Lexington Law is a prominent name in the credit repair industry. This provider has helped millions of Americans improve their reports and scores.
These services are useful if your borrowing history is incorrect, but what exactly can you expect to remove? Find out in our guide.
Background of the Provider
Lexington Law is headquartered in Utah and Arizona and provides services online. According to the latest reviews for Lexington Law, legal expertise is still one of its biggest strengths. This firm has been in business since 2004, and it achieved 7+ million removals in 2020.
The in-house team of paralegals is adept at communicating with bureaus, lenders, and collection agencies. They will handle all the aspects of repair, while you monitor their progress through the company’s portal. This is typical for most competitors. However, unlike Creditrepair.com, Lexington Law also has its own app.
The company’s advertisement promises the elimination of ‘virtually anything from your credit report that is removable’. This means it can help you delete any inaccurate, outdated, or unverifiable information that affects your score negatively.
What Lexington Law Can Do
As a reliable company, Lexington Law will never promise to delete any correct information from your records. This is illegal and impossible. Only the bureaus may correct their own reports, and they will only do it when presented with sufficient information. If any of the derogatories are unverifiable, you can expect to have them disputed and removed.
First, the expert will collect your records from three nationwide bureaus — TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. This will give a complete picture of your borrowing history, as every agency compiles reports independently. Then, the team will pore over the contents to identify any inconsistencies. These may include:
- False charge-offs
- Collections accounts that do not belong to you
- Late payments that never happened
- Legal events like repossessions, judgments, bankruptcies, and foreclosures.
In the worst-case scenario, you may find that you have been a victim of identity theft, so fraudsters have taken out loans in your name. Aside from accounts that do not belong to you, you may notice that positive events have not been reflected. Both mistakes can stem from the misspelling of your name. Lexington Law will identify any questionable items, collect evidence and prove them to achieve removal.
Disputing is possible thanks to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). It obliges all three agencies to provide only correct information and investigate any dispute claim within 30 days. This is the premise of restoration in general.
What Lexington Law Won’t Do
Such companies can help you a lot, but they are still not omnipotent. In this business, there are no guarantees, as it is not an exact science. The firm will dispute anything that may be disputed, but there are a few exceptions. You cannot expect to get rid of:
- Verifiable and legitimate information
- Real debts
- Real hard inquiries.
Hard inquiries are left when some lenders study your records. This always happens when you apply for a new loan or credit card. At the same time, inquiries made by you, employers, or insurers are not classified as hard, so they do not affect your official score.
How Much Does It Cost?
Pricing is not the biggest strength of Lexington law. The company has a relatively high monthly fee. Three service bundles provide basic ($89.95), intermediate ($109.95), and aggressive repair ($129.95).
While the core services are the same (information collection, analysis, evidence, and disputes), additional services vary. The most advanced plan called Premier Plus is packed with extras. The company will send cease and desist letters to stop collection efforts, send goodwill letters to your lenders, provide the official FICO monitoring tool, fraud alerts, identity theft protection, and personal budgeting tools.
How Long Will It Take?
Every case of repair is unique. The duration will depend on the number of false derogatories and their nature. Experts will do their best to avoid redisputes. As every claim is investigated within 30 days, you can do the math. The most basic cases of score fixing are resolved in 2-3 months, while the most complex ones can take half a year or even longer.
Is it Worth the Money?
Like any trusted provider, Lexington Law can save you a lot of time. You could try disputing the errors by yourself, which is a long and tiresome process. Collecting the reports for free from www.annualcreditreport.com is just the first stage. You need to print the documents and scrutinize them line by line to find the most damaging entries that may be disputed.
Both FICO and VantageScore rely on a scale from 300 and 850, and they use a similar combination of factors to rate borrowers. Prior payments are the most impactful — they define 35% of FICO and 40% of VantageScore. This means that false information about late or missed payments and bankruptcies is the most damaging.
To handle the dispute yourself, you should learn as much as possible about the scoring systems and the formal procedures. This is a hassle, which is why many consumers trust Lexington Law with their repair. Let the experts do their job and watch their progress online.