
Transfer your balance: If you are carrying a balance on your credit cards, you can kill two birds with one stone. If you transfer your balance to a new balance transfer credit card, you can increase your overall credit limit while also being able to pay down your credit card balance. Even better, find a credit card that offers a 0% intro APR for up to 14 months so you will have time to pay down your balance without being charged extra interest on it. These are some good all-around credit cards with a 0% intro APR for balance transfers.
The cost varies based which path you take through the credit repair process. If you do it yourself, you can repair your credit for free. Professional credit repair services tend to have setup fees plus monthly administration fees. The setup fee is typically around $15-20 to obtain your credit reports and review them. Then you pay a monthly fee while they make disputes on your behalf. This fee is generally around $80-$120 per month. Credit repair software generally has a one-time cost that ranges from $30-$399.
If you find an error on all three credit reports, you’ll have to dispute it separately with each credit bureau, as they’re run separately from one another. You’ll also have to file a separate dispute for each error you find. (Here’s more on dealing with multiple errors on credit reports.) You can dispute these errors on your own for free, or you could consider hiring a reputable credit repair company or credit counselor to help.


There is one other path through the credit repair process that often gets billed as a “happy medium.” Credit repair software claims to reduce the hassle of free credit repair and avoid the higher cost of a “concierge” credit repair service. Credit repair software has a one-time cost that generally ranges from $30-$399. They generally give you a nice dashboard to track disputes and template letters to use so you can file them.
