Top 5 Credit Repair Software
When trying to repair your credit after a likely financial difficulty, you will likely think of two main options to help. First, you think of repairing your credit all by yourself or hiring a credit repair company. If you decide to repair your credit by yourself, credit repair software will definitely come in handy.
Credit repair software is designed to help you clean up your credit profile on your own. There is no waiting around for someone else to do all the work, as there is with credit repair services.
Credit repair software can also help credit repair businesses to organize their clients and workload.
Credit repair software can be a middle ground between DIY credit repair, which may seem like an overwhelming challenge, and hiring a credit repair company, which is expensive and can be risky if you get the wrong company!
- What Can a Credit Repair Software do For You?
- Top 5 Credit Repair Software
- How Does The Best Credit Repair Software Compare?
- What to Look For in a Credit Repair Software
- Can I Make Money With Credit Repair Software?
- How do Credit Repair Companies Remove Negative Items?
- How Can I Wipe my Credit Clean?
What Can a Credit Repair Software do For You?
Credit repair software offers resources and tools to help you and/or your clients fix their credit. These software packages focus on identifying the issues that are hurting your credit score and helping you to fix the problems.
Read Also: How Much Does a Credit Repair Service Cost?
One of the most common courses of action in credit repair is filing disputes with the credit bureaus. Disputes can be filed on collections, inquiries, late payments, and other credit problems.
To assist with disputes, most credit repair software offers letter templates or auto-filled letters and assists with filing and tracking disputes.
You have to understand that credit repair software and credit repair services are not the same. Credit repair services offer dedicated one-on-one coaching and guidance and are regulated by Credit Repair Organization Act (CROA). That being said, let us now look at the top credit repair software that you can use to help you repair your credit.
Top 5 Credit Repair Software
You can use credit repair software to start a credit repair company or work on your own credit score. Either way, it’s worth it if you want to start your own online business and get results. Here is our list of the best credit repair software.
1. Credit Versio
Credit Versio is a credit counseling service that offers subscription-based access to its credit repair software. Only individuals can use this service; there are no business subscription options. Their subscription plans provide access to unlimited disputes, letter templates, and a custom dispute strategy.
They have also partnered with existing credit monitoring services SmartCredit and IdentityIQ to offer their customers access to updated credit scores and reports every month.
One unique feature this company provides is a series of video tutorials that explain credit and credit repair. This is a fresh change from the article format that other companies use to present this information.
Credit Versio offers three subscription-based plans. All of their plans come with unlimited disputes and monthly credit scores, and reports from all three credit bureaus. All plans also feature credit monitoring for TransUnion.
The plans differ in the amount of identity theft insurance offered and how many credit score updates you have access to. These factors may or may not be important to you.
Keep in mind that identity theft insurance may only cover the cost of recovering from identity theft and, in some cases, actual damage from identity theft.
| Credit Versio Package | Basic | Premium | IdentityIQ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $19.95/month | $24.95/month | $29.99/month |
| Identity theft insurance | $1 million | $1 million | $25k |
| Score refreshes | 2/month | unlimited | Not specified |
| Credit monitoring partner | SmartCredit | SmartCredit | IdentityIQ |
2. DisputeBee
The DisputeBee credit repair software is a tool available to both individuals and credit repair businesses.
Their model is subscription-based access to the software, which can be used to generate various dispute letters. These letters can be generated for collections, inquiries, late payments, etc. There is also an option to combine multiple account disputes into one letter.
Those with credit repair businesses can use DisputeBee’s software to manage the credit repair of an unlimited number of clients. And they get access to unique tools for managing their billing, contracts, and credit repair process.
There are only two pricing plans for DisputeBee’s software; one for personal use and one for business use.
The individual plan (personal use) costs $39/month. The features it offers include:
- Credit scores for all three bureaus
- Letter templates
- Generating dispute letters
- Tracking dispute progress
- Educational materials
The business plan includes all of the individual plan features, plus unique business features such as:
- Unlimited clients & team members
- Client portal
- Bulk letter generator
- Custom templates
- Billing integration
- And more
The Business Plan will set you back $99/month, which is pretty reasonable compared to other business plans.
3. Credit Repair Magic
Credit Repair Magic had its initial software offered in 1994, and the website looks like it hasn’t been updated since the 90s. Besides the infomercial-looking website, the software itself is not technically software. Instead, the credit repair package you are paying for is more like self-guided instruction.
You get sample dispute templates but are encouraged to write letters yourself. You also get access to several pdfs and spreadsheets that explain the dispute process and help you track your disputes. Because it is entirely self-guided, you can use the tools for yourself, your family, and even your friends.
If you are looking for a straightforward credit repair software solution, this package is not for you. But, if you want to tackle the dispute process yourself and learn a bit about credit repair and credit in general, then Credit Repair Magic could be a helpful tool.
Access to the Credit Repair Magic package costs a one-time fee of $97 plus tax. That’s all you’ll ever pay.
The package includes educational materials that detail the process of filing disputes, including how to find dispute-worthy items on your credit report. You also get access to several spreadsheets, calculators, templates, and other resources.
Credit Repair Magic offers a 60-day money-back guarantee. If you are not satisfied, contact them for a full refund.
4. Credit Detailer
The Credit Detailer credit repair software is primarily sold to those in the credit repair business. However, they do offer packages to individuals as well. And unlike other services, Credit Detailer is sold for a one-time fee.
The software includes letter templates (disputes and more), educational resources, and progress tracking. The software’s professional (business) version comes with additional tools for marketing, invoicing, automated backup, and more.
Credit Detailer also offers add-on services, like credit coaching, technical support, additional licenses, etc.
The Credit Detailer software is a single computer download. While this can limit your flexibility, it can offer extra protection against cyber security threats. And despite being limited to one computer, the personal edition supports up to 2 users, and the professional edition supports unlimited clients.
The base price for the Credit Detailer professional software is a one-time fee of $399. Credit Detailer offers a variety of add-ons at different price points.
| Package/Add-On | Cost | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Professional Edition | $399 | 1 software license |
| Additional licenses | $249 | |
| Online portal | $499.99/year | For your clients to check case status |
| Live technical support | $60/hr | Must schedule appointment |
| Maintenance | $249.99 for 1 year $399.99 for 2 years $449.99 for 3 years | Includes software upgrades |
Credit Detailer also offers several bundles, including professional bundles with multiple licenses and support and personal bundles with credit coaching included.
5. Credit Repair Cloud
Credit Repair Cloud offers its credit repair software strictly to credit repair businesses. Their model is subscription-based. Their price points are rather high, starting at $179/month, but they provide more than just credit repair software.
In addition to letter templates and dispute tracking, Credit Repair Cloud’s subscriptions come with a client portal, KPI dashboard, CRM system, live support, education resources, and more. This makes Credit Repair Cloud a complete business solution for someone launching a credit repair business.
Credit Repair Cloud offers four base plans and a few optional add-ons. All of their plans come with a set of core features, with the only difference between plans being the maximum number of clients and team members.
| Package | Price | Max Clients | Max Team members | Additional 100 clients | 1 Additional team member |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | $179/month | 300 | 3 | $50/month | $50/month |
| Grow | $299/month | 600 | 6 | $40/month | $40/month |
| Scale | $399/month | 1200 | 12 | $30/month | $30/month |
| Enterprise | $599/month | 2400 | 24 | $20/month | $20/month |
Credit Repair Cloud offers a 20% discount if you sign up for an annual plan, and they offer a 30-day free trial.
How Does The Best Credit Repair Software Compare?
Here is a side-by-side comparison of the 5 credit repair software packages we discussed above. We focus on the key points you need to compare when shopping for credit repair software.
| Software Company | Package Types | Cost | Credit report integration | Costly add-ons | Coaching Services | Max number of accounts/clients |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Credit Versio | Individual | $19.95 – $29.99/month | Yes | No | Video only | 1 |
| Dispute Bee | Individual & Business | $39/month individual or $99/month business | Yes | No | No | Unlimited |
| Credit Repair Magic | Individual | $97 one-time fee | No | No | No | Unlimited |
| Credit Detailer | Business & Individual | $399 one-time fee | No | Yes | Yes, for a fee | Unlimited |
| Credit Repair Cloud | Business | $179 – $599/month | Yes | Yes | No | 2400 |
What to Look For in a Credit Repair Software
The most important thing to keep in mind when shopping for credit repair software is that credit repair software and credit repair services are not the same.
Credit repair services are governed by the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA), which regulates how a credit repair company can operate. This includes informing you of your rights, not making false promises, and not charging you until services are performed.
Personal credit repair software doesn’t necessarily have to abide by these laws. Instead, they can charge you upfront for the software, and it is up to you, the consumer, to know your rights.
Something else to keep in mind with credit repair software is that all of the processes it offers to help you with are things you can do yourself for free. This means that the software needs to save you time to be valuable. So it is important to evaluate the software accordingly.
For instance, software packages that are not integrated with your credit reports will require you to manually enter the accounts you are disputing and all the details of the dispute.
Best for Feature
What does this credit repair software do best?
While this criterion is largely subjective, we focused on the overall features of each software package to determine who and what it would be best suited for.
Service Type
Credit repair software has two main markets: personal (individual) and business. Most companies offer one or the other, but some offer both.
Even though a company might offer software packages to both individuals and businesses, it is still possible for one of those packages to be better than the other.
Cost and Value
Cost is key when shopping around for a product or service, but the value is equally important.
While the credit repair software options that we chose vary in price, they all offer a value that is in line with their price.
For instance, Credit Repair Cloud has a high monthly price, but the packages they offer come loaded with features to help support a business from launch through expansion.
Hands Off Versus Hands-On
Do you want to tackle the credit repair process yourself, or do you want a ‘click and done’ solution?
This is what we aim to answer in evaluating credit report integration. The software packages that integrate with credit reports allow customers to quickly find information and generate disputes.
The software packages that don’t allow for integration with credit reports require you to manually enter information and have a greater knowledge of the dispute process.
Additional Fees
Some software options on our list have straightforward pricing; either a flat fee or limited subscription options.
But other software companies on our list have complicated pricing, such as multiple subscriptions and optional add-on services. This can allow for customization of your software package, but the additional costs can add up.
This is why we felt it was important to detail the cost of the software and include these other potential budget-killers.
Coaching Services
One-on-one interaction with an expert is largely what separates credit repair software from credit repair services.
That said, a few of these software companies offer credit coaching services. This, more so than technical support, can help you utilize the software to its full capabilities.
Number of Clients Supported
For credit repair business owners, knowing the number of clients the software can support is critical. Can the software grow with you?
The business software options we covered in this article either offer unlimited clients or package options with increasing max client counts to support you as you grow.
Can I Make Money With Credit Repair Software?
Making money with credit repair software has never been easier with credit repair software. You can make more income through credit repair by offering other services and products from affiliate programs. Here are a few ideas:
- Offer credit builder loans
- Partner with credit card companies
- Become a credit coach or consulting
- See what other ways you can improve their credit report
- Offer to help with student loan consolidation
- Teach your clients how to lower their interest rates with their lenders
- Sell digital products on credit repair
- Charge monthly payments for an MRR type of business
How do Credit Repair Companies Remove Negative Items?
With a positive title like “credit repair,” it’s no wonder that people fall prey to the fraudulent practices of credit repair companies. They promise to “fix your credit” by disputing negative items on your credit report. They say they can get any item off your report, but only real inaccuracies can be removed permanently—and you can do that yourself for free. Credit repair companies make sure you know when these items are removed but don’t tell you when they show up again.
These companies offer a seemingly simple solution to credit debt that’s appealing in a few ways.
- It seems easy and immediate.
- It appears to be permanent.
- You don’t have to do much work.
Unfortunately, none of those promises are true. Credit repair companies offer to “fix your credit” by removing negative items from your credit report. They offer to file disputes on negative items on your behalf with the credit bureaus and get them removed. The problem with this approach? The entire strategy is based on exploiting a loophole in the credit system. When accurate items are removed, it’s only temporary—a few months at best.
Credit bureaus are bound by federal law to respond to every disputed item within 30 days. And if they don’t respond, the disputed information must be removed from the credit report. Credit repair companies file lots of disputes and wait for the credit bureaus to miss a deadline.
When that happens, the credit repair company jumps to action, calling the consumer to announce the item was removed and suggesting the consumer pay more each month to “keep up the momentum and go after the rest.”
The other problem? If the item was accurate; if it was removed solely because the bureau missed the deadline, it will simply reappear on your credit report within 2-3 months. That’s because any creditor can, by law, re-verify an accurate item, at any time, and get it back onto the credit report. And if there’s a debt they’re trying to collect, they will.
How Can I Wipe my Credit Clean?
1. Request your credit reports
The first step in cleaning up your credit reports is to know where you stand. You should pull your credit reports from all three major credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. You can receive free credit reports from each credit bureau on a weekly basis through April 20, 2022, by going to AnnualCreditReport.com.
2. Review your credit reports
Once you pull your credit reports, comb through each one and check that the information listed is accurate. Review the following factors:
- Personal information, such as the name and address listed on your account
- Account information, such as balances, credit limit, payment history, and current status (active, inactive, or closed)
- Bankruptcy and collection data, such as if any of your accounts were marked past due for over 30 days and sent to a collection agency
3. Dispute credit report errors
If you come across any errors on your credit report, initiate a dispute as soon as possible. You should start the dispute directly with the credit bureau that has the inaccurate information, and this can be done online or via mail.
If the dispute resolves in your favor, the credit bureau legally has to report the issue to the other two bureaus. However, you may also want to send notice to the other two bureaus to cover your bases.
And if the dispute was denied, you can still file a written statement that can be included in your credit report or take further action with FTC or the CFPB.
4. Pay off any debts
If you have lingering credit card debt, you should work on paying it off — especially since your credit utilization rate, or the percentage of total debt you have compared to your total credit limit, is an important factor in your credit score.
Read Also: Why Credit Scores go Down After Clearing Your Debts
There are several ways you can pay off credit card debt. Here are a few options:
- Complete a balance transfer: By transferring your balance to a card offering an interest-free period, you can pay it off quicker and cheaper than keeping debt on a high-interest card. The Citi Simplicity® Card provides one of the longest balance transfer intro periods at 21 months from the date of first transfer (after, 15.49% to 25.49% variable APR). Balance transfers must be completed within four months of account opening.
- Consolidate debt with a personal loan: Since balance transfer cards often require good or excellent credit, you may want to consider taking out a personal loan to pay off debt. Personal loans often have more accepting credit requirements and are helpful for large amounts of debt. A personal loan will help lower your credit utilization rate since it’s an installment account (which doesn’t factor into utilization), whereas credit cards are revolving accounts (that directly influence utilization).
- Redeem rewards: If you’ve accrued cashback, points, or miles, you can redeem them for statement credits to help with some of your bills. Keep in mind that the credit you receive will likely cover only a portion of your debt, so you may need to combine this option with another, such as a balance transfer card.
If you don’t have credit card debt, you should continue to pay off balances on time and in full each month. It’s also important to maintain a low credit utilization rate, preferably below 10%.
Bottomline
Credit repair is something you can tackle on your own, completely for free. But it can be confusing and takes up a significant amount of time. On the other hand, credit repair services do all of the work for you but can also cost you a lot of time since you are not their only client.
Credit repair software is the in-between solution. You are in charge of the process, and disputes get filed according to your schedule. Credit repair software can also save time for credit repair businesses. And the software solution can help them organize their files and generate new business.
Whether you are an individual or a business, when shopping for credit repair software, evaluate all the features and not just the price. That way, you know what you are getting and determine if it will suit your needs.
