How Much Does Credit Repair Cost?
Credit repair cost: most companies charge a monthly fee plus a setup or first work fee. See typical ranges, CROA fee rules, Credit Saint plans and DIY cost.
The short answer
Professional credit repair usually costs a monthly fee, commonly in the $50 to $150 range, plus a one-time setup or first work fee, so 3 to 6 months of service typically totals a few hundred to over $1,000. Under the Credit Repair Organizations Act a company cannot charge you before it performs the work, and disputing errors yourself costs nothing.
- Most credit repair companies bill a monthly subscription plus a one-time setup or first work fee. Some charge per item instead.
- CROA, 15 U.S.C. 1679b(b), bans charging for credit repair before the services are fully performed.
- Credit repair sold by phone falls under the FTC Telemarketing Sales Rule, which bars fees until promised results are documented.
- Doing it yourself is free: credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com and disputes with Equifax, Experian and TransUnion cost nothing.
- Credit Saint plans run $79.99, $109.99 and $139.99 a month, with a first work fee of $99 or $195.
Credit repair pricing looks complicated, but nearly every company uses one of three fee models, and federal law limits when they can bill you. Here is what you should expect to pay, how fees have to work under the law, and how to tell whether a price is worth it.
Typical credit repair prices
Prices vary by company and plan, but these are the ranges you will commonly see from national credit repair companies:
| Fee | Common range | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | About $50 to $150 a month | Ongoing disputes and creditor letters each month, often with score tracking |
| Setup or first work fee | $0 to about $200, one time | Reviewing your reports and preparing the first round of disputes |
| Per-item (pay-per-deletion) fee | Charged per item that changes | Only billed when an item is updated or removed |
| Typical total, 3 to 6 months | A few hundred dollars to over $1,000 | Depends on the plan and how long you stay |
Two things drive where you land in those ranges: how many items you have, and how aggressive the plan is (how many challenges per cycle, whether it includes inquiry challenges and creditor letters, whether it includes credit monitoring).
How credit repair fees work under the law
Credit repair fees are regulated. Before you compare prices, know the rules every company has to follow.
CROA: no payment before work is performed
The Credit Repair Organizations Act says a credit repair organization may not charge or receive any money for a service before that service is fully performed (15 U.S.C. 1679b(b)). That is why most companies bill monthly for the work done that month instead of collecting a large upfront payment.
CROA also requires:
- A written contract with the total amount you will pay, a full description of the services and how long they will take (15 U.S.C. 1679d)
- A separate written disclosure of your rights, including that you can dispute errors yourself for free (1679c)
- A 3 business day right to cancel with no penalty (1679e)
If a company breaks these rules, you can sue for the greater of your actual damages or the amount you paid, plus attorney's fees (1679g).
Telemarketing Sales Rule: stricter rules for phone sales
When credit repair is sold over the phone, the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule adds another layer. The company cannot collect any fee until the promised time frame has passed and it has given you a credit report, issued more than 6 months after the results were achieved, showing the promised results. In December 2024, the CFPB announced $1.8 billion in refunds to 4.3 million people who were charged illegal advance fees by credit repair companies that sold by phone.
Want a specialist to handle this for you?
We write and send the challenges, follow up with creditors, and track every bureau response. Plans from $79.99 a month with a 90-day money-back guarantee.
What DIY credit repair costs
Doing it yourself costs nothing but time and postage:
| DIY task | Cost |
|---|---|
| Credit reports from all three bureaus at AnnualCreditReport.com | Free (weekly) |
| Online or phone disputes with each bureau | Free |
| Mail disputes by certified mail with return receipt | Roughly the cost of postage per letter |
| Disputes directly with lenders and collectors | Free |
| Debt validation request to a collector | Free |
| Complaint to the CFPB | Free |
Every right a credit repair company uses, you have too. Our step-by-step guide on how to dispute negative items on your credit report covers each bureau and includes a sample letter.
Errors are common enough to be worth checking for: Consumer Reports' analysis of CFPB data counted 443,321 complaints about incorrect information on credit reports in 2023.
What DIY costs you is time. Expect to spend a few hours per round organizing documents, writing letters and checking responses, and to repeat that across several 30-day cycles if you have many items.
Credit Saint plans and pricing
| Plan | Monthly fee | First work fee | Aggressiveness | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Credit Polish | $79.99 | $99 | Medium | A handful of negative items you want challenged |
| Credit Remodel | $109.99 | $99 | High | Several collections, late payments or inquiries |
| Clean Slate | $139.99 | $195 | Very high | Many negative items, or the most aggressive approach we offer |
Credit Saint offers three plans, and all include the 90-day money-back guarantee. Credit Polish includes challenges to the 3 bureaus, score analysis, creditor intervention letters, a score tracker and online chat. Credit Remodel adds inquiry targeting, a personalized guide to credit, a one-bureau report and score, and real-time account sync. Clean Slate adds unlimited challenges to the 3 bureaus, three-bureau reports and scores, and the Acqualify loan readiness program. Full details are on the packages page.
The guarantee: if you sign up for any program and don't see any questionable items deleted from your credit in 90 days, you're entitled to a full refund, subject to the terms on our guarantee page. We cannot promise any specific removal or score change.
What the monthly fee actually pays for
A credit repair company does the same legal steps you could do yourself. The fee pays for the labor and the tracking. In a typical month that means:
- Pulling or reviewing your updated reports from each bureau.
- Deciding which items to challenge next, based on what came back from the last round.
- Writing and sending disputes to the bureaus, and letters to creditors or collectors.
- Logging every deadline (30 days for most investigations, up to 45 in some cases under 15 U.S.C. 1681i) and following up when a bureau misses one or sends a "verified" result.
- Showing you what changed and what is still open.
When you compare plans, look at how many challenges each one sends per cycle and whether it covers all three bureaus, inquiries and creditor letters. A cheaper plan that challenges fewer items each month can take longer, which can cost more in total.
Costs that get confused with credit repair
Several other services charge fees that people lump together with credit repair. They are different products with different rules.
| Service | How it is usually priced | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Credit repair | Monthly fee plus setup or first work fee | Challenges inaccurate or unverifiable items on your reports |
| Nonprofit credit counseling | Often free sessions; debt management plans commonly carry a small setup and monthly fee set by state rules | Budget help and a repayment plan with lower interest rates |
| Debt settlement | A percentage of the debt enrolled or settled, collected only after a settlement (FTC rule for phone sales) | Negotiates to pay less than you owe, which usually hurts your credit in the short term |
| Credit monitoring | Free to around $30 a month | Alerts you to changes, does not dispute anything |
| Credit repair attorney | Varies; some FCRA cases are taken on a fee-shifting basis | Legal claims for violations of the FCRA or FDCPA |
If your problem is debt you cannot pay rather than errors on your report, credit repair is the wrong tool. Our comparison of credit counseling vs credit repair explains which fits which situation.
How to estimate your total cost
Monthly price alone does not tell you what you will spend. Use this math for any company:
- Add the one-time fee (setup or first work fee).
- Multiply the monthly fee by how many months you expect to need. Each dispute round takes about 30 to 45 days, so 3 to 6 months is a common range. See how long credit repair takes.
- Add any extras billed separately, such as monitoring.
For example, if you paid a $99 one-time fee plus $79.99 a month for 4 months, the total would be $418.96. Ask any company for its exact billing schedule in writing before you sign.
How to judge whether credit repair is worth it
Price only matters relative to what you get. Ask these questions:
- Are your negative items wrong? Paid service makes the most sense when you have real errors: accounts that are not yours, wrong late payments, duplicate collections, items past the 7-year reporting limit. If everything is accurate, disputes are unlikely to change it, and building positive history is the better use of money.
- How many items and bureaus? One error on one report is a 20-minute online dispute. Ten items across three bureaus is a multi-month project.
- What is a better score worth to you right now? If you are about to apply for a mortgage or auto loan, a lower interest rate on a large balance can matter far more than a few months of fees. If you are not borrowing soon, there is less urgency.
- What exactly is included? Compare the number of challenges, whether creditor letters and inquiry challenges are included, and whether you get your reports and scores.
- Does the company follow CROA? Written contract, total cost disclosed, no payment before work is done, 3-day cancellation. If not, walk away. Our guide to legitimate credit repair companies lists the full checklist.
Ways to spend less
- File the easy disputes yourself first. A wrong address, a duplicate account or an account that is clearly not yours can often be fixed with one online dispute.
- Pick the plan that matches your item count. Paying for unlimited challenges makes little sense if you have two errors.
- Have your documents ready. Statements, payoff letters and identity theft reports make each round stronger, which can mean fewer rounds.
- Keep building positive history at the same time. On-time payments and lower card balances help your score whether or not a dispute succeeds.
- Stop when the errors are fixed. Once the inaccurate items are resolved, the remaining work is time and good habits, which you do not need to pay for.
Pricing red flags
- A large upfront payment before any work is done
- A promise to raise your score by a set number of points or remove specific items
- A claim that accurate negative items can be removed
- No written contract, or a contract without the total cost
- Advice to dispute everything regardless of accuracy, or to apply for a new EIN or "CPN" to use instead of your Social Security number (that is illegal)
- Pressure to sign today
You can report a company to the FTC or the CFPB. See also our list of credit repair scam red flags.
Frequently asked questions
How much does credit repair cost per month?
Most companies charge somewhere around $50 to $150 a month, depending on how many items they challenge and what extras are included, such as credit monitoring. Credit Saint plans are $79.99, $109.99 and $139.99 a month. Always ask for the total cost in writing, which CROA requires in the contract.
Is it legal for a credit repair company to charge upfront?
No. The Credit Repair Organizations Act says a company may not charge or receive payment for any service before that service is fully performed. If credit repair is sold over the phone, the Telemarketing Sales Rule goes further and bars fees until the company documents the promised results with a credit report issued more than 6 months after the results.
Can I repair my credit for free?
Yes. You can pull your reports for free at AnnualCreditReport.com and dispute errors directly with each bureau online, by mail or by phone at no cost. Your only expenses are postage and your time. Nothing a company does is legally unavailable to you.
Is credit repair worth the money?
It can be when you have several real errors across multiple bureaus and do not have the time to track disputes and deadlines. It is not worth paying for when your negative items are accurate, because accurate items that are verified stay on your report. Compare the total fee to what you could save on a mortgage or auto loan rate, and remember no result is guaranteed.
What is pay-per-delete pricing in credit repair?
Some companies charge a fee for each item that changes on your report instead of a flat monthly price. It can look cheaper, but costs can add up if many items are involved. This is different from pay-for-delete with a collector, where you offer payment in exchange for removal, which is not guaranteed and which collectors and bureaus may refuse.
Can I cancel a credit repair contract?
Yes. CROA gives you 3 business days after signing to cancel without penalty or obligation, and the company must give you a cancellation form. After that, cancellation terms depend on your contract, so read them before you sign.
This article is for educational purposes and isn't legal advice. Credit Saint is a credit repair organization. Results vary, and no credit repair company can promise a specific outcome or score change.
Start your credit repair today
Plans from $79.99 a month. Every plan includes the 90-day money-back guarantee.