AACCP members are companies that support consumers by helping them fix the reporting mistakes that negatively impact their credit.
The process AACCP members use is available to anyone and defined by law, whether or not they hire an advocate to support them. But many people don’t have the time or may not fully understand the procedures and laws that guide the process, so they hire experts to help.
A collection of laws say that, as a consumer, you have a basic right to three things: your credit report has to be completely accurate, truly fair, and backed by evidence.
A credit repair organization works on your behalf to ensure that all of those things are true. By removing mistakes that fall into those three categories, they are able to help improve your credit.
Those mistakes happen far more than you may imagine. The Federal Trade Commission has found that 20% of American consumers have their credit negatively impacted by errors.
To fix those mistakes, credit repair companies get a consumer’s credit reports from each of the three major credit reporting agencies, which may each report different information, then looks for problems. Once any issues are found, the credit repair company works with the consumer to get any kind of documentation that can help get erroneous information removed.
At that point, credit repair companies will lodge a formal complaint with the credit reporting companies that have errors. Those reporting companies can’t just ignore or dismiss complaints – they are obligated by law to remove information that does not meet any of the three basic rights you have.
In general, those errors are addressed within 30-45 days, though credit scores, which are based on the underlying reports, may take longer to be updated.
Correct inaccuracies on your credit report with a dispute: