Setting up a credit repair business isn't as hard as it sounds. Once you get things up and running, it can be extremely lucrative, and if you work hard and learn the industry, you can achieve anything. Our goal is to cover everything you need to know, from getting started to getting your first client.
This guide will teach you how to start a credit repair business, attract customers, and make a profit!
What is a Credit Repair Business?
The credit repair industry provides consumers with fully managed services that help them improve their credit score or apply for credit. Clients with bad credit will come to you for help. Typically, credit repair services help your clients dispute inaccurate negative information on their credit reports.
As the client's representative, you will manage the entire process, including communicating with credit bureaus, creditors, lenders, and collection agencies. A credit repair business can be started by anyone who knows how the process works.
Before starting a credit repair business, let's look at what you should know.
Credit Repair Tips - 10 Steps to Starting a Business
#1: Follow All Credit Repair Laws
The laws for credit repair vary by state. Since no regulations exist, it is easy to do credit repair in states like Alabama, Alaska, and Wyoming. However, most states have a few rules which are specific to their state, but not so many that are difficult to overcome. Nonetheless, in some states, such as Georgia, the credit repair company must be a 501(c)(3) non-profit or a licensed attorney in order to do business.
As you move forward and start your own credit repair business, make sure you know what state requirements will apply to your business. Wondering how to start a credit repair business from home?
Several state laws and requirements apply to at-home credit repair businesses, but there are also a few federal requirements.
Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA)
The Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA) is the single most important law (or set of laws) you should be aware of. Congressionally passed in 1996, this law regulates all credit repair companies in the United States and prevents them from taking advantage of consumers or making false claims. A violation of the CROA can lead to penalties, fines, or even the closure of any credit repair company found in violation by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). You can read the full text of the CROA here, but here are some of the key points:
Misleading your client about your services or performance or making false guarantees is strictly forbidden.
Your client must sign a written contract. A three-day cancellation clause must be included in this contract.
No advance payments are allowed. Once the analysis of your credit report is complete, credit repair companies charge a getting started fee.
Bonds
A surety bond is usually required to protect your client from potential damages. In the required states, this bond costs approximately $200-$300. It is not difficult to apply, but you will need to supply your personal and business credit scores, all financial assets, liens, bankruptcies, and the bond amount to be paid once approved. It usually takes less than 24 hours for approval to be granted.
Licensing and Registration
To open a business within a city's boundaries, a business may need to apply for a license permit. There is no requirement for credit repair businesses in most states. Idaho is the only state that does require credit repair companies to obtain a license.
Currently, 25 states have registration conditions that online and home credit repair businesses must meet in order to operate. These conditions vary from state to state. Call your state's Department of Revenue or do some research online to determine their requirements. If you are serious about credit repair, your business plan should reflect these conditions.
#2: Use the Best Credit Repair Software
By automating and planning your work, you can start and expand your online credit repair business at your own pace. With the appropriate software, you will be able to make suggestions, manage clients, and perform audits faster.
Automation can be used for the following tasks:
Generating customer profiles with form fills.
Creating email campaigns (introduction campaigns, drip campaigns, and service updates).
Monitoring negative credit report information and tagging it.
Submitting credit bureau disputes.
Managing customer service after services has been rendered.
With the help of applicable software, you can run a scalable home business.
#3: Design a Streamlined Credit Repair Plan
Every client you serve should have the same experience. You should be able to deliver a professional, predictable, and effective service. Understanding the steps of your process and the purpose of each one is key. It is generally recommended that a credit repair company start the repair process with about 8 basic steps:
Identify the client's needs and provide a timeline.
Get your client's credit report.
Conduct a free credit consultation.
As a result of the report and consultation, set expectations based on their needs.
Conduct a full credit repair audit.
Create a plan of things you want to fix in order of importance.
Use credit repair techniques to get the best results.
Follow up with recommendations after completion.
If you plan to start your own credit repair business from home, you need to know this plan inside and out. Make sure you do things the same way each time. This process should also incorporate your own unique flare. Your client should understand why you're doing things at every stage. Be upfront and transparent with them.
Listening to your clients is also vital, as it will provide you with actionable insights on how to keep their scores high even after your services are completed.
#4: Creating A Website For Your Credit Repair Business
Without a website, acquiring new customers will be much more difficult. The website is your company's most important online presence. Additionally, websites provide potential clients with a lot of information about your business.
#5: Identify Your Target Clients
You need to identify your target clients. Don't try to reel in every client you meet. Before starting your business, you should identify the types of clients you want to attract. The kind of client you are trying to attract will influence your affiliate, marketing, and operations strategies.
For example, you may choose to target people with FICO scores between 540 and 620 who have recently been turned down for mortgages. This will tell you who is a potential client and who isn't. Taking on clients, you can't help a losing proposition.
#6: Develop an Effective Pricing Strategy
Establish a pricing structure that will keep your business afloat in the long run. People often choose a pricing structure based on what their competitors charge. This approach often doesn't focus on what will make your company profitable.
You can calculate your Cost Per Acquisition based on how much time, money, and resources you've spent acquiring leads. This will ensure you always have a profit when determining your audit fee. In other words, if your CPA costs $75, the audit fee should be greater.
#7: Create a Good Pitch and Outreach Program to Gain Customers
Learn how to create a credit repair sales script that gets clients lining up! Owners of credit repair businesses know that they can change lives. As far as you know, thousands of people around you could benefit from what you do and would be so happy to use your services if they knew about you and what you offer! It's a simple fact: credit repair can change lives.
How will you help people repair their credit and reach their financial goals? You need to tell them this in a simple, clear, and compelling way. A credit repair sales script is the best way to accomplish this, especially when starting out.
#8: Be Prepared To Learn
Your clients will appreciate your efforts if you learn as much information as possible. Continue to learn and expand your knowledge. It is your job to explain the process to your clients, who may find it confusing. You will be able to help your clients better if you know where the credit history came from and where it is expected to go. You can improve your business in many ways by staying within the field, but you should also try to branch out.
Learn more about how marketing training can help you build a great website or an effective paid search strategy. Consider what your local town hall has to say about the state of your neighborhood and try to cater to those closest to you. Business owners shouldn't underestimate the value of competition. Learn from your competitors' advertising and acquisition methods.
#9: Build Relationships With Your Partners
To grow your credit repair business, it will be crucial that you build relationships with corporate and affiliate partners. A corporate partner is a local company you will work with on an ongoing basis for your business needs, such as a CPA, law firm, or designer. As your business grows, it is crucial to develop strong relationships with professionals of this type. See if any of your network members have referrals, so you can begin the relationship with a strong personal introduction.
Affiliate partners are lenders like auto dealers, mortgage brokers, and other lending institutions that have to reject customers with poor credit. Making relationships with affiliate partners and showing them how a partnership can benefit both can be an invaluable source of new business.
#10: Educate Clients
Credit Repair involves 10% document processing and 90% credit education. Providing services to clients involves a few steps - a few clicks and a stamp. In order to enhance your client's score, you must educate them about:
Changing their credit habits
Paying their bills down to roughly 25% of their credit line
Stop applying for credit,
And that's only the beginning.
Onboarding Your First Client
Gaining your first client is a great experience that will allow you to progress through the entire client lifecycle from start to finish. Here's how you would approach your first client:
1. Initial Consultation. It is important to review the credit report of your clients to find out if they are good candidates for your services. It involves examining the client's credit report and identifying negative items that may be inaccurate or unsubstantiated. You should keep this initial consultation short and direct since most companies offer it free. Explain to your client what type of information you will be disputing on their behalf.
2. Customer Contract. Once the contract is signed, the credit repair process can begin. Before providing credit repair services to your clients, you must complete the Credit Repair Organization Act form.
3. Initial Fee. In accordance with the Credit Repair Organization Act, credit repair companies cannot charge fees before providing services. In your contract, you should include a first work fee covering document processing items. You can charge your client your initial first work fee once you have provided this service.
4. Monthly Dispute Cycle. This marks the beginning of your monthly dispute cycle. The credit report dispute will continue until all disputes have been resolved or until your client cancels your services. We'll be covering disputing techniques below.
Disputing Techniques for Your Clients
Disputing is a critical part of your credit repair business. Clients pay you for removing inaccurate negative information from their credit reports.
In order to achieve the highest level of deletions for your client, you must use the most effective strategies. As a result, your business might attract more clients by ensuring customer satisfaction.
Listed below are some of the most common strategies that have proven to be effective and can be integrated with our software:
Technique #1: Initial Credit Freeze
As soon as you get a new client and receive access to their credit report, you'll likely want to freeze their credit. By freezing the client's credit, you will ensure that no one can access the client's credit information.
As a first step, this prevents the three main credit bureaus in the U.S. (TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax) from cross-referencing their data with the respective credit freezing service. The credit bureaus will not be able to verify your client's accounts or inquiries with these other third parties, so you will get more deletions.
Technique #2: Delete Inaccurate or Inactive Addresses
You can also remove old and outdated addresses from clients' credit reports as soon as they sign up.
The old address can sometimes be linked directly to old charge-offs and collections, so removing it from your client's credit report may make verifying these accounts harder and tied back.
In some cases, the credit bureau may even delete something automatically if your client's name doesn't match the address on their credit report.
Technique #3: Dispute Charge-offs and Collections
You can expect your clients to have collections and charge-offs on their credit reports. You usually have to rely on laws such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to challenge these items.
The FCRA's sections 609 and 611 stipulate what information credit reporting agencies must provide, as well as your rights regarding requesting an investigation. The information on your credit report must be corrected or removed if it proves inaccurate or unverifiable.
Technique #4: Disputing Inquiries
You can dispute inquiries in one of three ways:
Refuting a record of access that is factually incorrect.
Providing evidence of identity theft.
Establishing a lack of permissible use.
Under FCRA 604, certain types of entities are allowed access to consumer credit reports, which define what constitutes permissible use. Further strategies here include freezing your client's credit report.
Technique #5: Disputing Other Information
Once you become familiar with credit reports and the types of negative information that appears on them, you will be capable of disputing even more information on behalf of your clients. We recommend using custom letter templates as a start. After you gain experience, you may be able to make your own custom letter templates.
Conclusion
By now, you should be prepared to start your own successful credit repair business. Starting a business requires a lot of hard work, but if you're disciplined and persistent, you can achieve anything. Create an account with CEO-ME to begin using our professional business development software. Try it out for free!
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