According to the Federal Trade Commission, no person or group can remove accurate or timely information from a credit report. Some credit repair services companies, however, specialize in knowing how to repair credit legally. They do this in a number of ways: by challenging inaccurate or untimely information, striking deals with creditors or collection agencies to help clients settle accounts, removing negative marks, satisfying judgments -- and ultimately managing to repair credit.
All of these services can help you make your credit reports more attractive and raise your credit scores. When people have bad credit, they're less likely to qualify for good rates on credit cards, mortgages and auto loans -- if they qualify at all. Some credit repair agencies, therefore, provide a valuable service -- especially to those seeking to borrow for major purchases.
The 10 Best Credit Repair Companies
GOBankingRates examined 12 major agencies in search of the best credit repair companies and ranked them based on criteria including their fees, services, results and Better Business Bureau ratings. There's no single national credit bureau, but all of the credit repair companies work with the three major credit reporting agencies: Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. For the most part, even the best credit repair companies charge a setup fee up front, as well as a monthly fee.
The best credit repair companies are:
SkyBlue
MyCreditGroup
Ovation
Better Credit Reports
CreditFirm.net
Lexington Law
CreditRepair.com
The Credit People
MSI Credit Solutions
Veracity Credit Consultants
Credit Repair Company
Cost and Fees
Speed of Results
Better Business Bureau Rating
SkyBlue
$59 per month plus setup fee; $99 for couples
Initial results in approximately one month and every month after that
A+
MyCreditGroup
$79 per month
As soon as 30-45 days
A+
Ovation
$59 per month for Essential Plan; $89 per month for Essential Plus Plan; $89 first work fee; $25 one-time, same-day processing fee; $25 one-time fee for identity optimization add-on
As soon as 30-45 days
A+
Better Credit Reports Consulting
$39 initial fee plus $35 for each item deleted
As soon as 15-45 days
A+
CreditFirm.net
$49.99 per month
Within 35 days
A+
Lexington Law
$79.95 per month
Results vary
NR
CreditRepair.com
$99.95 per month, plus $14.99 to pull your credit report
Depends on individual situation
NR
The Credit People
7-day trial $19, then $59 a month; $299 for 6-month membership
Within 30-60 days
C-
MSI Credit Solutions
$30 startup fee, then $98 a month or $69 each for joint enrollment
Within 45-60 days
D
Veracity Credit Consultants
$69 to set up and $49 a month for Select; $99 to set up and $79 a month for Platinum
Approximately 45-60 days
F
See: Here's How Much Debt Americans Really Have
SkyBlue
SkyBlue credit services will dispute five items per bureau -- or 15 items total -- every 35 days, which it claims makes it the fastest in the industry. The company identifies problem points and offers guidance on how to clean up your report and improve your credit score. It also continually petitions each credit bureau to remove problem items.
The SkyBlue credit repair company offers a 90-day guarantee that promises to refund your money in full if you're not completely satisfied, and you can call customer service to cancel at any time with no charge or obligation. There's also a discount for couples, which offers setup and review for $99 and a flat charge of $99 a month.
MyCreditGroup
MyCreditGroup offers personalized plans and petitions not only the credit bureaus, but the original creditor and collection agencies to remove negative items from your credit report. It also promises to settle any accounts it can't get removed outright. Once your report is cleaned up, MyCreditGroup offers ongoing assistance to help you get new cards and build and maintain new credit.
Consultations are free and, in most cases, can achieve tangible results in 30-45 days. The company also offers debt settlement and pay-for-deletion services.
Ovation
Ovation offers same-day service throughout the disputing process, along with expedited dispute letters and expedited creditor letters. Several discounts are available, including 20 percent off the total price for couples. Ovation also rewards you with a $50 credit if you switch from another service, $30 if you refer another customer and $50 if you refer a couple. The 100-percent, money-back guarantee states that you won't be billed for any month that Ovation didn't perform as advertised.
Several discounts are available, including 20 percent off the total price for couples. Ovation also rewards you with a $50 credit if you switch from another service, $30 if you refer another customer and $50 if you refer a couple. The 100-percent, money-back guarantee states that you will not be billed for any month that Ovation didn't perform as advertised.
Better Credit Reports
BCR claims its customers see an average improvement of 76 points on their credit scores when they use its services. Customers pay only for good results and BCR will not take a case if it feels it can't achieve a credit score of at least the high 600s for a client.
The company works to rebuild credit damaged by foreclosure, late payments, judgments, closed accounts, negative settlements, liens and more. It also offers identity theft recovery services and provides a lifetime warranty against reinsertion of any item it removed from your report.
CreditFirm.net
CreditFirm.net promises a legal, in-depth credit audit that assesses not just your credit report and account history, but the legal status of the verification process the credit bureaus use. Customers get unlimited inquiry challenges, procedural request verifications, challenges to personal information, escalated information requests, goodwill interventions, debt validations and credit agency defense.
Although CreditFirm.net recommends retaining its services for at least a year, customers can cancel at any time. Couples can save $10 a month by joining together.
Find Out: Does Checking Your Credit Score Lower It?
Lexington Law
The Lexington Law credit repair company offers more than 25 years of experience in the field and claims to have removed 7.5 million negative items from customer credit reports in 2015 alone. Lexington Law develops individual plans for each customer and claims that, on average, it reduces its clients' negatives by 24 percent -- that's 10.2 items -- within four months.
Customers' spouses are eligible for a one-time, 50-percent discount, and customers who get a friend or family member to sign up within 72 hours get 50 percent off their first work fees.
CreditRepair.com
CreditRepair.com does its work via a three-part process: It checks your report, challenges its contents and changes your score. The company claims that its customers' negatives typically drop by 7 percent every month and that the average customer reports a credit score increase of 40 points in four months. CreditRepair.com achieves this by challenging negative information and providing customers with credit counseling services and other information on how to repair their credit.
Customers who sign up a friend or family member get $50 off their first payments, as does the new customer.
The Credit People
The Credit People expects its customers will see results within 45-60 days. The company fixes errors on reports and mitigates the negative effects of foreclosures, bankruptcies, closed accounts, collections, liens, repossessions and more.
Customers who sign up a spouse for up to three days following their orders get $20 off for both parties. The average repair program lasts six to seven months and customers can choose between a six-month, flat rate of $299 or pay $59 a month after a $19 introductory period.
MSI Credit Solutions
MSI Credit Solutions audits the credit bureaus and the original creditors to help its clients remove negative items from their reports and improve their credit scores. As long as clients meet their obligations, MSI guarantees a minimum of a 50-point increase or it will refund their money.
The $98 monthly fee is reduced to $69 apiece for couples. MSI features a client portal that enables customers to track their progress throughout the process from any device.
Learn: 8 Ways to Raise Your Credit Score in 2017
Veracity Credit Consultants
Veracity Credit Consultants offers live credit experts and consultants ready to review your account and manage your updates. Customers can expect to see results between 45 and 60 days after beginning the process.
There are two fee structures: Select and Platinum. The first requires a $69 signup fee and a $49 monthly fee. Platinum costs $99 to sign up and $79 a month after that. Benefits of the Platinum program include faster processing and, instead of you pulling your own report and sending it to Veracity, the company will pull it for you.
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 10 Best Credit Repair Companies