The best credit repair services set realistic expectations, while taking much of the drudgery out of fixing your credit score. While none of them can perform magic, the best credit repair services can help improve your credit score.

Hundreds of companies offer credit repair services today, but according to the Federal Trade Commission, most of them are scams. If they claim that they can erase bad credit, or guarantee to raise your credit score, you should be very wary.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, you can’t remove accurate and timely negative information legally from a credit report. Even though many of these companies will suggest you dispute all negative entries on your credit report, you do so at your own risk. In most cases, this is illegal, even if you are following their advice.

The best credit repair services will not try to charge you to get your credit reports. By law, everyone is entitled to a free credit report from each of the three credit-reporting agencies (TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax) once every twelve months.

Much of what these companies do are things you can do yourself, however they can often help inform those who may not be aware of all their options. Taking on some of these tasks can help lower fees, or you can chose to do the whole thing yourself.

Besides credit repair services, there are companies called “debt consolidators”. These debt consolidators won’t directly fix your credit, but instead they work with you to help bring your outstanding debt under control - a big step towards long-term credit-worthiness.

Debt consolidators do this by contacting your creditors on your behalf. They will negotiate a ’settlement’ agreement, usually just a fraction of the actual amount owed. The debt consolidator will combine these settlements into a single amount. They will give you an amount within your budget to send them each month, and in turn they send a portion to each creditor.

The best credit repair services can only help those who want to help themselves. They aren’t a “bailout” that erases bad debt like bankruptcy filing, however they can help set you on the road to improving your credit score, and in turn your financial future.

Tags: Credit Score