Getting things in order with your credit score can be daunting and time-consuming, especially if you’re trying to do it on your own.
Home-made and customized credit repairs need a mammoth of procedures to stick to, strict timelines to follow, and a colossal number of technical terms to comprehend. You have to sit down and craft formal letters to many credit bureaus.
All these factors are enough justification why if you’re trying to fix your credit, you might need to work with a credit repair company.
Below is a detailed review of the Lexington credit repair company to help you determine whether or not they’re a good fit for your needs.
About Lexington Law
Lexington Law is a group of highly skilled and professional paralegals and attorneys who specialize in providing legal credit repair solutions.
This company started its operations in 1991 and introduced credit repair services in 2004. In attempts to minimize costs and have their lawyer-backed credit repair fair to every client, they came up with processes that are affordable to everyone.
Every person working for the firm has gone through rigorous training and has expertise in credit repair, current trends in consumer protection and regulations in credit reporting.
With an experience of more than three decades, the company has served hundreds of clients and resolved countless negative issues in credit reports.
Lexington Law, as a law company, understands the repercussions of lack of ethical standards and legal violations and therefore knows what specific items they can solve in credit reports.
Based in North Salt Lake, the company welcomes clients to visit their location for personal service, but most of the credit repair services are done online.
What Lexington Law does
Once you’ve signed up for Lexington Law, they start to work on your poor credit score by getting your credit reports from three bureaus. They critically analyze the reports by observing all legal aspects and determine any information affecting your credit score.
After examination, a paralegal is allocated to you, and the case begins by sending dispute letters to specific bureaus or creditors. The designation of these letters depends on the problems they find in your report.
If the negative item belongs to someone else, for instance, the paralegal will send the letter to the credit bureau that reports it. After disputing all legal items within their jurisdiction, they can wait for a response.
In some cases, your lawyer can escalate your representation to higher rights under the FCRA. If you think a bureau or creditor denies a dispute unrightfully, they will take additional steps to work in your case.
This step is done persistently until the lawyer achieves desired results or feels the issue has been resolved as much as possible. During this process, you might also receive credit counselling by calling your representatives as often as possible to monitor the progress or get credit advice. You’ll also access a platform that helps you get updated information and education resources.
If you’re using the premier or premier-plus package, you’ll have additional services like gaining credit analyses using the online platform, and you won’t have to incur additional costs for the credit reports they get.
How Lexington Law helps people with bad credit score
Before spending some bucks on credit repair service, you could be wondering whether or not it’s going to add value.
The reasons why you should sign up for Lexington Law credit repair service are:
Getting the job you want
You might not appreciate this, but most companies use the credit score to tell whether or not you’re fit for work.
Helping you get the credit you were previously denied.
From mortgage loans to credit cards, and other financings, having a good credit score helps a lot.
Lowering interest rates
Lexington Law enables you to get a loan, but the interest rate may be slightly higher than the ideal credit
Getting an apartment
Almost all realtors have a minimum credit score requirement for all occupants, and lowering this score will help you clear any problems you might have in getting an apartment.
Lowering your insurance premiums
Insurance companies offer different premiums based on your credit score. If you have a higher score, you’re likely to receive a lower premium for your property.
Lexington Law solves the issues highlighted above by working to raise your credit score and removing each negative element in the report. Some of the items what are detrimental to your score and that could be possibly removed include:
- Judgements
- Foreclosures
- Charge-offs
- Defaulted payments
- Repossessions
- Bankruptcy
- Collection accounts
Beyond their evident expertise in helping you fix your credit score, the paralegals give you personalized advice on how to maintain a higher score. For instance, if the lawyers realize that you have high utilization of credit, they’ll advise you to clear one of your loans as fast as you can or recommend that you open another credit account.
While this credit company has a track record of helping millions fix their credit score, there is no guarantee that they’ll fix your score. Across the three reports, Lexington Law has successfully had 10.2 removals in just four months, which is a significant track record.
Items that can’t be removed
Keep in mind that Lexington Law is a team made of paralegals and attorneys who follow due diligence and abide by the law at all times. Because they’re a legitimate company, they cannot make any false claims and some of the things they seldom change include:
- Legitimate inquiries
Lexington Law will delete any credit inquiries that could have been pulled with your consent, but if there is some indication that you’re the one who requested it, they’re not likely to remove it.
- Legitimate debts
If the creditor says the debt is yours and you’re actually the one who approved it, Lexington Law can’t remove it. No credit repair removes actual debts that you owe, and it will likely stay on your report.
How long it takes to fix bad credit score
While there are different cases and many client complaints are based on bad credit, it takes almost half a year to get everything fixed.
Most customers expect to see drastic reports in the first 90 days, and the best results appear after six months while others could take up to a year.
Delayed cases take relatively more prolonged periods than others because of identity theft or fraud that needs a mammoth of dispute letters and intervention to fix.
In some cases, negative items can be disputed and will likely stay in your report unresolved or take an incredibly long period to see positive changes.
Signing up for Lexington Law
Lexington Law is among top credit fixing companies, and if you’ve decided to sign up for their services, that’s a significantly positive step.
Visiting their homepage will let you sign up either through giving them a call to get started or a couple of links to register.
Most new clients use the link to complete the registration, but if you feel you need to have personalized assistance, don’t hesitate to give their representatives a call.
If you’re a little bit undecided on whether or not to use, we recommend calling a toll-free number at first before deciding on which credit repair company is best for you.
Once your credit score has surged, or you want to terminate the subscription, for whatever reason, you can call the number 800-341-8441.
For any questions regarding service delivery or signing up for their services, contact 855-454-7420 or email them at quickanswers@lexingtonlaw.com
Lexington Law Review – Pros
- Fair pricing
- Experienced staff
- Excellent credit advice
- Positive customer reviews.
Lexington Law Review – Cons
- Existential complaints and case against the CFBC
- Minimal BBB rating
- Fluctuating price tiers
- Additional charges for credit reports
Detailed overview of the pros
How much it costs
Lexington Law offers incredible pricing offers for credit fixing services. If you’re having trouble with fixing your credit score, the last thing you would want to hear is an absurd amount to pay.
The company offers three different levels of credit repair services depending on your capability:
| Package | Cost | Description |
| Standard | $89.95 per month | This plan is also termed “concord standard,” and is the lowest level of the plans. Services offered in this category include communication with credit bureaus and legal interventions towards the creditors. This legal intervention helps raise the probability of negative terms being eliminated from your credit report. |
| Premiere | $109.95 per month | Also called the “concord premier,” services in this category stretch out a little more than just helping you fix your credit reports with creditors and credit bureaus. Additional advantages in this plan include identity protection from theft and monthly credit monitoring. |
| Premier Plus | $129.95 per month | This package is the company’s highest and comprehensive credit repair offering. From getting everything fixed with repair to support with better data protection, and cease-and-desist official letters, this plan has the best versatilities in credit repair. |
Legal action
The most noteworthy feature of Lexington Law is its legal-oriented operations. Every staff member is either a paralegal, an attorney or someone trained by legalists.
Once your report is analyzed by paralegals, the immediate thing they embark on is generating “dispute letters” and channeling them to the bureaus to deny the negative items.
These carefully-crafted strategies help you remain assured that everything is done legally and professionally.
Personalized credit counselling
If you’re using the premier pricing package, the institution will send you credit score improvement analyses each month and give you access to their legal team for customized advice on how to raise your score.
When you sign up for their services, you’re given a paralegal expert who will deal with your challenges solely and ensure that each problem is solved based on your situation alone. This approach helps mitigate the situation of getting someone different on the line each time you call.
Explaining your credit problems could somewhat be embarrassing, and the best way to put you at ease is the personalized touch of having one paralegal handling your situation.
Beyond the apparent legal advice, they offer, they also give you personalized advice on fixing the mess and a whole lot of information on their website.
From the “credit repair guide” to a beginners’ “credit 101,” the law company gives a mammoth of advice and solutions around education, credit bureau disputes, identity theft, debt clearance and many others.
Vast experience
Lexington Law has been offering credit repair services since 2004, and each paralegal in their team has more than 15 years’ experience.
They’ve helped more than 500,000 clients worldwide and scrapped negative reports from their client’s reports.
When evaluating a credit repair company’s profile, one of the things to look at is track record and testimonials from previous clients.
In 2017, the company removed 10 million negative items from credit reports, and the average client rating was above 10.2 items in four months alone. With over 20 years’ experience, the company has an A+ rating in the Better Business Bureau.
Free case evaluation
The preliminary step after signing up with this firm is obtaining your credit reports from the three administrative units – TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian.
During the first year, the administrative units are obligated to freely give you one free copy of the credit report as per the law. After this step, Lexington Law then collects data about the situations revolving around each item in the credit report.
Positive client testimonials
The success stories of Lexington Law speak for itself. With a huge clientele, what’s impressive is how much they can handle the complaints.
While the Better Business Bureau(BBB) profile has some negative customer reviews and complaints, they handle each one separately and address them personally until they achieve a positive conclusion.
Lexington Law cons
Extra costs for additional credit reports
If you’re using their basic plan – the standard package – the company will charge you for every credit report that you pull. Additional packages include credit monitoring, so you don’t have to bother about this extra charge.
While this additional charge could be included in all the other packages, monthly credit reports are critical to have. Still, the company should clearly state the plan descriptions on their website.
Confusing packages
Lexington Law has three service packages – the standard, premier and premier plus – which are priced differently.
While it could be a little confusing to identify the package is suitable for you, most clients tend to go for the standard plan, which only covers the essentials of credit repair. After all, no one wants to pay a huge amount of bucks when they already have poor credit.
The next package after the standard is the premier plan where you get some additional benefits like identity-theft protection, Inquiry Assist, TransUnion notifications and monthly credit score analysis.
With the premier plus package, you’ll have everything in the premier plan and a “cease and desists” letter. Such letters are sent from the law company to the creditors ordering them to stop recovery attempts.
Since people with severe credit problems like fraud or impersonation might need a higher level of service, but this pricing structure is a bit confusing. Making it simpler would help customers select the best package based on their specific requirements.
As much as it’s critical to choose the plan that works best for your needs, the ultra-premium package could be the best option over the standard package regardless of its pricing.
Mediocre BBB rating
The Better Business Bureau doesn’t accredit Lexington Law, and they have an average rating of C. This isn’t an excellent position. Still, the company has a chance to address and resolve any complaints that make the company fall behind in their rating.
The issue of credit is such a sensitive subject, and if you’re longing to have a clean record, then you precisely understand what we’re talking about.
While it is normal to have disputes no matter how much a company tries to have a clean record, there will always be complaints, and most people often hire repair credit companies in desperate situations to get incredible results.
Remember that credit repair could take a significant amount of time, and there is no assurance for excellent outcomes. Organizations that promise 100% results are typically illegitimate since if we go by the statistics, they may be using some absurd techniques to achieve this.
It’s normal for a credit repair company to have a low BBB rating, but you should be a little cautious when selecting a company based on the BBB rating. Make sure they handle your requirements and manage your expectations before cancelling their services.
Lexington Lawsuit
Lexington Law has a lawsuit filed against them by the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau in 2019 which alleged deceit and abuse.
While we understand that a company could have lawsuits filed against them, it’s essential to let the process play out openly before recommending their services to anyone.
Risk of credit fixing
The concern of whether or not fixing credit is right is becoming a hot topic for most people. Well, almost every engagement has its associated risks and when things get messed up financially, credit repair is a perfect option.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act(FCRA) oversees the collection of data and personal information on credit histories. The goal of this act is to ensure that information stored by credit reporting agencies is accurate and fair.
There are several reasons the FCRA disputes negative credit items: which range from inaccurate, untimely, biased, misleading, incomplete and unverifiable reports. In an attempt to be compliant with FCRA, Lexington Law helps to familiarize individuals who may not be well-versed with the details of this act to make sure everything is correct.
Disputing an error on your credit report
A recent study published by FTC revealed that at least 20% of Americans have an error in their credit report. While it’s understandable to err as a human, such errors could make you look like a riskier client that you are.
If you’re going to for late payments, collections and charge-offs eliminated from your account to help you fix your credit, you need to comprehend the process of properly disputing the issues with necessary bureaus.
Lexington Law could charge you for pulling a credit report, but if you have them for free, the following are steps toy can tale to dispute mistakes in your report:
1. Lender
If the credit bureau approves the negative item, you can dispute it with the lender by writing an official letter and requesting the lender to approve the item.
The strategy to use here is to overwhelm them with proof that the error isn’t your mistake since they’ll more likely dig up through tons of information to prove that you either defaulted the payment or any other random reason.
As long as they can’t verify the negative item, they must delete it and while there are several templates to use, take note of the following:
- The lender will respond to your letter in 30-45 days
- In the response, they’ll tell you that they either removed the negative item or found it to be accurate, and hence left it there.
- Make sure to stick to the template and narrate your account out of it. Neither admit fault nor guilt since it could end up doing more harm than good.
If everything goes as planned, the lender may either delete the negative item either because they are trying to avoid the stress of digging up through tons of data or because they want to keep you as their client.
2. Credit bureau
This option allows you to forward an official letter to the credit bureau, notifying them about the negative item.
Keep in mind that not all lenders and organizations write to the three bureaus, and you may have the negative item appearing on one of your credit reports but not the others. Be sure to write to the specific bureau that has a record of the negative element, and not the others.
While there is a colossal number of templates to use to write the dispute, be sure to do the following:
- Include any relevant support documents
- Send the letter using a certified mail
- If they’re unable to verify the negative item as legitimate, they always delete it.
- Include your credit report’s copy
The credit bureaus consider your request and investigate it according to their legal jurisdiction. Receiving a reply usually takes 30 days, and in their response, they’ll inform you whether they’ve deleted the item or verified it as inaccurate.
What if the negative item stays in my report?
Usually, if the credit bureau or lender is unable to verify the negative item on your report, they’ll be obligated to delete it.
However, if, after the investigation, the credit bureau or lender claims the negative item is valid, it’ll stick to your report, but here are some things you can do:
- File a dispute with the CFPB if you feel you were given an unfair treatment or if the dispute took too long.
- You can request your credit bureau to describe your side of the dispute by adding a statement in your file.
Common errors in credit reporting
Knowing the items to dispute is a pre-requisite before filing a complaint. Some of the mistakes to look out for include:
Fraudulent and duplicate accounts
Identify theft and fraudulent accounts are more likely to hurt your credit report, and while accounts could be listed more than once, but it could severely be detrimental to your score
Inaccurate personal information
This error is probably the most common mistake in credit reports. Make sure to check information such as SSN, phone and address, name and employment information.
Outdated information
Information such as charge offs, late payments, collections, foreclosures, bankruptcy, and hard inquiries take periods ranging from two to seven years before dropping off your credit report. If you notice such information on your reports, check how long it has been there before filing a complaint.
What customers are saying about Lexington Law
Checking testimonials from clients is one of the best ways to rate an organization. Some of the achievements boasted by Lexington Law include:
- Removing 14 items in 3 months, very quick, proficient and raising a score enough to buy a home
- Clearing errors caused by personal information mistakes
- Raising score from poor to mid-700s to excellent
Some negative comments, which are always there include:
- Failing to remove enough items
- Unclear expenses
- Relatively slow process
Lexington Law Review – Final thoughts
A bad credit score can hurt your financial growth, and we recommend Lexington Law’s credit repair services since they are most affordable to clients, and the chances of getting everything fixed are usually high.
With over two decades in professional services and an A+ rating with the BBB, we highly recommend Lexington Law services to anyone seeking to fix their credit score. If you’re still a little hesitant, give them a call or send an email to get personalized help.
Overall, Lexington Law offers some of the best credit repair services, coupled with efficiency, cost flexibility and excellent results.
