Free Credit Repair Software
Is It Right For Me?
I need my credit fixed ASAP. But what options are out there and what if I don’t have money to spend? After all I am credit challenged at the moment. Well do not despair – there are some options out there that will allow you to repair your own credit without spending a bunch of money.
Many people would hire a credit repair firm to help them out and that may still be a good idea for people that either do not have any extra time to spend or have the money to spend. Credit repair company fees generally range from $500-$1500 total and your results will vary based on your individual situation.
But you are here searching for the free option and I will not leave you disappointed. The first thing to do is ask yourself a couple of questions to see if using free credit repair software is the right choice for you.
Questions to ask yourself before you start
1) Is fixing my credit important to me? I know this may seem silly at first, but it is the most important question you can ask yourself. If your credit is improved how does it change your life? If your answer is that it will not then you are not likely to diligently and consistently pursue restoring your credit. And it will take some work on your part.
Let’s look at how your credit score might be affecting your life right now.
a) Job. More than half of American companies will pull your credit score as part of their evaluation of you for a position with them. If your score is poor or fair they may very will move onto the next candidate. Your credit will almost always be evaluated for any military jobs and often used in assessing promotions.
b) Home purchase. Most lenders require a 620 mid-score (meaning your middle of your mortgage score of the three credit reporting agencies – Equifax, TransUnion and Experian). If you are below this you may well be turned down for a loan or at the very minimum pay a premium interest rate which could cost you hundred of thousands of dollars more over the life of your loan.
c) Car purchase. While many car dealerships will find a way to finance you even with lower credit scores the price you pay for that financing may make your vehicle cost you many thousands more than it would with a better credit score and maybe the monthly payment may put the purchase out of your reach.
If any of the above are important to you then fixing your credit is really not a choice at all, but something that has to be done.
2) Do I have the time? While restoring your own credit will not take an enormous amount of time, you will have to invest some time upfront and a bit more for a few additional months to get the best results. For some people they are just too busy and it makes more sense to have a credit repair company help you out. But if you have a bit of time, the advantages of doing it yourself are plentiful and definitely worth the effort.
If you answered yes to these questions then free credit repair software could be a great option for you.
Advantages of Fixing Your Own Credit
- No cost. Lots of people pay credit repair companies to help them out and fees generally range from $500-$1500. But a credit repair company does not do anything that you could not do on your own and generally the results will be better if you take the initiative and diligently handle it yourself.
- Expertise in your situation. No one knows your credit issues, causes, errors, etc. better than you do. Most credit reports contain errors in the data they report. In fact according to TBD over 89% of credit reports contain errors. Since it is your credit, you are in the best position to spot these issues and to demand they are corrected or the account be removed from your credit report. Correcting or deleting negative information can have a dramatic affect on your credit score.
- Tailored and personal disputes. Since you know your issues you also in the best position to intelligently dispute your issues and be able to add in specifics about why the information is wrong. Personal disputes are also much more likely to be investigated than ones that look like credit repair cookie cutter dispute language where the credit bureaus will look for every opportunity to just ignore your letter.
At the end of the day you are your own best advocate and you are in the best position to rectify and dispute your credit issues.
Free Credit Repair Software Options and Questions
There are not a lot of options for free credit repair software as too many companies are just out to make a profit on your misery. But there are a few and these are the things to looks for in the software.
- Is it really free? Some software will make you pay monthly or upfront fees to use or to use the better features. Look for something that does not have any of these costs.
- I already have a credit report or credit monitoring – can I just enter the accounts I want to dispute? If you already have a credit report or monitoring service and you want to minimize your expenses then make sure you can just enter your accounts and get started rather than investing in another monitoring service. While using a monitoring service to automatically upload your credit report data obviously save an enormous amount of time and effort and in most cases will be the preferred method to get your data into the software so you can dispute as appropriate you should be able to choose not to if you want.
- Reasonable Credit Monitoring Costs If Needed? If you need or want to utilize the software’s automatic upload make sure the service you need to engage has a reasonable monthly cost ($25 or less). The reality is you will need to obtain monthly updates to your credit report to see how your dispute process is proceeding as the credit bureaus, creditors and collection agency too often will not send you anything in writing indicating if they have made any changes to your credit report or not. This is important and necessary information for you to get the best results.
- Is the software easy to use and does it follow a process? You are probably not a credit repair expert or you would not be looking for outside help. Therefore you want the software to easily guide you through the process and to help you create the personal disputes necessary for your individual situation.
- Is it tied to the credit bureaus? Beware of the dispute tools the credit bureaus provide on their sites. As much as they would like you to believe they you’re your best interests at heart their true customers are the companies that pay for their information about you and the companies that supply the information about you. In any dispute between you and their real customers they will always take their word over yours. The bureaus love when you use their online dispute tools since it is automated and cheaper (no actual person will look at your dispute). Disputing in writing by mail is always better for you.
Go Clean Credit provides a free cloud credit repair app that will allow you to repair your credit your own way while guiding you through the dispute process, letter creation and how to handle the sometimes confusing responses you will get from the credit bureaus, creditors and collection agencies. All at no cost. The software will allow you to import your credit report (either manually or using the automatic upload), review the various negatively reporting items and allow you to decide what and how to dispute them if they are inaccurate or unverifiable. It will help you track your process and can even help you determine if an item might be better handled by an attorney who will handle the case at no out of pocket cost to you. Go Clean Credit has helped tens of thousands of consumers repair their credit since 2003. They have the expertise to help you help yourself.
Ok I am Going to do this – Now What should I Dispute Using the Software?
There are two main issues when it comes to credit reporting information. They are :
- Is the information accurate? The information has to be entirely accurate. This means not only how they are reporting the account (late, charge off, etc) must be right, but so too it needs to be reporting correct balances, dates of delinquency, dates of last activity, open dates, etc. All of this must be correct and you are within your rights to dispute any information that is not correct.
- Is if verifiable? The information reporting must be able to be verified as accurate by the credit bureaus through the creditor/collection companies for the information to be allowed to be kept on your report.
If the information is either inaccurate or unverifiable you are within your rights to demand the information be corrected or removed from your credit report. The software should be able to provide you with the necessary information/view/questions that will allow you to make your own choice of items that are appropriate for you to dispute and quickly allow you to create the disputes needed in your case based on your personal input and situation.
Get It Done
So now you are armed with a bit of knowledge decide on the best path forward for you and get started. You may be only a few months away from better credit and just maybe a better life!