Best Credit Repair Companies, Ranked

I once had such bad credit that a furniture store wouldn't let me buy a $500 couch. I slowly rebuilt my credit by making payments on time and not overusing my credit card. Now, my score is 780.

That process worked best for me, but some companies exist that can help you with your credit. The legitimate ones can work with your creditors and contact the credit bureaus about mistakes on your credit report.

To be clear, most of them won't do anything you can't do yourself. Instead, you'll pay them to spend the time potentially helping with your credit situation. While there's no guarantee they can improve your credit, here are a few companies that might be able to help.

1. Credit Saint

Credit Saint is listed on many credible financial websites as a beneficial credit repair company. The company also has a 4.8-star rating from more than 12,000 Google reviews and has received an "A" rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB).

Credit Saint has offered credit repair services for 19 years and has a clear, upfront pricing model. You can choose from three different service tiers, with the cheapest costing $79.99 per month.

Some services included in the different tiers involve challenging incorrect information on your credit report, sending letters to creditors, and creating a personalized guide to building credit.

Credit Saint offers a 90-day money-back guarantee if it is unable to delete questionable items from your credit report.

2. The Credit Pros

The Credit Pros is another top-rated credit repair company. It's been in business since 2009 and has an "A+" rating from the BBB.

You have to opt for the $129/month package to receive credit services, such as filing disputes with the three credit agencies, creditor interventions, and letters of reference. It's worth mentioning that the lowest-priced Credit Pros tier, which costs $69 per month, doesn't offer credit repair services.

One unique feature from Credit Pros is a credit builder loan that allows you to pay specified amounts upfront to a lender and then receive the money back. The loan and your payments are then reported to the credit bureaus, helping to improve your credit. This option is only available on the $149/month plan.

Credit Pros offers a 90-day money-back guarantee if the company doesn't get questionable items updated or deleted from your credit report.

3. Sky Blue Credit

Sky Blue Credit is a well-established company that's been around since 1989 and has an "A+" rating from the BBB.

The company offers credit repair services that include credit disputes, creditor interventions, debt validation letters, and a credit builder tool. Sky Blue's lowest-priced tier is $79 per month and offers a more comprehensive credit repair service for $99 per month. There's also discounted pricing for couples.

The company says it specializes in helping customers who are looking to buy or refinance a home. To do so, Sky Blue creates credit strategies focused on how lenders will view an applicant's credit.

Sky Blue Credit also offers a 90-day money-back guarantee. If you're not satisfied with their service, you can get a refund.

This is the cheapest credit repair option

I mentioned this earlier, but it's worth saying again: You don't need to pay a credit repair company to improve your credit.

The cheapest credit repair option is to do the work yourself. It will likely take some time and effort, but you can get started with a few simple steps, including:

• Getting a free credit report
• Filing disputes with the credit bureaus that have errors on your report with them
• Paying your bills on time
• Creating a plan to pay off your debt
• Applying for a secured credit card or a credit-builder loan

All this may seem overwhelming at first, but you can make some big leaps of progress simply by setting up a budget and paying your bills on time, which accounts for 35% of your credit score.

Similarly, paying off some of your debt, even a low balance on one credit card, can go a long way toward improving your credit. Your credit utilization accounts for 30% of your score, so keeping this as low as possible will help improve your score.

I took the self-paced route to building back my credit, and it worked very well -- and I didn't have to pay anyone a dime. If you want to do the same, check out our free guide on how to build credit fast.