The fastest credit repair companies largely depend on the definition of “fast.” One part of the process that isn’t under the control of credit repair companies is how long the credit bureaus take to respond to disputes. The credit bureaus are legally allowed a 30-day window to respond to disputes. No credit repair company can legally dispute this. What varies between credit repair companies is how rapidly they file disputes, and how aggressively they follow up on them. This report takes a look at what determines the speed of credit repair companies and how five different companies stack up against each other based on this factor. The report takes a look at a company that provides continuous and ongoing credit repair services instead of a company that relies on a ticket or queue system.

What actually makes Credit Repair Faster or Slower

Before evaluating any company on speed, it helps to know what's actually controllable:

• Not controllable by any company: The 30-day window bureaus have to investigate a dispute under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. No provider can legally shorten this.

• Controllable: how fast they file the first round. Some companies batch disputes on a schedule; others file as soon as the audit is complete.

• Controllable: how quickly they escalate if a bureau doesn't respond or an item isn't removed. A company that waits weeks to notice a non-response is functionally slower than one monitoring actively.

• Controllable: how much of the process happens in parallel. Disputing across all three bureaus simultaneously is faster than working through them one at a time.

• Controllable: how quickly they respond to you. A strategist who answers within a day moves your case along faster than a call-center queue with multi-day response times.

Using this criterion, let's compare these five companies.

1- Heads Up Financials

There are a few elements of Heads Up Financials that increase the speed of the process. Clients of the company work with the same financial strategist during the entire duration of the 6-month mentorship. Thus, there is no inter-department hand-off and/or case reassignment. The same person conducts the audit and follows up on case progress. The company's service resolves disputes with all three credit bureaus at the same time. Finally, the mentorship service has built-in case progress review to check on case status, as opposed to relying on the client to take the next case step.

They don’t sugarcoat anything, and it’s clear that the length of their program is based on strategy, not an estimate of when something will happen. Participants in the program will go through an audit, resolve disputes, work on building business credit, and create a funding strategy. It takes the bureaucratic process time, and clients are asked to anticipate that the removal of negative information will take the usual length of time that the credit bureaus take to respond to requests. 

Heads Up Financials has not made public any data that provides a basis for comparison of removal times with other companies. For removal of negative information as quickly as possible, what is the company policy on the time that elapses between when the client is served and disputes are filed? What is the company policy regarding a bureau’s failure to respond to a dispute?

2- Credit Saint

Credit Saint’s three-tier service also incorporates an escalating policy on disputes. If disputes are not successful in the first round, a client is not required to request a new service in order to file a dispute in a subsequent round. Credit Saint will take action to remove negative information within 90 days of the first request, or a client will receive a refund.

3- Sky Blue Credit

Sky Blue also has a policy to take action to remove negative information within 90 days of the first request. Like Credit Saint and Heads Up Financial, Sky Blue also focuses on the removal of negative information and not the number of clients it serves.

4- Lexington Law

Speed is a double-edged sword at Lexington Law. A legal team means more sophisticated disputes can be handled in-house (e.g., debt validation requests, claims for FCRA violations). However, a larger company means more clients and less individualized attention. Smaller companies could provide more personalized service.

5- The Credit People

While a company offering unlimited disputes for six months sounds too good to be true, it’s important to note that a monthly disputes model encourages credit repair companies to take their sweet time. A one-time fee changes a company’s incentive, but not the average time it takes to get a response from the credit bureaus.

The Truth about Fast Credit Repair

In the end, there are just a few things to understand about the industry:

• Federal laws give credit bureaus up to 30 days to respond to disputes. Companies can’t change this.

• Multiple negative entries mean multiple rounds of disputes (if any), since bureaus review reports item by item.

• If a company guarantees removal of negative entries in a time frame less than the 30-day deadline, this means the company is either breaking the law or planning to dispute valid negative entries.

• Three to six months is an acceptable time frame to expect removal of multiple negative items from your credit report.

Questions to Evaluate Processing Speed

• What is the time frame between account creation and the first round of disputes?

• Are disputes sent simultaneously to each of the three credit bureaus?

• What is the next step if a credit bureau doesn’t respond to a request for deletion within 30 days? Is this step done automatically?

• Who will provide client updates? Will client updates be provided by the same person, or will updates be provided by different people?

Frequently Asked Questions

Can companies ensure the deletion of negative items from a consumer credit report and guarantee the results in a specific time frame?

No company can do this. Company policies can’t override the laws of the country.

Why do some companies claim that they can remove negative items from a consumer credit report in less than 30 days?

Marketing strategies that focus on removing negative items from a consumer credit report within 30 days may use processes to expedite disputing and/or requesting deletion that are similar to other companies in the industry.

Does expediting the credit bureau investigation increase with the cost of a company’s service?

No. Company services offer additional products and services at a higher cost.

Will a company’s service process disputes to remove negative items from a consumer credit report faster if a fee is paid?

No. The credit bureau investigation can’t be expedited.