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MAY 18, 2012

Lexington Law Review - A Free Evaluation of Credit Repair

I recently hired Lexington Law firm to help fix my credit and do credit repair. Are they good and can you please review them?

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Bill's Answer: Bills.com Resident Expert

Since first writing our review of Lexington Law and evaluating their services in particular, and credit repair more generally, we received hundreds of comments from clients and consumers.

While it is true that there is nothing any credit repair organization can legally do for you — including removing inaccurate credit information — which you can’t do for yourself for free, you may decide that it is worth paying an organization to take care of these matters for you. The fees can be substantial, ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars.

The Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA), a federal law, prohibits credit repair organizations from taking consumers’ money until they fully complete the services promised. It also requires such firms to provide consumers with a written contract stating all the services to be provided and the terms and conditions of payment. Consumers have three days to withdraw from the contract. Credit repair is not effective for current, unpaid debts. Even if current debts fall off a credit report, they will reappear at the next reporting period. You need to get out of debt before seeking to remove a debt from your credit report.

 

Image Source: Trinity Credit
Credit Score Before and After

Lexington Law Review

Given the constraints of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and CROA, Lexington Law Firm’s strategy appears to be reasonable. Under the FCRA, if a consumer credit reporting agency receives what it (in its sole opinion) deems as a frivolous challenge, then that credit reporting agency can ignore the request. We reached out to the three credit reporting bureaus to get their opinion on Lexington Law and credit repair, and it is clear Experian does not think highly of this firm or of the credit repair industry. The other bureaus failed to respond before this review was completed.

Credit repair companies cannot guarantee success because creditors have such a large influence on what appears in a credit report. Also, the credit reporting agencies deal with so much data, it is a mix of art and science for a person or credit repair company to change or delete a listing on a credit report. Lexington Law is generally considered to be a reputable firm.

Any company with many clients, such as Lexington Law, will generate complaints on consumer Web sites where readers claim the company is a scam. Of course, each consumer needs to do their own homework. I personally visited Salt Lake City on a diligence and review tour to see the Lexington Law operation in action and it is very impressive. They have been doing this for quite some time and appear to have good systems in place.

Quick tip  Lexington Law Firm cannot get you out of debt. Contact one of Bills.com’s pre-screened debt providers for a no-cost, no-hassle debt relief quote.

Letter of Deletion

A letter of deletion is a request to remove inaccurate marks from your credit report. A sample letter of deletion is below, and we include instructions for how to submit it online at no cost.

No one can remove accurate and timely negative information from a credit report legally. The law allows you to ask for an investigation of information in your file that you dispute as inaccurate or incomplete. There is no charge for doing this on your own. If you paid the accounts in full and as agreed, then you can try to get them removed.

Following up with the credit bureaus might be a time-consuming proposition, depending on how many items you want to be removed. To get these items removed from your credit report you have two options:

1. Pay for the services of a credit repair firm

Lexington Law is this type of firm. There are many firms that specialize in the area of credit repair. Be careful about the firm that you choose and make sure that it is a reputable firm. Check with the Better Business Bureau to learn about the performance of a particular company. You need to do proper research on the firm that you will eventually do business with. By law, credit repair organizations must give you a copy of the “Consumer Credit File Rights Under State and Federal Law” before you sign a contract. They also must give you a written contract that spells out your rights and obligations. Read these documents before you sign. The law contains specific protections for you. For example, a credit repair company may not:

  • Make false claims about their services
  • Charge you until they have completed the promised services
  • Perform any services until they have your signature on a written contract and have completed a three-day waiting period.
  • Suggest you mislead credit reporting agencies about your accounts or alter your identity to change your credit history

Your contract must specify:

  • The payment terms for services, including their total cost
  • A detailed description of the services to be performed
  • How long it will take to achieve the results
  • Any guarantees offered
  • The company’s name and business address

2. Do it yourself

Bills.com offers a debt self-help center that can help you solve your debt problems on your own for free. Step one is to obtain a copy of your credit report from each of the three credit bureaus. Do not contact the three nationwide consumer reporting companies individually. Instead, go to AnnualCreditReport.com for no-cost, no-gimmick copies of your credit reports. Alternatively, call (877) 322-8228, or write to Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. You may order your reports from all three nationwide consumer reporting companies at the same time, or you can order your report from each of the companies one at a time.

Check your reports for the action items. All the bureaus now have provisions to dispute items online, but in most cases you will need a copy of the respective report and other information to do so. Once you are ready, contact each of the three bureaus at the contact information provided below:

Equifax Experian TransUnion
800-685-1111 888-397-3742 800-916-8800
Equifax.com Experian.com TransUnion.com
File a credit dispute online at Equifax File a credit dispute online at Experian File a credit dispute online at TransUnion

Sample Letter of Deletion

Tell the consumer reporting company, in writing, what information you think is inaccurate. Include copies (not originals) of documents that support your position. In addition to providing your complete name and address, your letter should clearly identify each item in your report you dispute, state the facts and explain why you dispute the information, and request that it be removed or corrected. You may want to enclose a copy of your report with the items in question circled. Your letter may look something like the following:

FTC Sample Letter of Deletion

Date
Your Name
Your Address
Your City, State, Zip Code

Complaint Department
Name of Company
Address
City, State, Zip Code

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am writing to dispute the following information in my file. The items I dispute also are encircled on the attached copy of the report I received.

This item (identify item(s) disputed by name of source, such as creditors or tax court, and identify type of item, such as credit account, judgment, etc.) is (inaccurate or incomplete) because (describe what is inaccurate or incomplete and why). I am requesting that the item be deleted (or request another specific change) to correct the information.

Enclosed are copies of (use this sentence if applicable and describe any enclosed documentation, such as payment records, court documents) supporting my position. Please investigate this (these) matter(s) and (delete or correct) the disputed item(s) as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Your name

Enclosures: (List what you are enclosing)

Conclusion

Neither Lexington Law nor trying credit repair on your own will resolve debts you still owe. You have to clear your debts before credit repair will work.

Once you resolve the issue with the credit bureaus, follow th steps above to dispute the debt. If the provider reports the item to a consumer reporting company, it must include a notice of your dispute. If you are correct — that is, if the information is found to be inaccurate — the information provider may not report it again.

There are also certain Web sites that provide kits for as little as $13.95, these kits have letter templates and tips to help you repair your credit all by yourself. You can learn more about credit, credit scoring, and credit repair at Bills.com.

Generally we do not believe that firms like Lexington Law, Ovation Law, and other credit repair industry leaders are scams, even though they do have lots of complaints about them on consumer-complaint Web sites. Be sure to evaluate each company’s complaint volume against the size of its overall client base and do your own homework and further ensure that the amount you will pay the company seems reasonable to you for the services you will receive — many people fail to do their homework and are unhappily surprised.

I hope this information helps you Find. Learn & Save.

Best,

Bill

Bills.com

Comments (389)


Stefanie K.
Olympia, WA  |  May 18, 2012
Hi everyone. So I posted about a year ago that I started with Lexington Law. I am currently on my last month before I will no longer be with them. In May 2011 I had 7 collections, 0 credit cards, and 1 120+ late payment on a student loan. My scores ranged from 440-530 between the 3 credit bureaus. Though the process was really slow and possibly I could have just used all the money I paid every month to pay off 1-2 of the collection companies, it was still worth it. NOT everything has come off, but I am down to 2 collections, and 1 of the 2 was not even on there originally when I started, it just came up out of nowhere, but it is legit. My scores still aren't the best but that is mainly cuz I have been focusing on building credit and working towards getting a "real" credit card with a high credit limit. I started off with 1 credit card in may 2011 which was the only place that would approve me...First Premier Bank. Super high APR (49.9%) and a really low credit limit. Definately not something I wanted but it was a start. After a couple months Lexington had 3 collections removed. I then decided to upgrade to their highest package so that I could have access to their inquiry letter assist. The letters are created/generated with a random formart. I noticed they only had 3 or 4 different formats but it still was better than what I would write. Though I crossed my fingers and hoped that the letters would at least remove some inquiries I think I only maybe got 1 or 2 inquiries removed from 1 of the 3 credit reports. So they weren't really effective. These are letters you have to print out yourself and mail yourself, Lexington Law doesn't do this for you even though you pay them $90 a month. So after a few months I went back down to the lowest package ($49.95) which all they do is mail the credit bureaus not the creditors. That was pretty effective too because after a couple months I had a BIG collection come off all of my credit reports (it wasn't all in the same month but within a couple months of each other.) Anyways, I closed the checking account that they were withdrawing from and requested to no longer have their services after this month is up. I don't think that there is anything left they can do for me. I will probably end up settling the last 2 accounts once I can. But the good news is, because of the work Lexington Law did I was able to get approved for a $650 credit card, and more recently just received a $2500 credit card from my credit union. I have sock drawered the couple of $300 cards and hope to be using only one credit card soon. My credit union wouldn't even consider anything 1 year ago, and now they tell me that if I can get my last two collections cleared up they will work with on getting a mortgage loan. As of 5/18/2012 My Experian score is 596, Equifax is 576, and Transunion is 676. Still not the best but much of an improvement of where I was at. Hope some of the rest of you have decent results as well!
Jimmy P.
North Bay Village, FL  |  May 18, 2012
I wanted to post my experience so far with Lexington Law so far, I joined the program in February 2012 and so far I am amazed on the improvements on my credit report. I was looking around for any reputable credit repair company Lexington law always came up in my different searches but there were some negative comments and I was kind of reluctant to give them a try. I felt like I didn't have much of a choice because I wanted to finance a new car and purchase a home a near future. In the end I went with Lexington Law and I am glad I did because I went from a 550 Credit Score to 660 Credit Score and hopefully it will continue to go up! My credit report consisted of a chapter 7 bankruptcy, tons of paid collections accounts and late payments. So far nearly half of my negative accounts are gone.
Christina W.
Manteca, CA  |  May 02, 2012
OKAY!! Sooo my experience started out good and then quickly went down the drain.. I was told it was a 2 for 1 deal so I went for it.. I was told the charge would come out on the 27Th and I asked for it to be the 1st instead... NOOOPPPEEE!! They tried to charge my account on the 27Th and then accessed a 19.95 reprocessing fee... Then on the 1st when I know I HAVE money in the account I get yet another email saying the card was declined... So I called and was THEN informed it was not a 2 for 1 deal and it was actually 45.99 for the first month which actually was only 2 weeks each.... So for the first month looking at almost 100.00 for my husband and I... Then after that they want to charge 95.99 each... I DON'T THINK SO!!!! YOUR A SCAM AND TAKING PEOPLES HARD EARNED MONEY!!!! GO TAKE A LONG WALK OFF A SHORT PIER!!! I will be calling my bank to contest the charges.
David H.
Tucson, AZ  |  April 25, 2012
In a nutshell, Lexington does extremely poor quality work, has no customer service, will not honor their refund policy, and has many links on the web designed to look like real customer reviews that are actually just advertisements.
James K.
Everett, WA  |  April 24, 2012
My wife and I enrolled in Lexington, but not after considering everything. I have been working in the Mortgage business for 7 years now and Lexington keeps coming on top with quick and great results. Before going to Lexington I was able to remove 2 collections off my credit report and verify none of the other collections companies were even interested in collecting due to their lack of responses. I simply asked the collections companies to verify they still hold the debt and verify they are collecting on the debt. One verified and then ignored my requests for 100% payment in turn for deletion, and told them that would be the only way they will get paid. Never heard from them on the attempt to pay, instead I got a letter from them saying deleted with the proof of deletion. Saved me $300. The other collections company that removed themselves told me they could not verify. I responded by requiring immediate removal, and they did. Saved me another $1,000. All other collections companies ignored me, even after my stating if they continue to ignore me, I will take that as not ever having owed them the debt and will require immediate removal. Yup, they never removed themselves. At this point I got so busy with 2 jobs, I wasn't able to work on this anymore. I pulled my wifes report to see what we could do to begin the process with her reports. We noticed a judgment on there, a judgment we weren't even served on. With time not really in plentiful supply, we contacted Lexington and got moving on their top tier plan, this was May 2011. Within 3 months my wifes judgment was gone and so were about 7 collections on each credit report, meanwhile nothing changed on mine at all whatsoever. At the 6 month mark, Lexington was bugging me for new credit reports. I told them nope, not until I see enough has changed to warrant paying for more credit reports, but they did get my wifes credit reports since the opposite happened. A month later I got a couple of unsecured credit cards to begin rebuilding an unfair FICO score. In January I got all three credit reports to make sure the credit card companies were properly reporting, and they were. My score jumped from 515 to 620, not high enough, but good enough. In February, my score took a dive to 510. A new collections attorney showed up referring to a debt the original creditor did not want to take my money on, even have it in writing. At about the same time my wife and I both get a letter from said collections attorney stating they are not on our credit reports unless we paid up within a reasonable amount of time (first letter we ever received from them). Besides the obvious federal law violation in their letter, we had Lexington verify. The attorney verified very promptly, still ignoring the obvious federal law violation by lying about the credit reports. After immediately sending in the verification (very well done at that), Lexington chose to do nothing. 3 weeks later and still nothing from Lexington. I contacted them via email (for written response record) to find out what they are waiting around for since the attorney verified. I guess Lexington was waiting around for the next round of verifications to go out to the attorney who already verified since Lexington's response was an accelerated process to force verification. Really? On a verified debt? How dumb can they be? I told them to forget about the attorney, I will handle them. What happens? Lexington sends out a verification letter to the Attorney. Really? After telling Lexington the attorney is attempting to collect a debt that the original creditor refused to collect, the original creditor failed to provide a statement charges (which includes illegal charges the attorney cannot collect on), and the attorney states he is not on my credit reports yet is? Looks like Lexington wants to harass on my behalf. Sorry, homie don't play that. However, Lexington did manage to remove 1 collections item of 1 credit report of mine in March, thats all they have managed to remove for almost a year. For how little they have accomplished since the first 3 months, they have not been worth a penny. The first three months was great, after that nothing. The collections are all stuff I will pay, but I want something in writing from the collections companies that verifies they still have the debt, the amount, and where they got the debt from. It's all for my safety from crooked collections companies. If I get all that, the pay for delete comes in. I guess once verified, Lexington starts dropping the ball and become completely worthless. Some law firm if they can't see the whole process through. Let's not get started on their website. Let's just say they ignore every bug I tell them about, something you don't do with a web developer.
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Jane L.
Akron, OH  |  May 13, 2012
This is to James K. So, If I am reading your message here correctly, you through the collection agencies first asking for verification of the debt. If they responded, then you made a request based on the response. Example - the collection agency was unable to verify the debt. Then you requested that it be removed from the credit reports. It seem like that worked for you pretty well. I am in the process of cleaning up mine and my husband's credit reports. But the advice that I was given was to send a dispute to the Credit reporting agencies and let them do the work of getting in touch with the collections agencies. Has anyone followed this route and if so, how much success did you have with it? Thanks Jane L Akron, oh
Teyonna G.
Little Rock, AR  |  April 23, 2012
I have been with Lexington Law for 2 months. All three of my credit scores have dropped! I not sure if this is normal. I am very disappointed with the results so far
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Eleonora G.
April 24, 2012
Stop wasting your money with lexington. They are scam and can't do nothing, only will take your money forever from your card until you report them to your card. Good luck.
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Bradley B.
Bastrop, TX  |  April 24, 2012
Funny thing, you have to either pay off or settle your debt (or have it super old, charged off, forgotten about). They aren't magic. If you have current outstanding debt the companies are going to keep reporting and verifying that it is your debt all day long. it is your fault your score is going down not theirs. You failing to read and comprehend what they do is also not their fault. Don't even bother wasting time telling me that I work for them either. That is an ignorant come back.
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Zee H.
Mcdonough, GA  |  April 24, 2012
Exactly!! How do they possibly think Lex can remove something that is still owned I so agree with your statement. I mean bottom line you created the debt then you need to pay for it. I too DO NOT work for Lex Law I just know it has done wonders for us and our situation. Again pay your debt people. It's that simple -- if you want results pay-off the debt first.
Nicole N.
Brooklyn, NY  |  April 21, 2012
I contracted with Lexington Law at the end of January 2012. Before I "hired" them, I asked if they could remove bankruptcy and they told me yes. After three months with no positive news and a declining bank account, I made an inquiry to the company. It was then that I was told that there could be nothing done with bankruptcy until a year has lapsed (mine was January 2012). I was very angry and requested a refund because I was paying for the highest plan which included credit monitoring. If someone had been "monitoring" my report like I paid for then why wasn't the bankruptcy flagged. I complained about misleading information and unethical practices. They have since refunded all of my money.
Korinne C.
Spokane, WA  |  April 20, 2012
I recently applied for a rent to own company. they put me through with lexington law to help my credit. after reading some comments on here im not so sure i am doing the right thing. my credit is in the 500 area and i have a lot of medical bills in collections and a vehicle repo due to my ex-husband. can lexington law really help me or am i wasting time and money? i just need some assistance on, step 1, step 2, step3 to rebuild and fix my credit so i can buy a house. i feel lost and don't know where to start
Bills.com
April 21, 2012
You have two issues:
  1. Delinquent debt, which is causing a...
  2. Low credit score

If the medical debt and repossession are recent events and in active collections, then your focusing on removing these items from your credit report is like painting a house with unfixed tornado damage. Start with the Bills.com Debt Coach for no-cost, no-nonsense advice on how to resolve your debt in collection. Debt Coach gives you your options, and the cost for each.

Once you take care of your debt problem, then focus on your credit score issues.

Brandi M.
Primera, TX  |  April 13, 2012
I broke a lease back in 2007 and was sued for damages and remaining rent due. I paid the awarded amount about a week after the court appearance. My credit report currently reports this as a "judgment." I've been trying to do some research about how to get this removed or fixed, and I'm even more confused than when I started. From what I have found, I can show proof of payment and get the judgment changed to "satisfied," but that is still very detrimental to my credit score. I'm also unsure about if this will renew the 10-year time limit on reporting of the judgment. I have also found numerous explanations of ways to get the judgment completely removed from my credit report. This is the goal I have in mind, but am unsure of how to achieve it on my own. I've been thinking of hiring a credit repair organization such as Lexington Law, but am unsure if it is worth the hassle. Anyone else had a similar situation?
Mary M.
Costa Mesa, CA  |  April 12, 2012
I used Lexington Law services for almost 2 years. I only had 1 negative item, which was FRAUD. My ex-husband added me on his account without my permission and I ended up with his debt ($27,000) in my name. For those 2 years, Lexington Law was NEVER able to help me. I kept calling them twice a month, and nothing was resolved.

I decided to stop using their services and start with ACADEMY CREDIT. On the very first month they told me to go in person to an BANK OF AMERICA agency, and file an AFFIDAVIT OF FRAUD, which ended up to be the perfect and effective solution for my case. Here I am, only 3 months later, with my negative item removed from my credit report.
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