Legal Limits & Rights
The hard limits of credit restoration: what the law allows, and what it forbids
Federal law governs every part of this work. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act you have the right to dispute any item that is inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable, and the bureaus are legally required to investigate. The same law sets the boundaries below.
- Accurate information stays. The law forbids the removal of negative information that is timely, accurate and verified by your creditors.
- No company can promise a particular outcome, or assure you that any specific item will be deleted.
- We cannot use loopholes, create false consumer identities, or misrepresent facts to a reporting agency. Nobody legitimate can.
- We cannot force a bureau to alter accurate records that comply with federal standards.
- I cannot control or predict when a bureau completes its investigation or returns its response.
Anyone claiming they can delete any item on command or force a specific score change is misrepresenting how federal law operates. We perform the work carefully and legally, but the facts of your file determine the result.
Your statutory right to cancel
Federal law requires that every consumer is told about their cancellation rights. This is the statutory text, unedited:
You may cancel this contract without penalty or obligation at any time before midnight of the 3rd business day after the date on which you signed the contract. See the attached notice of cancellation form for an explanation of this right.
Consumer Credit File Rights Under State and Federal Law You have a right to dispute inaccurate information in your credit report by contacting the credit bureau directly. However, neither you nor any "credit repair" company or credit repair organization has the right to have accurate, current, and verifiable information removed from your credit report. The credit bureau must remove accurate, negative information from your report only if it is over 7 years old. Bankruptcy information can be reported for 10 years. You have a right to obtain a copy of your credit report from a credit bureau. You may be charged a reasonable fee. There is no fee, however, if you have been turned down for credit, employment, insurance, or a rental dwelling because of information in your credit report within the preceding 60 days. The credit bureau must provide someone to help you interpret the information in your credit file. You are entitled to receive a free copy of your credit report if you are unemployed and intend to apply for employment in the next 60 days, if you are a recipient of public welfare assistance, or if you have reason to believe that there is inaccurate information in your credit report due to fraud. You have a right to sue a credit repair organization that violates the Credit Repair Organization Act. This law prohibits deceptive practices by credit repair organizations. You have the right to cancel your contract with any credit repair organization for any reason within 3 business days from the date you signed it. Credit bureaus are required to follow reasonable procedures to ensure that the information they report is accurate. However, mistakes may occur. You may, on your own, notify a credit bureau in writing that you dispute the accuracy of information in your credit file. The credit bureau must then reinvestigate and modify or remove inaccurate or incomplete information. The credit bureau may not charge any fee for this service. Any pertinent information and copies of all documents you have concerning an error should be given to the credit bureau. If the credit bureau's reinvestigation does not resolve the dispute to your satisfaction, you may send a brief statement to the credit bureau, to be kept in your file, explaining why you think the record is inaccurate. The credit bureau must include a summary of your statement about disputed information with any report it issues about you. The Federal Trade Commission regulates credit bureaus and credit repair organizations. For more information contact: The Public Reference Branch Federal Trade Commission Washington, D.C. 20580