With so many new and inexperienced credit repair providers coming onto the scene, many of which are simply turnkey businesses using third party software to power their service, it becomes difficult to determine who you can trust with your credit reports. Here are three tips for spotting a quality credit repair company.

The credit repair world can be a scary place. With the abundance of news articles, TV stories, and opinion pieces cautioning against credit repair scams that get pushed out by well regarded media outlets, it can look like the best option is to avoid credit repair companies altogether - something many news outlets seem to support.

Considering how your credit rating factors in accomplishing so many New Year's resolutions, it makes sense to address this one factor before moving to other goals. Then, if you are able to use credit repair to increase your credit score, you will already have a good start on accomplishing New Year's resolutions this year and years to come.

Charge offs can take a serious toll on your credit rating, so much so that a single charge off could result in denial of credit. If you're looking to improve your credit score, it is worth it to look into the steps you can take in an attempt to remove a charge off from your credit file.

Collections accounts can take a serious toll on your creditrating, with higher collection amounts taking a large toll than smaller amounts. If you're looking to improve your credit score, it is worth looking into the steps you can take in an attempt to remove collection accounts from your credit reports.

Late payments can take a serious toll on your credit score, especially if payments are reported to be of 90 days late or more. If you're looking to raise your credit score, it's certainly worth it to look into the steps you can take in an attempt to remove late payments from your credit reports.

The Credit Repair Organizations Act has established guidelines credit repair providers must abide by that you can use to help select a legitimate credit repair service and avoid being victimized by a credit repair scam.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act was passed to protect your right to fair and accurate credit reporting, but it is still your responsibility to work toward that end. When working to fix your credit by disputing questionable items in your credit reports, you are enforcing this right.

You have the ability to add a 100 word statement to your credit reports to explain the circumstances behind any negative listings. Unfortunately, it is very unlikely that this 100 word statement will have any effect on lenders and there is no chance that it will increase your credit score.

There are a few simple things you may be able to do to increase your credit score which could produce big returns for a small amount of effort. But if your credit score needs a larger fix, it's going to take more than a quick credit fix.