Credit Questions, Answered Straight

Credit repair with Permissible LLC costs $79, $99, or $129 per month depending on plan, with no setup fees, billed only after each month’s work is performed. Nationally, reputable firms charge roughly $79 to $139 monthly. Treat large upfront fees as a red flag: federal law prohibits charging before services are performed.

Most clients work with us for several months, and each dispute cycle typically runs 30 to 45 days because that is how long bureaus have to investigate under the FCRA. No honest company can promise a completion date, because the bureaus and furnishers, not the repair firm, control the outcome of every dispute.

Yes. You have the legal right to dispute anything on your credit reports directly with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion at no cost, and the bureaus must investigate, generally within 30 days. A credit repair company cannot do anything you are legally barred from doing yourself. What we sell is experience, tracking, and persistence.

No credit repair company can remove accurate, current, verifiable information from your report, guarantee a score increase, promise that specific items will come off, or get you approved for a loan. Federal law also bans charging fees before services are performed. Any company promising those things is describing something illegal, impossible, or both.

We review your Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion reports with you, line by line, and flag items that may be inaccurate, unverified, unfair, or outdated. It takes about 30 minutes, requires no credit card, and you keep the written summary whether or not you hire us. There is no obligation and no sales pressure.

Credit repair is legal and federally regulated under the Credit Repair Organizations Act, and South Carolina additionally requires a state license and a $25,000 bond. Avoid any company that demands upfront payment, guarantees results, tells you to dispute accurate items, or offers you a second credit identity under a different nine-digit number. That last one is a federal crime, not a service.

We can review your reports and dispute items that may be inaccurate, unverified, unfair, or outdated, and many of our clients are working toward a mortgage application. What no one can promise is approval or a specific score: your lender decides. Our free analysis maps the gap between your reports today and your lender’s stated requirements.

Many lenders look for roughly 620 for a conventional mortgage, while FHA loans can allow scores down to 580 with 3.5 percent down (or 500 with 10 percent down). Each lender sets its own overlays, and score is only one factor alongside income, debt-to-income ratio, and payment history.

First, read your adverse action letter: lenders must tell you why you were denied and which credit report they used, and you get a free copy of that report. Then check the report for errors, ask the loan officer what number and conditions they need, and build a plan to close the gap. Denial is a data point, not a verdict. In 2024 roughly one in five purchase mortgage applications was rejected, so you are far from alone.

No one can honestly answer with a number, because it depends on what is driving your score down and no outcome can be promised. Scores respond over months to paid-down balances, on-time payments, and corrected errors. Be skeptical of anyone pairing a specific point gain with a specific timeframe; regulators have shut down companies for exactly that claim.

Yes, it can. Financial considerations, called Guideline F, are among the most common reasons clearances are denied or revoked, appearing in roughly half of DOHA denial cases. What reviewers look for is not a number but a pattern: unaddressed delinquencies suggest risk, while documented, good-faith efforts to resolve debts weigh in your favor.

Not automatically. Adjudicators apply a whole-person standard: the size and cause of the debt, how long it has been unresolved, and what you are doing about it. A collection you are actively resolving or legitimately disputing, with a paper trail, reads very differently from one you ignored. Documentation of your effort matters as much as the balance.

Usually because shared credit disappeared: you were removed as an authorized user on your ex’s accounts, joint accounts closed or went delinquent, or the household income that kept balances low is gone. Research suggests a slight majority of women see their credit scores fall after divorce. The fix is building a file in your own name while addressing any joint-account fallout.

If it is a joint account or you cosigned, the debt is legally yours too, and your divorce decree does not change what creditors report. What can be challenged is anything inaccurate: accounts that were never yours, wrong balances, or authorized-user accounts that should no longer report. We tell you honestly which category each item falls in.

Open accounts that report in your name alone: a secured card or credit-builder loan is the usual start, kept below 30 percent utilization and paid on time every month. On-time payment history is the single largest scoring factor. Thin files typically show meaningful history within about six months of consistent reporting.

Landlords use tenant screening reports that draw on credit, eviction, and criminal records. Under the FCRA, a denial based on such a report entitles you to an adverse action notice naming the screening company and a free copy of your file, which you can dispute if it contains errors. Start by requesting that report; screening files are frequently wrong or outdated.

You can dispute a collection if it is inaccurate, unverifiable, duplicated, or past the 7-year reporting limit, and the bureau must investigate, generally within 30 days. If the collection is accurate and timely, no one can force its removal, though paying it may help under newer scoring models. Anyone promising to remove all collections regardless of accuracy is breaking the law.

Not the way social media claims. Section 609 of the FCRA covers your right to see your file; it is not a loophole that forces bureaus to remove verified debts, and the FTC has never recognized one. Disputes work when an item is genuinely inaccurate or unverifiable, whatever section number you put on the letter.

It is harder, because most lenders to young businesses check the owner’s personal credit and often require a personal guarantee, but options exist: revenue-based products, SC CDFIs, and mission lenders weigh cash flow more heavily. Our readiness program prepares your file honestly; approval decisions always rest with the lender.

Yes, if you pick vendors that actually report to the business bureaus and pay early. A handful of reporting net-30 accounts, paid ahead of terms for several months, builds the payment history behind scores like Paydex. Accounts that do not report build nothing, which is the detail most online gurus skip.