Did you know that helping yourself repair your own credit may be the best option you have? You see ads for credit repair agencies in newspapers, on TV, and on the Internet. Radio jingles, flyers in the morning mail. Even calls from telemarketers doubling their products. They all make the same claims:

or “Credit problems? Don’t worry, we can help!”

or “We can erase your bad credit – yes, we guarantee it 100%.”

or “Create a new credit identity – legally, without breaking the law.”

or “We can remove judgments, bankruptcies, liens and bad loans from your credit file forever! Leave it with us!”

But, you should simply not believe these statements. Save your money, do yourself some good. With a little conscious effort, time, and a personal debt repayment plan, you’ll improve your credit score and your future ability to borrow.

Every day, businesses across the country attract consumers with bad credit. They promise, for a fee, to clean up your credit report so you can go out and buy all the good stuff again. A new car, a fancy vacation, home improvements, a mortgage, insurance, and even a job. Your credit is vital as it seems to your very existence.

The ‘credit repair’ business is big business! They seem to ‘know the score’, no pun intended! But the truth is, they can’t deliver. Most of these companies, instead of repairing or eliminating your bad credit history, simply run off with your money. Yes, really scary.

Be careful though…

If you decide you’re interested in a credit repair offer, you may want to pay attention to these tips beforehand:

or companies that will only provide credit repair services to you after you have paid them for their service.

or companies that would rather avoid informing you of your legal rights and that many of the options you have are actually free.

or companies that even recommend that you not contact a credit reporting company directly.

or companies that go so far as to suggest that you try to come up with a “new” credit identity, and then a new credit report, requesting and using an employer identification number instead of what you know you should be using, your Social Security.

or companies that ask you to follow illegal advice and commit fraud by first disputing all the information on your credit report, misrepresenting the truth, or taking any action that seems illegal, such as creating a new credit identity, which yes, is totally fraudulent.

Providing false information when applying for a credit card or loan, misrepresenting your Social Security number, or requesting your employee identification number under false pretenses are federal crimes. Don’t even go that way.

The good news is that under the Credit Repair Organizations Act, credit repair companies cannot require you to pay until they have completed the services they promised you.

be careful when using a credit repair agency; often not everything is what it seems to be.