Credit Assistance Network Review: 2024 Edition

They say good things come in small packages, but one of the replies to this proverb is “so does poison.” So, is hiring a modestly-sized credit repair company a smart move, or should you avoid it at all costs?

To answer this question, we’ve examined Credit Assistance Network – a credit restoration agency that shows a lot of promise despite its small-scale operation.

Credit Assistance Network Overview

Credit Assistance Network’s story began in 2004 when a group of financial, credit, and debt experts decided to put a spin on traditional credit repair services. Instead of using all means available, the company focuses strictly on legally sound methods, shielding its customers from any awkward situations.

Despite its commendable modus operandi, we were a bit troubled to see that Credit Assistance Network Inc isn’t accredited with the Better Business Bureau. However, we also didn’t find any complaints on the well-known rating website, which is a far more important factor.

What to Expect From Credit Assistance Network

The main services available to those who choose to entrust Credit Assistance with their credit score are:

Credit Report Acquisition and Analysis

The major credit bureaus are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. To ensure that your future lenders use your correct credit information, you need to maintain credit reports with all three bureaus.

Luckily, one of Credit Assistance Network’s first steps towards improving your credit score is to assist you with obtaining and analyzing these reports.

Credit Disputes

The main reason people seek help from credit repair companies is that they suspect their credit reports may contain derogatory items. Credit Assistance Network sends out custom-tailored dispute letters on your behalf. The company takes care of negative marks such as collections, late payments, tax liens, identity theft, duplicates, repossessions, foreclosure, inaccuracies regarding your personal information, civil judgments, and charge-offs.

If a dispute happens to get rejected, the company will look for an alternative approach like filing complaints with the FTC, the office of the state attorney general, or any other regulatory agency that might be able to overturn the decision.

Creditor Interventions

Most of us aren’t exactly the biggest fans of our creditors, to say the least, and would prefer to whittle down our communication with them. Credit Assistance can rid you of this tedious obligation by getting in touch with them on your behalf.

The credit repair company may offer to send debt validation requests or goodwill letters. In such situations, you should consider if the proof of debt is truly necessary since collection agencies sometimes tend to view these as an attempt to avoid settling your debt and will often respond by becoming more aggressive.

On the other hand, well-phrased letters appealing to your creditor to remove an unfavorable note from your credit report can do no harm.

Credit Coaching

The services also include one-on-one sessions with certified FICO professionals.

Many companies offer similar perks, but they usually provide them a la carte, which means additional costs.

Real-time Progress Updates

It’s only natural that you want to know exactly what you’re paying for, and thanks to Credit Assistance Network’s regular email alerts, you’ll be informed about every single detail.

The emails are sent out in 30-day intervals, and if you’re worried about them getting buried in your inbox, you can upload them onto your online profile, which you’ll be able to access 24/7.

Additional Credit Assistance Network Services

Credit Assistance has a few more tricks up its sleeve: settlement offers, identity theft resolution, and security clearance assistance. You can request these add-on services yourself, or the company’s advisors may suggest them to you.

A debt settlement involves an agreement between a lender and a borrower, which enables the latter to settle the debt by paying a lump sum that’s lower than the amount originally owed. Lenders are likely to accept this offer as it’s in their best interest to recover as much of their money as possible. Credit Assistance Network’s team drafts the debt settlement proposal for you.

Like most of the best credit repair companies, this agency also provides help to victims of identity theft. It can be very difficult to fix the damage caused by criminals to your credit score, and sometimes the best thing to do is leave it up to the professionals.

Another important service is security clearance assistance. This may sound complicated, but it’s essentially just a credit repair program tailored to those that need squeaky-clean credit reports to get security clearance for their place of employment.

Credit Assistance Network Prices, Discounts, and Guarantees

The Credit Assistance Network pricing scheme is both simple and unique. You’ll be charged a one-time fee of $179 and another $50 for every confirmed deletion per bureau. The company charges $75 for each public record deletion. Those who enroll with their friend or spouse get a discounted rate of $279.

This arrangement might be convenient for those that don’t want to commit to a monthly plan or have a single negative item they’d like removed. Keep in mind that you have three credit scores, and in situations where the same error appears on all of them, you’ll have to pay the deletion fee for every single removal.

Guarantee

Admittedly, these aren’t exactly low prices, but the Credit Assistance Network guarantee is very fair. The first and most important characteristic is that there is no promise of any specific outcome.

At first glance, this may seem like a bad thing, but it’s the best way to establish the trustworthiness of a credit repair service.

No one in the credit restoration business can guarantee definitive results since there are far too many factors at play.

Therefore, you should never choose a company that makes such grandiose claims. With the Credit Assistance Network, you’ll be given several realistic assurances.

Due to the pay-as-you-go nature of the cost kit, you’ll be free to end your cooperation with the agency at any time. More importantly, their service department won’t string you along, and you’ll be contacted to close your account as soon as they’ve achieved the goal you set for them.

In addition, you can rest assured that your personal information is secure, seeing as the company is enrolled in SecureTrust’s Trusted Commerce program.

The last assurance listed on the Credit Assistance Network website is that you will be treated with the utmost care, which means that your interaction with the company will be highly professional and that you’ll receive timely responses to all your requests.

You’ll also be entitled to a full refund in the event that the company is unsuccessful in removing at least one erroneous component from your credit report within 90 days of your registration.

Speed of Service

The company is constricted by the response times of credit bureaus, which are typically around 30 days. During one of these cycles, you can expect up to 15 dispute letters to be drafted and sent on your behalf.

It takes approximately three to six months for the company to significantly boost your credit score. From our experience, these are exceptional results.

Understandably, your credit history ultimately determines the speed at which these improvements occur – the number of negative items that appear in your credit reports, as well as their complexity being the main obstacles that need to be overcome.

In Conclusion

Companies as unique as this one are rare. In a way, it can be viewed as a kind of mom-and-pop shop of credit repair businesses.

Large corporations have their strong suits, but they’re incapable of providing you with the level of attention that you get from a small team, which cherishes every one of its customers.

Aside from the company’s personalized credit repair services, we were also impressed with how honest they are about their capabilities. There is no embellishing of the truth, and you won’t be misled in any way while discussing your options with their representatives.

While perfectly functional, the company leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to design, which could deter potential customers.

Despite that, we couldn’t help but be impressed with the amount of educational material we came across, such as credit-related blog posts, financial advice forums, and legal explanations.

Finally, we’d like to end our review with this one simple piece of advice: If you have a few particularly bothersome items you’d like deleted, then Credit Assistance Network is the right choice for you.