Great credit repair companies act as a “financial coach.” They set their clients up for success by understanding the credit game at a higher level, coaching their clients and putting in the work to get bad credit out of their way, so together they can get valuable results in the client’s financial fitness through improved credit.
Here are questions to ask credit repair companies, and how they should answer.
Qualifications
1. What are your qualifications as a credit repair company?
Of all the questions to ask credit repair companies, this one is absolutely critical as a foundation of trust. There are a few things every credit repair company must have to get started.
- Credibility: The credit repair company should readily provide references and success stories from past clients
- Community: A well-established credit repair company will have good relationships with financial affiliates like mortgage brokers and loan officers
Every credit repair company should be quick to provide answers to this foundational questions about the qualifications of their company to earn new business.
Benefits
Once a prospective client has established a baseline of trust, they will want to know what they will get out of the relationship with the credit repair company.
2. How long will it take to see a marked improvement in my credit score?
This is a great question to ask credit repair companies as it gives insight to how transparent the credit repair company will be.
A credit repair company should never guarantee an improvement in a client’s credit score.
This kind of empty promise should be a red-flag. Good credit repair companies all offer money-back guarantees. It is key for any credit repair company to improve its reputation, build trust, and avoid chargebacks.
That said, a great credit repair company will keep track of the credit scores and improvements through an established credit repair software and business management system to provide a client with some numbers that past clients have experienced.
3. How will you fight the bureaus on my behalf?
People want to know that a credit repair company is providing valuable credit repair services based on a tried and true process. An obvious aspect of credit repair is removing faulty items from the client’s credit report and reducing the financial impact on the client as soon as possible.
A credit repair company needs to answer this question by outlining the process by which they will write effective dispute letters and negotiate with creditors. This is really a question of how the credit repair business’s process benefits the credit repair client, as opposed to just doing it on their own.
Even companies with incredible track records must work within the credit bureau system and cannot guarantee that the system will work with them. Of course a credit repair company should work very hard for their clients to negotiate with creditors on their clients’ behalf.
A great credit repair company will be able to tell a client their strategy for working with creditors and bureaus to get results such as:
- Removing all erroneous information
- 8 out of 10 reports have errors and these should be addressed early on
- 8 out of 10 reports have errors and these should be addressed early on
- Reduce impact on client immediately
- Things like fees, interest, and negative credit marks are all negotiable and should be tackled at the outset
- Concentrate on late payments and other negative reportings from the past 24 months
- Negotiate amount owed
- Credit repair companies can often reduce the total amount owed by up to 50% of the original amount owed through good negotiations with creditors
- Sign on the dotted line
- Credit repair companies need to get all the negotiated fees, interest, and reduction in amount owed from the creditor in writing (which the client absolutely can and should ask to see)
This is a question for a credit repair specialist, so credit repair companies need to know how to answer this with specific, knowledgeable details about the credit repair process.
The Process
Process and timing questions indicate to the credit repair company that the person has moved from a sales lead to a sales prospect. Of the questions to ask credit repair companies, these two are the “closers” and a credit repair company should be prepared with very detailed answers that lead to helping the credit repair prospect as a client.
4. What information do I need to provide to the credit repair company?
Credit repair companies should provide clear, specific items that the person needs to gather.
Examples of items a client will need to provide to get started:
- Access to their credit reports from all three credit agencies (TransUnion, Equifax, Experian) as these will reveal:
- Credit history
- List of all current debts
- Credit utilization rate
- Payment history
- Current and future credit plans
- Buying a car
- Applying for a mortgage
- Co-signing student loans
- Opening a new credit card
- Access to a credit monitoring software login so the credit repair company can continuously keep track of any key changes in the credit score
At this point, the credit repair company will ask the person if they have the items available right now, and if not how long will it take to gather them. At this point a credit repair company will likely schedule an intake session and gather as much information as possible right then and there, or follow up in the next day or two.
Credit repair companies know credit repair clients need their help yesterday, so they will be prepared to move forward quickly to relieve some of the debts’ weight for their clients.
5. How much do I need to be involved in the process of credit repair?
A responsive, dedicated credit repair client is as important to the process of improving credit as a responsive, dedicated credit repair company. As the credit coach, the credit repair company needs to reiterate to the client here that their involvement in the credit repair process is key.
- Advising the client on how they can help speed up the process
A credit repair company can tell clients ways to improve their credit faster by paying down balances, not applying for credit or closing old accounts.
- Supporting documentation
In order to write dispute letters for clients that work, a credit repair company may need the client to gather supporting documentation.
- Forward Correspondence
Many letters are sent on the client’s behalf, and the clients will be receiving all of the replies from the credit bureaus and creditors. It’s very important that you, the client, forward all correspondence to the credit repair company so they can see the responses and plan their next move. This can be as easy as taking a picture of the letters with your phone and forwarding them to the credit repair company.
- Active credit monitoring account
The client must be willing to maintain the credit monitoring account. Just as a doctor must have x-rays to work from, the credit repair specialist must have access to the credit report changes. If a new item appears on the credit report (seen via credit monitoring software) the credit repair company will need to know as soon as possible how to dispute it and if the item is legitimate. The small price for the monitoring is well worth the benefits of improving credit.
- Adaptability
The client will also need to be adaptable in replacing negative credit habits with financial habits that improve credit
Once someone gets the answers to common questions to ask credit repair companies, they will likely feel comfortable partnering with the credit repair company for better credit!
Get trained on how to improve credit and know the answers to these key credit repair questions inside and out!
