Many credit repair companies make very bold promises to vastly improve your credit score.  However, not all credit repair agencies are legitimate businesses, and much of the work they do can be done yourself.  Here are a few things to consider before credit repair.

1.)  Never use a credit repair agency that offers you a clean slate.  Generally, these companies will create business identification numbers for you to circumvent the law.  Others are simply lying and will simply fail to do what they promise.

2.)  Repairing credit is something you can do yourself.  Armed with your credit reports from all three agencies, you can review and dispute credit report errors online or by phone.  The dispute process will take at least a few weeks per item.  However, its worth trying to do it yourself first before shelling out money to a credit repair company.

3.)  Use a credit card designed to rebuild credit.  If your credit problems are due to mistakes you have made in the past, getting a credit card for bad credit that reports to all the credit bureaus is one of the best ways to build credit.  However, these cards often come with high fees, so you may want to look into getting a secured card instead.

4.)  Consider contacting a lawyer.  A lawyer may provide you better guidance on repairing your credit than a credit repair agency.