Credit Repair Service Reviews

Credit bureaus, also called credit reporting agencies (CRAs), are companies that produce consumer credit reports with information they get from lenders and public records. The three major CRAs in the U.S. are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. CRAs sell your information to companies with whom you've applied for credit.

AnnualCreditReport.com is a website where you can go to get a free credit report from each of the major credit bureaus every year. The site is sponsored by the three major credit bureaus—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—to satisfy a federal law that says you’re entitled to such reports once every 12 months.

Credit card delinquency is a status indicating that your payment is past due by 30 days or more. A delinquency can affect your credit score and impact your ability to get approved for any new credit-based applications.

A charge-off may appear on your credit report when you fail to make payments for several months—usually six months in a row. It occurs when a creditor writes off the debt as a loss in their accounting books, cancels your account, and demands that you pay the past due balance in full.

A credit check is something a lender, bank, or service provider performs when they need to check your financial history. It involves them checking your credit reports for information about your existing and past credit, payment habits, and types of loans so they can assess your risk level as a borrower.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is a federal law that details how consumer credit information can be collected and used. Under the FCRA, consumers have a right to view the information in their credit files and to dispute inaccurate information.

A tradeline on a credit report is a credit account. Credit card accounts, personal loans, and mortgages are all examples of tradelines that would appear on a credit report. Tradelines play a key role in determining an individual’s credit score.

Bad credit is usually defined as a credit score under 580. A person with bad credit is considered a risky borrower, usually due to owing large amounts of money or having a history of unpaid bills and debts. Having bad credit can make it hard to get a credit card, mortgage, or other loans, too.

The Credit Repair Organizations Act is a federal law to protect consumers from dishonest credit repair companies. Among other things, it restricts credit repair companies from lying or advising you to lie about your credit history to creditors, and says you don't have to pay for services in advance.