How it works
Credit repair is often sold as something proprietary. It is not. Here is exactly what happens, in order, including the parts that are unglamorous.
Step by step
Equifax, Experian and TransUnion each maintain a separate file on you, and a creditor may report to one, two, or all three. That is why an entry can appear on one report and not another. You are entitled to free copies — we point you at the official route rather than a paid monitoring subscription.
This is the slow part and the part that matters. Personal information, account list, payment history, public records, inquiries. We are looking for entries that are wrong, entries that are duplicated, entries that belong to somebody else, and entries that should have aged off already.
Not everything unwelcome is disputable. The standard is whether the information is inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable — not whether it is inconvenient. Filing scattershot disputes on accurate entries wastes cycles and can get a file flagged as frivolous.
Disputes go to the bureau reporting the entry and, where it is the better route, directly to the furnisher who supplied it. Each dispute identifies the entry, states what is wrong, and includes supporting documentation where it exists.
Bureaus generally have 30 days to investigate, extendable in some circumstances. They contact the furnisher, the furnisher checks its records, and the bureau reports back. Entries that cannot be verified must be corrected or removed.
Some entries get corrected. Some come back "verified" and need a different approach or better documentation. Some are accurate and stay. Honest handling of this stage is what separates a real service from one that just re-sends the same letters forever.
Once the file is accurate, the rest is behaviour: paying on time every time, bringing utilisation down, keeping old accounts open, and not opening several new lines at once. This part is slower and it is the part that actually compounds.
A single dispute cycle is roughly a month. A file with several disputable entries usually needs more than one cycle, and some entries need a different approach after the first response. We cannot tell you in advance how many cycles your file will take, and any firm that gives you a confident number before reading your reports is selling, not assessing.
A free consultation, no obligation, and an honest read on whether we can help. If your report is clean and the issue is something else, we'll tell you that.