one if you're trying to qualify to buy a home; services include all of the benefits of the first two plans, as well as unlimited challenges to all 3 credit bureaus, reports and scores from all 3 bureaus, rent-to-own program through Pathway Homes, and Acqualify Loan Readiness Program enrollment

90-day money-back guarantee (if you qualify)

All services at Credit Saint come with a 90-day money-back guarantee. You'll have to be an active participant in the program at day 90, and if Credit Saint hasn't been able to remove any questionable items from your credit report in the first 90 days, you can get a full refund. There are some terms and conditions, though. You have to request the refund audit between 91-120 days from the receipt of your first payment, and then you have to give them 30 days to check out your account. You also need to have proven your identity (with a copy of your DL or SS card) within 5 days of signing up for services, and you can't have added any new negative items to your report since you started as a Credit Saint Client. Got all that?

Positive customer reviews

The Better Business Bureau thinks pretty highly of Credit Saint, awarding an "A-” rating and accreditation. At the time of our review, this credit repair company had 57 complaints filed with the BBB in the last three years, but over 130 reviews left there that averaged a noteworthy average of 4.26/5 stars. And, in most other places we look, Credit Saint gets roughly the same score. For example, on Trustpilot, Credit Saint carried an average of 4.7 out of 5 spanning 500+ reviews.

But the reviews are tough to interpret

However, we noticed in those reviews that they were mostly from people who'd had a great initial encounter over the phone, but who didn't necessarily have experience with the credit repair service after signing up. (It was almost like they were going to get a discount for leaving a positive review, but we didn't see anything that would confirm such a practice.) On the other hand, we found a bunch of negative reviews that were clearly fake - because they were promoting a competitor, using almost the same wording.

Solid choice for credit repair

It's frustrating not being able to trust so many of the reviews we found, so we're going to lean into the Better Business Bureau's take and say that overall, Credit Saint has a good reputation and can safely be considered for your credit repair needs. We love their overall structure and we're huge fans of that 90-day refund policy, stipulations aside. This is one of our top picks for credit repair, and you should check out what Credit Saint can do for you.

Credit Firm

• $49.99/month for individuals, $89.99/month for couples
• No "first work” fee or fees for credit reports
• Unlimited challenges and other services
• Available in all 50 states + Puerto Rico
• In business since 1997

Credit Firm was founded by a team of attorneys who specialize in consumer credit and FCRA violations, and they've been working with clients like you since 1997. As with most credit repair providers, they start you out with a no-cost consultation to determine how they can best help you move forward in your current financial situation.

All-inclusive credit repair for less than $50/month

Credit Firm has the most straightforward, affordable pricing of any credit repair service we've found. You'll pay $49.99/month as an individual or $89.99/month as a couple. That's it. There's no "first work” fee (a one-time setup cost), and there's no limit to the number of services you get for that monthly fee. So, to be clear, at that monthly price, Credit Firm provides the following:

• Personal credit consultant
• Online portal access
• Legal in-depth credit audit
• Unlimited credit bureau challenges
• Unlimited procedural compliance verification
• Unlimited inquiry challenges
• Unlimited personal info variation challenges
• Unlimited goodwill interventions
• Unlimited debt validation
• Unlimited escalated info requests

You're not locked in long-term

If you become a Credit Firm client, you should see changes start happening within 30-45 days, and your credit score should increase after the 90-day mark. There's no long-term contract here, so you can stay a client for as long or little as you prefer: if you get the results you need in two months, fantastic. But, Credit Firm says that their typical client gets the results they're looking for in about 6-8 months. One thing we like about how this credit repair service operates is that if they feel they've done everything they can to improve your score, or they've removed all derogatory info from your credit report, they'll cancel the monthly service themselves. It's great to see a company that doesn't lock you into endless monthly payments.

Client feedback is unclear

But, Credit Firm's reputation is... confusing. We found multiple company listings and addresses registered with the Better Business Bureau, with ratings ranging from a "C-” to an "A+”. Feedback on Trustpilot is similar - some clients are huge fans and others, not so much - averaging 2.8 stars out of 5 across nearly 50 reviews. The overall quantity of feedback for CreditFirm has also decreased since our last evaluation; in some places, the reviews were fantastic but also 1-2 years old or more.

Annoying typos

And, we're sticklers for grammar and spelling, and Credit Firm had some typos that caught our attention. Is it the worst thing ever? No, of course not, but it detracts from your professional image when you say you have helped your "client's remove... judgements”. Maybe if the website hadn't gone two years without an update (per the site copyright date as of the time of this evaluation), things like that would have been cleaned up.

Still worth considering on price alone

However, when rivals are charging hundreds of dollars per month, Credit Firm still lands higher-than-average on our list for being so affordable. Also, most competitors' services come with caps on the number of disputes and challenges they'll do on your behalf. Credit Firm's all-in-one approach is a great alternative, and we encourage you to see if they're a good fit for the credit relief you're searching for.

The Credit People

• 3 tiers to choose from: Standard ($99/month), Premium ($119/month, and Premium Flat Rate (one-time fee of $599)
• Over 1.4 million negative items removed for clients
• "Unbeatable” satisfaction guarantee
• Possible score increase of 50-100 points
• In business for over 20 years

The Credit People believes that, for most people, "better credit awaits”. So far, they've removed almost 1.5 million negative items from the credit reports of over 100,000 clients, and they claim that you can expect an estimated credit score increase of 50-100 points (with all the industry-standard disclaimers that "your mileage may vary”). Their credit repair services are laser-focused on getting your score higher, going beyond the usual disputes and interventions to take whatever actions will help you boost that number.

3 options for pricing

You've got three separate options with The Credit People: Standard service at $99/month, Premium service at $119/month, or Premium Flat Rate where you pay for six months of service upfront at a discount ($599 for 6 months). We're guessing that most people opt for either of the pay-as-you-go plans, but we appreciate the value of getting the top tier of service at a discount and only having to make one payment (instead of a subscription you may or may not remember to cancel someday).

Lots of services included

What will you get when you sign up here? All packages include monitoring of and unlimited challenges to the three credit bureaus, plus "before and after” credit scores there as well. With the two Premium options - since they're the same service, just packaged as pay-as-you-go or upfront - you'll also get refreshed scores and reports monthly for all 3 bureaus, escalated disputes and validations after each cycle, and creditor interventions.

Fantastic satisfaction guarantee

The Credit People want you to feel confident in their services, so they provide an "unbeatable” satisfaction guarantee. What does that entail? You can cancel at any time (standard operating procedure, really) and not only will they not charge you for that month, they'll give you a refund for the previous month too. Or, if you opt for the flat-fee plan, your full six months are risk-free and refundable. Sounds great to us!

Take the BBB rating with a grain of salt

We weren't super-excited to see a "C+” rating from the Better Business Bureau, especially since there were just 6 complaints filed against The Credit People in the last three years. The BBB says that the rating is due to concerns about the industry itself, not necessarily with The Credit People in particular. That doesn't strike us as fair, given the number of rivals on our list who don't get that downgrading just for being in the credit repair business.

Mixed client feedback

But, it is true that this company doesn't have all glowing reviews, either - the average across 19 reviews on the BBB was just 2.42 out of 5, about the same on Trustpilot, a 3.7-star average on ConsumerAffairs, and so on. The one anomaly was on BestCompany, where The Credit People scored an average of 4.3 stars across more than 300 reviews. We were glad to see quite a few compliments for the effectiveness of this service in removing negative items from credit reports.

Above average credit repair service

We're willing to call The Credit People an above-average option for credit repair. The pricing is straightforward, the satisfaction guarantee is solid (though we wouldn't necessarily call it "unbeatable”), and customer feedback is positive enough. You may want to check out its higher-ranking rivals first, but if you land here and decide to use this credit repair service, you'll likely have a good experience.

Pyramid Credit Repair

• 3 plans ranging from $89 to $179 per month + one-time setup fee
• 7-day free trial on all plans
• Free credit report analysis
• Flexible billing (postpone, resume, cancel, or pause anytime)
• "A+” rated by the BBB
• In business since 2011

Pyramid Credit Repair started out helping people fix their credit in more of a DIY style, using self-help software to walk them through the process. Now, they offer a full-service portfolio of credit repair options with the help of over 100 team members who can help you "build credit with confidence”.

Start your journey online

Your best bet here is to start with a free credit analysis. There's no impact to your score, and you can kick it off online. You'll indicate what your biggest pain point currently is with respect to credit - maybe it's a lack of credit approvals or not knowing where to start. They'll ask if you're currently enrolled with another company, and then you can decide if you want to take the next step by having someone reach out or by talking to an agent right away (for the purpose of a 15-minute credit evaluation); we're glad that they also allow people to say, "not interested right now”.

3 plans to consider

When you do finally speak with someone at Pyramid Credit Repair, they'll go over your current financial challenges and see which of their three plans is the best option:

• Bronze Plan ($89/month): includes 3-bureau challenges/disputes, credit score analysis, online tracking portal, and monthly progress reports
• Gold Plan ($129/month): includes all of the Bronze Plan features, plus creditor negotiations, dispute inquiries, debt validation, and credit score tracking
• Platinum Plan ($179/month): includes the features from the first two plans, as well as 24/7/365 support, personalized credit advice, credit building resources, and a debt management plan

Try it for 7 days

We appreciate that all plans come with a free 7-day trial. If you decide you want to continue afterwards, you then pay for your setup fee (which, unfortunately, we couldn't find spelled out anywhere) and for your first month of service, and your team jumps into action on your behalf. Pyramid Credit Repair also offers flexible billing. You can postpone, resume, pause, or cancel your service anytime.

Should see some changes within 30-45 days

How long until you see results? Pyramid Credit Repair makes the same disclaimer as most services about "your mileage may vary”, but most of their clients see positive changes within 30-45 days.

Reputation is trending upward

We're glad to say that, since our last evaluation, Pyramid Credit Repair landed an "A+” rating with the Better Business Bureau, for responding appropriately to the only complaint filed there in the last three years. The BBB listing confirmed that Credit Concierge is an alternate name for this company (but we didn't turn up anything worth reporting when we searched for that too). We're also happy to report that on Trustpilot, Pyramid Credit Repair has an average of 4.6 out of 5 stars, and there were reviews from within the last year praising the service and giving a verbal high-five to one rep in particular for being helpful and easy to work with.

Solid service

Pyramid Credit Repair gets a bump in our ratings, from "below average” to a "we'd consider it” score. While we still wish there were more client reviews to be found, and we'd prefer that they spell out their "first work” fee somewhere easy to find on the website, we're reassured by the feedback we did see that this is a legitimate credit repair service. You'd probably want to keep Pyramid Credit Repair as a backup choice if one of its lower-priced and higher-ranked rivals doesn't meet your needs for some reason, but it's not a bad option in itself.

Lexington Law

• $139.95/month
• 50% discount on your first work fee when you sign up with a friend or family member
• Cancel anytime
• In operation since 2004

As you'd rightly conclude from the name, Lexington Law is a firm with lawyers and paralegals who specialize in credit repair. Since its start in 2004, the company has sent out over 221 million challenges and disputes for their clients; in one year alone, over 7 million negative items were removed from client credit reports.

Sign up for a free consultation online... maybe

In theory, you can sign up for a free consultation through the Lexington Law site. However, when we tried to go through that process recently, we were told that the first two email addresses we entered couldn't be verified (and we're still not sure what exactly that means). You're consenting to a soft pull on your credit, by the way, so keep that in mind if you offer up your birthdate and full social security number (but read on to see why we don't recommend it).

Save 50% if you sign up with someone else

Your other option is to fill out your information and sign up online right away. You can save 50% on your first work fee if you sign up with a friend or family member; just check that box during the signup process. The amount that you're charged either way is essentially the payment for your first month of service, and your next monthly fee will be billed a little over a month later.

Everything included in one monthly fee

We had to pop open a chat with Lexington Law just to get the specifics on their one-size-fits-all, $139.95/month credit repair service; details on the site weren't exactly forthcoming with how many actions they'll take on your behalf over the course of a month. We're glad to report that we got a response within a minute (after "talking” to the bot for a few minutes first), and here's what the rep confirmed is on offer here:

• Credit Repair features
• Bureau Challenges include up to 8 per cycle to both Equifax and TransUnion and up to 3 per cycle with Experian
• Creditor Interventions include up to 6 per month
• Inquiry Assist
• Credit features
• Report Analysis
• Report Watch Alerts
• Daily TransUnion® Credit Monitoring
• TransUnion® FICO Score monthly
• Identity Theft Perks
• Up to $1,000,000 coverage
• Financial Tools
• Debt Handler Tool
• Junk Mail Reducer
• Money Smart Alerts

We're not sure it's worth the monthly fee to get those services. They're a lot more expensive than many of Lexington Law's rivals, and at that price, we'd be expecting unlimited challenges and disputes.

Lawsuits and penalties and fines, oh my

However, our biggest hesitation is this credit repair company's reputation. Lexington Law wasn't all that high up on our list last time, but we at least felt comfortable giving them a 3-star rating. Not anymore. In the time since our last evaluation, this credit repair company was the subject of a lawsuit filed by the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau: the court ruled that Lexington Law (and another company on our list, Credit Repair) broke the law to the tune of a $2.7 BILLION penalty, and they're banned from using telemarketing as a sales tool for a whopping ten years. (FYI, that's also why you might have a hard time getting anyone on the phone at Lexington Law, especially if you're not a client yet.) So, yes, that's why the Better Business Bureau has Lexington Law's profile as "being updated”, and we're thinking it's not going to be a pretty picture when they're done.

Recent client feedback is bad

But, just to double-check, we looked for feedback from Lexington Law clients, outside of the BBB and the reporting on the lawsuit (and the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case filed by Lexington Law). Still not good. The summary of the comments we read is essentially "This company used to provide decent service, but this is now a waste of time and money.”

Not a credit repair service you can count on

We can't count on Lexington Law to provide trustworthy credit repair service - not after they had to lay off hundreds of employees and "shut down about 80% of their business, including their call centers” (as reported to the CFPB). Along with its affiliated company Credit Repair, Lexington Law gets a lower rating (and just barely that).

Credit Repair

• Plans ranging from $49.95 to $119.95 per month
• No "first work” fees
• Save 50% on the first month's fees when you sign up with a friend or family member
• In business since 2012

Credit Repair has helped over 850,000 members since 2012. In just one recent year, they removed over 750,000 items from credit reports. Over 75% of their past members saw their credit score improve by an average of 40 points in just six months.

Not available in all 50 states

But first, a downside: Credit Repair isn't available in all 50 states. We confirmed via chat that, when you see a mention of Lexington Law in the signup, it's because this service refers people to that one (which we reviewed separately here) in states where Credit Repair doesn't operate. There's no list that we could find on the website to say which states are a go, so you'll just have to try yours and see.

Free online credit evaluation

You can also do a free online credit evaluation by entering your name, phone, address, and zip code. It'll do a soft pull on your credit, but you'll get your credit score, a negative item summary, and a recommended credit repair solution by doing so.

4 tiers of service

How much will your recommended solution cost? It was a little irritating to have to go to live chat just to get pricing for Credit Repair's services. But, here's what we were told (and we'll give Credit Repair points for responding quickly there during regular business hours):

• $49.95/month
• Bureau Challenges include up to 4 per cycle to both Equifax and TransUnion and up to 3 per cycle with Experian
• Creditor Interventions include up to 2 per month
• Comparative Alerts
• FICO score using information from TransUnion quarterly
• Identity Theft Perks: up to $25,000 coverage
• $69.95/month
• Bureau Challenges include up to 6 per cycle to both Equifax and TransUnion and up to 3 per cycle with Experian
• Creditor Interventions include up to 3 per month
• Comparative Alerts
• FICO score using information from TransUnion quarterly
• Identity Theft Perks: up to $25,000 coverage
• $99.95/month
• Bureau Challenges include up to 6 per cycle to both Equifax and TransUnion and up to 3 per cycle with Experian
• Creditor Interventions include up to 3 per month
• Inquiry manager
• Comparative Alerts
• Score Analysis
• Report Watch Alerts and advice
• FICO score using information from TransUnion quarterly
• Identity Theft Perks: up to $25,000 coverage
• $119.95/month
• Bureau Challenges include up to 8 per cycle to both Equifax and TransUnion and up to 3 per cycle with Experian
• Creditor Interventions include up to 6 per month and includes cease and desist letters
• Inquiry manager
• Comparative Alerts
• Score Analysis
• Report Watch Alerts and advice
• FICO score using information from TransUnion quarterly
• Identity Theft Perks: up to $1MM coverage
• Financial Alerts

No first work fee, save when joining with a friend

You'll be able to save 50% on your first month's fees if you sign up with a friend or family member. Just remember to choose the Friends & Family option as you set up your account. Also, there's no "first work” fees here: you pay your first monthly fee and that's that.

Under scrutiny from the BBB

We'd love to tell you what Credit Repair's grade is with the Better Business Bureau - but, at the time of our visit, the BBB only said that "this business profile is being updated”. Hard to say if that's a positive or negative, so you may want to check for yourself. Credit Repair displays an "overall rating” of 4.6 stars across more than 13,000 reviews, but they were all over a year old (and, of course, possibly curated by the company itself; when we clicked on the link that should have taken us to the Google reviews, we got a 404 error).

Recent feedback isn't pretty

Going over to Trustpilot, it's not good news for Credit Repair (and may be an indicator of why the BBB is reevaluating the company). Across 628 reviews there, this service earns an average of just 1.7 stars. And, most of the feedback from within the last year or so is negative to the tune of just one-star ratings. Clients rant about it being difficult to talk with an actual person at Credit Repair, struggling to reach anyone via the recommended channels of email/portal/live chat. (Interestingly, when we reached out through the toll-free number, the message said that Credit Repair no longer provides phone support prior to becoming a client. No free phone consultation here.)

Lawsuits and telemarketing bans = bad news

Then, when we went looking for a connection with Lexington Law, we found that both credit repair services had lawsuits filed against them by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2023, and they were both banned from using any telemarketing to sell their credit repair services... for ten years. (Well, now we know why they can't talk on the phone with prospective clients...) The court levied penalties and fines in the billions against both companies, just so you're aware.

Not recommended

Credit Repair has taken a nosedive in our rankings. The company seems to be offering less robust services now (especially referring new clients to the website instead of working with them over the phone), and recent feedback from members is largely negative. We like that there's pricing under $50/month, and we were happy to reach customer service quickly via live chat. However, that's not enough to earn Credit Repair anything higher now. We'd recommend looking at higher-ranking competitors first.

Credit Repair Consultants

• Monthly prices from $79.95 to $109.95
• Free credit audit
• One-time setup fee of $189/individual or $309/couple
• Refund guarantee within first 120 days
• Unlimited customer service
• In business since 2002
• Have worked with over 20,000 clients

Alberto Montes and his team at Credit Repair Consultants have helped over 20,000 clients since 2002. The company is FCRA-certified and a member of the Credit Consultants Association.

Free consultation

Your experience with Credit Repair Consultants starts with a free credit audit. Just click on the sign up link on the website and provide your name, email, goal (become debt-free, purchase a home, and so on), phone number, and focus (fix credit, raise credit score, consolidate debts, start new credit lines). Someone from CRC will reach out to you and work with you to determine if their services are a good fit for your situation.

3 service tiers

From there, you'll work with your CRC rep to determine which of their three plans is the right path to take. They haven't changed much since our last evaluation (and hooray for something that hasn't gone up in price in this economy):

• Standard: starting at $79.95/month, this plan has your CRC team contacting each credit bureau to challenge credit line items
• Premier: starting at $89.95/month, this service includes the benefits of the Standard plan, plus your reps will work directly with creditors and debt collectors
• HomePlus: starting at $109.95/month, this tier is best for anyone who needs ongoing guidance from a licensed professional mortgage specialist; it focuses on credit repair specifically for the purpose of future homeownership

Hefty setup costs

Whichever plan you choose, there's a one-time setup fee of $189 for an individual or $309 for a couple.

Should see results in 45 days, give or take

So, how long should it take to see results if you choose Credit Repair Consultants as your partner? They say that most clients begin seeing results in about 45 days after CRC gets their credit reports, and that they typically reach their credit repair goals after approximately eight months (with all of the standard disclaimers that "every case is different”).

Decent refund policy

Credit Repair Consultants offers a solid service guarantee. If they aren't able to get any negative items removed from your credit report within the first 120 days of being their client, you can get a full refund of your application enrollment fee (minus the $45 it costs them to order your credit reports).

No client feedback to be found

The last time we evaluated CRC, they came up as "Not Rated” by the Better Business Bureau. This time, we couldn't even find a listing with the BBB. The company's reviews on Facebook had the same problem as before: they're all related to investment schemes and work-from-home "offers”, but nothing related to credit repair. At least there were posts there from the current year, so we know that Credit Repair Consultants isn't completely out of business - despite the fact that the "recent posts” on the site are from 2021.

Still earns a lower rating

There's just nothing that moves the needle for us in this re-evaluation of Credit Repair Consultants. We don't see anything that has changed since the last time, the site has even more typos than we noticed before (like "Credit Repair Consults” and "Call or credit experts”), and no client feedback that confirms that CRC is working with very many people these days.

The Credit Pros

• 3 plans to choose from (2 that focus on credit repair)
• 60-day satisfaction guarantee
• Available in all states except ME, KS, MN, OR
• "A+” rated by the BBB
• In business for 14+ years
• Over one million clients

Based in Florida, The Credit Pros have served over a million clients in the last 14+ years. They work in all but four states (ME, KS, MN, OR) to help people bring their credit scores up by getting negative items deleted; some clients have seen scores go up in just two weeks.

2 main credit repair plans

There are three overall plans at The Credit Pros, but the first one (Money Management, $69.99/month + $119 first work fee) doesn't offer any features specific to credit repair: it's focused on tracking your credit report and score at one bureau, reminding you to pay your bills, and creating a debt payoff and budgeting system. But, here's what you can expect from the two other plans on offer:

• Prosperity ($129/month, $129 first work fee)
• Unlimited disputes with all 3 credit bureaus
• Creditor interventions
• Cease & Desist letters
• Letters of Reference
• Access to all 3 credit bureau reports and scores
• ID Cover dark web monitoring
• TransUnion fraud alerts
• Real-time account sync
• Bill reminder system
• Debt payoff and budgeting system
• Success Plus ($149/month, $149 first work fee)
• All the benefits of the Prosperity plan
• Credit builder program: up to a $5,000 tradeline to shop on the National Credit Direct website

We encourage you to read up on the details, especially on that credit builder program - we've seen some comments that make us wonder if that's actually a good thing, or if it's worth adding an extra $20/month to an already expensive service.

Limited 60-day satisfaction guarantee

There's no delay in billing here like you might see with some services: you pay your first work fee right when you sign up. To counter that a bit, The Credit Pros have a 60-day satisfaction guarantee, but it's not exactly what you might be thinking. If you're unhappy with their service after the 60-day mark, they'll extend your service by two more months at no additional cost. To us, that sounds like, "If we haven't done a great job in the first two months, we'll continue doing a not-great job for two more months”. Maybe that's harsh, but keep reading and you'll see why we might get that impression.

"A+” from the BBB

The Better Business Bureau gives The Credit Pros an "A+” rating. So, despite having 60+ complaints filed there over the last three years, the BBB thinks that this credit repair company is doing its best to handle those issues properly and promptly.

Trouble is brewing

We also took a look at reviews for The Credit Pros, both on the BBB (154 reviews, 3.87-star average) and Trustpilot (an alert for having reviewed a number of fake reviews, so no score available due to breaching the site guidelines). That led us to our discovery, as published by Fortune, Business Insider, and others, that The Credit Pros is facing multiple lawsuits for violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by sending texts and making sales calls without consumers' consent. These kinds of lawsuits are popping up within the credit repair industry, but it's too soon to say how it's going to affect The Credit Pros' ability to do business going forward: rival services with similar lawsuits found themselves banned from telemarketing for 10 years (!), and then faced big layoffs and shut-downs, so it's not hard to imagine that happening for this credit repair company too.

Negative feedback from recent clients

And, where we did find reviews that we're pretty certain were legitimate within the last few months, they were extremely negative. Clients had problems with signing up to canceling and everything in between. We found it mentioned more than once that the customer service team is outsourced, and that included dispute letters that weren't exactly professionally written.

Not worth your time or money

The BBB's "A+” rating is the only thing keeping The Credit Pros off the bottom of the proverbial barrel here. We can't find a single other thing that would lead to a recommendation that you use this credit repair service, and we strongly suspect that our future evaluation will be even worse than this one. Skip The Credit Pros and go with a repair service that doesn't have any pending lawsuits.

Credit Monkey

• 6 credit repair plans
• Pricing ranges from $99.99 to $499.99 per month
• Available everywhere but PA
• In business since 2019

In operation since 2019, Credit Monkey serves clients in every state but Pennsylvania. They jump in right away with some big statements like "Start to Instantly Increase Your Credit Score Up to 120 Points!” While we'd like to tell you more about this credit repair service, they're pretty opaque about who they are and how they work - even the "Meet the Team” page on the website makes vague references to their "credit repair team” but never discloses who's at the helm and what their qualifications are. Are you starting to see why this credit repair option is still at the bottom of our list?

Website is out of date and full of typos

For a while, we wondered if Credit Monkey was still in operation. During our most recent visit, the site copyright was two years out of date, and even the "reviews from happy customers” posted by Credit Monkey were several years old. (For what it's worth, we also didn't find evidence of the supposed 13,273+ reviews on Facebook, 12K+ on Yelp) And, the website still has all of the weird typos and formatting issues we noticed last time. It's just not an online platform that inspires much confidence in the credit repair services being offered.

6 (expensive) credit repair plans

But, since we did find client comments left within the last year, we'll go ahead and tell you what Credit Monkey does seem to be offering now with respect to credit repair. There are six plans you can choose from:

• Plan A ($99.99/month): removes up to 5 negative items and includes up to 5 active credit cards and can tackle collections plus late payments on credit/store cards. Comes with $1MM in ID fraud insurance and "ID The Alerts” (a typo we think was supposed to say "Theft Alerts”).
• Plan B ($159.99/month): removes up to 10 negative items. The rest of the benefits are the same as Plan A.
• Plan C ($199.99/month): includes the same benefits as Plans A and B but also comes with "Inquires” (and Credit Monkey doesn't go into detail on what that entails).
• Plan D ($299.99/month): all of the benefits of A-C, plus public records/judgments and late car loan payments.
• Plan E ($399.99/month): expands the benefits of A-D by adding help with tax liens, medical bills, bankruptcy, and any other negative public items. Credit Monkey includes a $5,000 credit line on this plan, but again, stops short of explaining that feature.
• Plan F ($499.99/month): this top tier comes with a $10,000 credit line and adds mortgages to the credit relief services.

Confusing guarantee

Credit Monkey leaves us absolutely mystified with its "Glorious Risk-Free Guarantee”. It's a 90-day satisfaction guarantee - and yet the terms say you have to work "in good faith” with Credit Monkey for at least six months, and you can get a refund if "3 or less items” have not been removed within the first three dispute cycles. What?! Do the math and you'll see that at a minimum, you'll put in nearly $600 before you're eligible for any kind of guarantee. And how does "90 days” work if you have to be a client for at least 180 days?

Terrible reputation

Unsurprisingly, there's nothing about Credit Monkey's reputation that gives us much peace of mind. While we're happy to see an improvement in the service's listing with the Better Business Bureau - from a "C” to a "B+” - the number of complaints and negative reviews also increased since our last evaluation. Not only do all of those comments express outrage over how much they paid here and got so little progress for it, but they almost always talk about the unprofessionalism of Credit Monkey's representatives. What really disturbed us was seeing how, in response to complaints filed with the BBB, Credit Monkey pushed the client to remove their complaints in order to get a refund - holding it over their head. No, good sirs (or madams?), if the client is eligible for a refund, they have every right to complain until said refund is received! That's pretty shady, in our book.

At the bottom of the barrel

The first time we evaluated Credit Monkey, we thought that maybe they were just really new and still working out some of the kinks; we were optimistic that we'd see improvements going forward. Nope. We can't find a single reason to even take Credit Monkey up on its offer of a free consultation, not when there are so many rivals within the credit repair industry doing a better job. Credit Monkey earns our lowest possible rating.