The Best Credit Repair Companies of August 2023

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Maintaining a high credit score can help you get approved for loans and qualify for lower interest rates. But even if you pay your bills on time and in full, credit reporting errors can damage your score with lasting repercussions. Disputing these credit reporting errors involves reviewing your credit history, identifying inaccuracies, and gathering evidence to support your claim. A reputable credit repair company can help if that process sounds daunting. However, there are plenty of less-than-reputable credit repair companies out there.

Read on to see our picks for the best credit repair companies, learn what they can and can’t do, and determine whether enlisting their services is a good solution to your credit woes.

The Best Credit Repair Companies of August 2023

• Credit Glory: Best for customer satisfaction
• Essentials Plan: Best discounts
• Prosperity plan: Best for additional services
• Dovly Premium: Most affordable

Compare the Top Credit Repair Companies

Methodology: How We Chose the Best Credit Repair Companies 

We considered numerous factors in our evaluations of credit repair companies. First, the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA) mandates that credit repair services cannot demand advance payment, must provide a contract in writing and disclose certain customer rights, and must allow cancellation with no penalty for at least three business days. Companies that failed to clearly support these regulations were downgraded in our analysis.

There is no accreditation specific to the credit repair industry, so we emphasized reviews from sources like the BBB, Trustpilot, and the CFPB’s complaint database. We looked at the mean score each company received, as well as the ratio of positive to negative reviews. We also looked for patterns among the complaints left in unfavorable reviews.

Finally, we rated credit repair companies according to their fee structures (including the range of potential fees and how transparently they are disclosed in advance), the number of years in operation, guarantees, and cancellation policies.

We also considered any additional features that these credit repair companies provide, such as credit monitoring and identity theft protection services. However, you can get cheaper, higher-quality services elsewhere. Check out our guides for the best credit monitoring and best identity theft protection services here.

Credit Repair Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Best for Customer Satisfaction

Credit Glory

Cost: $299 setup fee and $99 monthly fee

Operating since 2016, Credit Glory helps customers repair a wide range of credit errors, from bankruptcies and collections to names and addresses. The company has credit experts available seven days a week and offers a free phone consultation for you to ask questions and make sure you want to proceed. While Credit Glory should present disclosures more prominently, its FAQ page sets proper expectations about the efficacy of credit repair without overpromising results.

Credit Glory has generated near-unanimous positive customer reviews on Trustpilot, boasting a rating of 4.9 stars out of five, with 99% of over 6,800 reviewers giving the company four or five stars. However, those reviews focus narrowly on the signup process and interactions with agents during the initial consultation, leaving uncertainty about how satisfied customers are with results later in the process. 

The incidence of complaints against Credit Glory filed with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is in line with complaints filed against other companies on this list. The most frequent complaint is dissatisfaction with the results of the service, which is prevalent among all the credit repair companies we researched.

One readily apparent downside of Credit Glory is its high cost. The setup fee of $299 is more than double what the other services on this list charge, though the $99 monthly fee is comparable. The company offers a 100-day money-back guarantee in the event that they cannot remove any inaccuracies or errors, but that guarantee covers only the monthly fee and not the pricey setup fee.

Best Discounts

Ovation Credit Repair 

Cost: $89 first work fee and $79 monthly fee

Operating since 2004, Ovation was acquired by LendingTree in 2018. The company claims to have corrected over one million credit profiles with an average of 19 improvements made per customer. Prior to enrollment, one of Ovation’s analysts conducts a free credit repair consultation and credit report summary with no obligation to proceed. Ovation scores points with us by making its disclosures and policies easy to find, along with contact information that includes direct access phone numbers and emails for different departments.

Ovation’s customer reviews are largely positive, but have a relatively small sample size. The Trustpilot rating of 4.6 comprises fewer than 250 reviews, 92% of which give the company four or five stars. Meanwhile, the company’s BBB profile has an average review of 3.5 from around 100 reviews, with two dozen complaints closed in the previous 12 months. The most common complaints against Ovation point to unsatisfying results and its poor customer service.

Ovation charges a first work fee of $89. Beyond that, the Essentials plan is $79 monthly and covers standard credit repair issues. For $109 monthly, Ovation says the Essentials Plus plan covers more extreme cases and provides faster results, but doesn’t explain how. Discounts are available on both plans for couples, military members, and seniors, and you can get service credits for referring other members and for switching from a competitor. Ovation also offers a refund of the monthly fees during any month the company fails to provide the agreed-upon services.

Read our full Ovation Credit Repair Review here. 

Best for Additional Services

The Credit Pros 

Cost: $119 monthly fee and $119 first work fee

The Credit Pros has been in operation for 14 years and claims to have helped over 100,000 clients in the US. You can schedule a free consultation in English or Spanish, and once enrolled in the program, a Credit Pros specialist will begin addressing inaccuracies on your credit report in three to five business days. Some Credit Pros plans come with additional services like three-bureau credit reports and the option to apply for a credit builder loan.

Client reviews of Credit Pros are largely favorable but, like Ovation, consist of a small sample size. The company has a Trustpilot rating of 4.6 from just over 300 reviews, 93% of which rated Credit Pros as four or five stars. The BBB profile has an average review of 4.0 from just over 100 reviews, with nearly 20 complaints closed in the previous 12 months. The most common complaints include a lack of results and difficulty canceling the service.

Credit Pros lowest level Money Management plan doesn’t include credit repair services; For that, you need either the Prosperity plan, which costs $119 monthly with a $119 first work fee, or the Success Plus, which costs $149 monthly with a $149 first work fee. Unless you’re also planning to apply for a credit builder loan, the Prosperity plan should suffice. All plans include TransUnion credit monitoring and some degree of identity theft protection, though both services are available free or cheaply elsewhere. 

One highlight of Credit Pros service is a stipulation in its refund policy that covers clients for deleted items that reappear on the client’s credit report. In that event, Credit Pros will reinvestigate those items without any additional charge for life.

Read our full The Credit Pros Review here.

Most Affordable

Dovly

Cost: $39.99 monthly or $99.99 annually

Dovly is by far the cheapest credit repair service on the market. At $39.99 per month with no setup fee, Dovly is already one of the most affordable credit repair services. However, the $99.99 annual membership will save you even more. Visa cardholders can also get a 50% discount on the monthly membership through its Dovly Uplift program.

Client reviews of Dovly are mostly positive, averaging 4.7 stars on Trustpilot with 146 reviews. It averages 4.31 stars on its BBB profile across 74 reviews. Like The Credit Pros, the most common Dovly complaints include a lack of results and difficulty canceling service.

Dovly’s services are split into two tiers: free and premium. The free version offers monthly TransUnion credit reports and scores as well as one credit dispute with TransUnion, all of which can be viewed on a browser or through its highly-rated mobile app. The premium tier offers weekly TransUnion credit reports and scores and unlimited credit disputes with all three credit bureaus. You can treat the free version almost like a free trial, to see if there’s anything on your credit report that needs challenging. 

One of the downsides is that Dovly doesn’t have all the guarantees that the other companies on this list provide. We did not see any official refund policies in Dovly’s terms of services, but the company has claimed it offers a 90-day refund on the monthly plan. Notably, this was mentioned in a response on its BBB page and not on its actual page. That said, even without a refund policy, a month of Dovly would still cost less than the non-refundable setup fees other credit repair companies on this list charge. 

How Do Credit Repair Companies Work?

Each credit repair company has its own process, but their approaches are generally similar. Once they confirm your identity and pull your credit, they’ll review your report line by line. They’ll note the issues you’ve flagged and advise you of any other potential inaccuracies they find, including typos and erroneous personal information, duplicate accounts, misreported late payments, and more.

Credit repair companies than do the legwork to clean up those inaccuracies. They’ll communicate with credit bureaus to dispute errors on your credit report and engage with creditors to ensure they stop reporting bad information. These are all steps you can take on your own, but the expertise and experience of credit repair companies enable them to address problems more efficiently.

It’s also worth noting that the CFPB found that since the beginning of the pandemic, the credit bureaus are less likely to respond to credit report disputes, especially those filed by third parties on behalf of their client. 

Beyond correcting mistakes on your credit report, some credit repair companies offer other services and tools to improve your score, such as free credit consultations, credit monitoring, and debt management plans. These additional services may be offered separately or as part of a credit repair package.

You should be aware of two things credit repair companies can’t do. First, they can’t remove negative information on your credit history that is accurately reported, such as a delinquency you incurred on your payment history. So you should only consider credit repair services to correct inaccurate information. Second, they can’t guarantee any outcome within a set timeline, and since most services bill at a monthly rate, you may be paying for a while before you see results.

Should You Pay for Assistance With Credit Repair? 

Before you enlist the help of a credit repair company, understand that you can dispute debt and correct credit reporting errors on your own if you’re willing to put in the time and effort. Cutting out the middleman saves you money, and there are free resources you can lean on to facilitate the process. For example, Ovation’s “Essentials Plus” tier offers letter templates you can use to request investigations into your credit file from your creditors and the credit bureaus, but you can access similar letter templates for credit bureaus and creditors from the CFPB.

Complaints against credit repair companies frequently cite dissatisfaction with results, so if you’re confident in your organizational skills and are dealing with only a small number of disputes, consider a DIY approach first. 

Credit repair services are best suited to those dealing with severely compromised credit — the result of identity theft, perhaps — or with credit reports showing widespread errors over years and multiple accounts. They’re also a good fit if you’re short on free time to handle disputes and don’t mind paying for the convenience of having someone else deal with them on your behalf.

When it comes to maintaining your credit score, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. By monitoring your credit regularly, you can detect and address concerns before they metastasize. Staying vigilant will help you avoid the need for credit repair in the first place.