The major advantage of DIY credit repair is its affordability. The only costs to you would be for postage for any correspondence you mail to credit bureaus, creditors, and collectors; and costs to obtain copies of your credit reports. You may also choose to subscribe to one of the online services which monitor your credit scores on a monthly basis, but this is optional. If you opt to hire a credit repair company, most of them do charge monthly fees, which can vary among different companies but are generally less than $100 per month.

However, repairing your own credit can also be very time-consuming and frustrating. In order to fix your credit yourself, you must first become knowledgeable about the laws that protect your rights as a consumer so that you will have a solid understanding of how to use these laws to your advantage. These laws are the only reason that legal credit repair is possible, so you must know them forwards and backwards before doing anything else. This in itself can require hours of reading and research, which not everyone has the time or patience for.

Also bear in mind that do-it-yourself credit repair can be tricky for most consumers simply because they are not accustomed to dealing with credit bureaus and creditors. It is not unheard of for them to reject legitimate disputes, sometimes more than once. There are many possible reasons for a dispute to be rejected, and a good credit repair company deals with this issue all the time and knows the best way to handle it. This is not to say that you couldn’t handle this yourself with the proper research, but it can be very frustrating and discouraging when your efforts are squashed repeatedly by creditors and credit reporting agencies.

In case you’re curious to know my personal opinion on all this, here it is: Suppose I’m having car trouble. I jump onto the internet and type the symptoms of the problem into the search engine, and the results tell me what is most likely wrong with my car. Now that I know what’s wrong, I could probably do some further research and fix it myself if I choose to–it would certainly cost me less money than if I were to take it to a repair shop. But, it just so happens that I am not a mechanic and have no prior experience repairing cars. Is it still possible for me to fix the car myself? Yes, of course. It is technically possible for anyone to learn to do anything by reading and doing research. But I personally would not feel comfortable attempting this repair myself; it would take me too long to research how to fix the problem, and since I am inexperienced I could break something else or take too long to fix it, leaving me without a car for who knows how long. Since I do have the money to take the car to a shop, I decide to leave the repairs to an experienced mechanic. (Now, maybe my neighbor has more patience than I do, or maybe he truly can’t afford to pay someone else to repair his car if it breaks down. For him, fixing it himself is probably his better, and maybe his only, option.)

The point I am trying to make here is that there really is no solution that is always best for every person under all circumstances. Each option has its pros and cons which you should weigh carefully in order to decide what is best for you. If you have the patience necessary, or if you can’t afford to hire someone else to fix your credit for you, you may want to have a go at doing it yourself. But if you can afford the monthly fees and don’t mind paying for convenience, you might be better off utilizing a credit repair company (just be sure to choose one carefully).

Post from: Credit Repair and Debt Solutions

Do-It-Yourself Credit Repair vs. Credit Repair Services

Related posts:

1. How To Repair Your Own Credit Report – Part 2