How To Start A Credit Repair Business in 2024: Step-by-Step Guide

how to start a credit repair business

By Ecombridges    •   Updated December 31, 2023

This guide will show you how to start a credit repair business and make it profitable. This opportunity is for you if you are an entrepreneur with a passion and desire to help people.

In 2021, 29% of Americans had a “bad” credit score under 670, based on the FICO® credit score model (Experian). That's millions of potential customers you can help secure a mortgage or loan after fixing their credit.

Indeed, you can improve the lives of others by changing their credit scores so they can buy their dream house, land, car, or other high-value purchases. Your clients will love you for helping them get their finances in order and giving them access to these life-changing events.

We will provide you with all the information you need to get started, including tips on marketing your business and building a customer base. We will also cover critical topics such as licensing and regulations and choosing the right credit repair software to manage your credit repair services.

So if you're ready to start your own credit repair company, keep reading!

How to Start a Credit Repair Business?

how to start a credit repair business

You can start your credit repair business from home! Credit repair services are in high demand, and you don't need to be a certified professional to start your business. All it takes is understanding how credit repair works, plus some creativity when marketing yourself.

Step 1 – Use Credit Repair Software for Businesses

credit repair software for business

The easiest way to learn how to start a credit repair business is to use one of the best credit repair software. They guide you step by step with online training to learn the credit repair processes.

Credit repair software helps you get organized and follow built-in processes. It makes your life easier with dispute letter templates and automation to process many clients quickly and bring results.

You can manage all your customers from the software, collect payments and send automatic emails to your customers.

I recommend you use Credit Repair Cloud, the best credit repair software currently available. It allows you to run all your business and send dispute letters for your clients. You can read our comprehensive Credit Repair Cloud review here.

Best business credit repair software: Credit Repair Cloud

More than 20,000 entrepreneurs like you have used the software to start credit repair companies and improve their credit score of 12.7M customers, processing about $200M in sales and making 49 new millionaires.

You can join the Credit Hero Challenge and get all their credit repair business training and course certifications for only $47.

On top of that, they offer a 30-day free trial so that you can try Credit Repair Cloud risk-free. Investing in your business correctly should pay off in the future.

Step 2 – Get Credit Repair Clients

get clients for your credit repair business

Do you want to get your first clients or more customers?

Attention: as soon as you help other people you don't know, I strongly advise you to register your company and be insured, as explained later in this article.

You can get an unlimited flow of clients without paying for advertising. The goal is to help as many people as possible by starting from scratch while being profitable.

You don't want to spend money on expensive ads when you haven't perfected your processes yet! It would be the best way to burn your money with no return on investment and break your self-esteem seeing no one coming.

Most people wouldn't trust you with their personal finances; you would be a stranger possibly trying to scam them.

Be smart about your money, and don't take out a loan against your house or credit cards. You don't want to throw yourself into a money pit that will hurt your credit score.

Relax. Here's the solution.

Follow the step-by-step process below to get credit repair clients without spending on ads:

  1. Fix your credit score: before accepting clients, use Credit Repair Cloud and its training to fix your credit score. This way you'll feel more confident to help other people.

  2. Work with your friends & family to improve their credit scores, for free or for a small fee. Collect testimonials and referrals.

  3. Add affiliate partnerships.

Always offer a free pre-consultation to your potential clients so that they trust you and see if you can help them.

Below are essential things to consider when dealing with family and friends and building affiliate partnerships later. The success of your credit repair business relies on relationships and TRUST.

Friends & Family

improve your friends credit score

Once you start getting results, your friends and family will love what you do and start referring you to more people.

You can be sure that with actual results to show, it will make getting paying clients a breeze.

It's the power of word-of-mouth. For it to work, you have to do excellent work and give value, so your own clients can be your best advertising.

This is how the entrepreneurs now making millions of dollars with credit repair started.

Whenever you get fantastic results for a client, do this:

  • Testimonial: Ask your customer for a testimonial on your Facebook business page or company website. If you use Facebook, keep your business page active and promote it to get likes and increase your social proof.

  • Referrals: offer to pay them $50 or even $100 for each paid client they refer to you as an incentive. People with bad credit are often referred to your business by friends or family members who had a positive experience with your services. This word-of-mouth makes selling to them much easier.

Affiliate partnerships

mortgage broker

Add affiliates when you have your processes down and want to increase your client base.

The power of affiliate partnerships can amplify your credit repair business even further. Imagine the impact you could have by partnering with mortgage brokers, realtors, auto dealers, companies selling high-ticket items like solar panels, and more. All of them are turning away clients due to credit issues.

Not only will they love you for helping their clients, but a successful partnership will lead to even more referrals.

By helping their clients with credit, you would, in turn, help the company sell more houses and mortgages. Essentially, you become a key player in boosting sales for big-ticket items.

Your service is thus precious to them. It can be life-changing, potentially doubling or tripling their revenue.

Also, referrals from these industry professionals will be the easiest sales you will ever make. Their clients are already highly motivated and ready to take action toward their goal of buying a house or other high-ticket products.

And the referral source is also motivated to send these clients your way, as it benefits their own success in selling more properties.

It's a win-win for everyone involved. Expand your reach and grow your business by tapping into the power of affiliate partnerships.

How to get a lot of affiliate partnerships?

increase your sales with affiliates

You need to build relationships to get a lot of affiliates for your credit repair company.

Dress well as if you were going to a job interview. Then, meet all the mortgage brokers, realtors, or auto dealers you can find in your area and pitch them your business.

You can also call your potential affiliates instead of meeting them in person, especially if they are far from you. People are now used to contacting each other remotely.

They meet many people every day that could use your assistance. Offer to pay them a commission for each person that they refer to you who becomes a paying client.

It's a win-win situation for all parties: they get paid and sell more loans. Fixing their potential customers' bad credit scores is very valuable. On your side, you will not spend money on advertising, and yet you will constantly attract new customers!

What should your pitch be for getting affiliate partnerships?

pitch for a credit repair business

Here's the simple pitch you can use in your own words to convince brokers and others of your value proposition:

“Refer me the clients you are turning away so I can improve their credit and send them back to you.”

Deliver excellent results, and you'll see, they will send you lots of business! Some credit repair businesses have made millions this way.

The sky is the limit for those willing to leave their comfort zone. Do you see yourself doing this to be successful? I think it's worth a try!

Just reach out to a few potential affiliates to get started. You only need to convince 1 affiliate to have them regularly refer their customers and friends.

Imagine where you will be a few years from now if you do the 3 steps I told you:

  1. Fix your credit score,

  2. Friends & family,

  3. Affiliate partnerships.

FREE TRAINING – Secrets to Easily Creating a Profitable Credit Repair Business

Step 3 – Build Credibility

how to start a credit repair business: build trust

As a credit repair agent, you will be known as an expert in your field who people can trust and rely on.

Remember that many credit repair clients have had unhappy experiences with financial institutions or potential shady credit repair professionals, so your first goal should be to gain their trust.

Even though you don't need a degree to start a credit repair business, I recommend getting certified anyway. This will help build your credibility and give you a leg up on the competition in the credit repair industry.

Indeed, you will have access to your customer's sensitive personal and financial information, so you must build their trust.

The best way to do this is to show concrete evidence that they can trust you:

  • Visibility: Participate in community events so people can progressively get to know and trust you.

  • Be Helpful: Give your community free, actionable tips for building trust and respect, but don't give away all your secrets. For example, you can host a “Credit Repair Workshop” explaining credit repair basics.

  • Proof of Results: testimonials, customer reviews, word-of-mouth.

  • Company Registration

  • Credit Repair Certification: become a certified credit repair specialist so people will trust you more easily.

  • Affiliates: If you can obtain local financial affiliates, such as mortgage brokers, let the public know so that people will be more likely to trust your business.

  • Physical Office: If you're successful, you can invest in a physical office location with proper branding where your clients can meet you. The goal is to build trust and show that you're a credible business in the competitive credit repair industry.

Credit Repair Business Training

Here is some valuable training you can take to learn how to start a credit repair company.

You will learn from scratch how to read credit reports, send dispute letters, work with clients, and build your business.

Step 4 – Register Your Business

credit repair business LLC registration

The benefits of registering your business are numerous, but one significant advantage is that it will give you access to open a business bank account and become an official company.

The credit repair industry is a high-risk business due to customers' poor financial profiles, and it's essential to show the banks they can trust you. That way, they won't reject your credit repair business!

To set your company apart from the competition, choose a business name that reflects the quality of service you will provide. The .com domain name should be available! This way, customers will know what to expect when interacting with your brand.

The next step in starting a credit repair business is to consult with an experienced tax professional and find out what legal form will be most appropriate for your needs.

There are three popular options: Sole Proprietorship, DBA (Doing Business As), or LLC – all have pros and cons, so you must do plenty of research before making any decisions.

You can ask an intermediary to do the business registration process for you.

Consider the following aspects:

  • Business License

  • Small Business Taxes. You can find more information about federal, state, and local taxes on the US government's official website.

Once you have the necessary knowledge and business license, you're ready to start your credit repair business!

Step 5 – Open a Business Bank Account

bank vault

The banking system is difficult for entrepreneurs in the credit repair business because their customers have bad credit scores and less-than-ideal financial habits. Having a bank merchant account is challenging in this high-risk credit repair industry.

However, below are some more friendly banks that may accept you when presenting your credit repair business plan.

Banks for Credit Repair Businesses

  • Wells Fargo

  • Bank Of America

  • SunTrust

  • Schools First Credit Union

  • Regions Bank

  • Navy Federal Credit Union

  • BBVA

You should train yourself to pitch your project, prepare a short credit repair business plan and contact the first bank before making changes. If they reject you, learn from it and see another bank.

This way, you should get your merchant account quickly!

Step 6 – File for Surety Bonds

credit repair business surety bond insurance

As a credit repair business charging fees to repair your client's credit, you're a credit service organization or CSO.

Therefore, you'll need to obtain a credit repair surety bond.

A surety bond is insurance that protects your customers from financial loss if you violate the terms of your agreement with them.

Indeed, it would help if you got a surety bond for your client, as you can never predict what will happen when fixing their credit reports and score.

Bond registration is simple, and the price will depend on your location. For example, SuretyBonds.com lets you easily file for a CSO surety bond.

Credit Repair Laws

credit repair laws

Credit repair is regulated, and there are important federal laws to know before starting a credit repair business.

The CROA and the FCRA are part of the Consumer Credit Protection Act, a federal law that protects consumers from abusive practices. The FACTA later amended the FCRA.

You can find them on the Federal Trade Commission website.

Let's review these federal laws below that credit repair companies must follow:

1 – Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA)

The Credit Repair Organizations Act or CROA protects consumers from companies that offer false or misleading information about “credit repair” services.

Keep these three points in mind:

  • You have to sign a written contract with clients.

  • You can't ask customers for advance payment.

  • Your clients have some contract cancellation rights.

2 – Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)

The FCRA protects the information gathered by consumer reporting agencies, like credit bureaus. The FCRA assures that information in Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion files is accurate, fair, and private.

  • You can't request access to consumer report information unless you have a valid, specific purpose as specified in the FCRA Act.

  • Companies that give information to consumer report agencies/credit bureaus have a legal responsibility to investigate any disputed information.

  • Entities who request information for employment, insurance, or credit must tell the consumer when they make a negative decision because of the information in the report.

3 – Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA)

The FCRA was expanded by this Act, with most changes focusing on identity theft and data accuracy.

In 2003, the FACTA was signed into federal law. This Act gave all citizens of the United States free access to their credit reports once per year through AnnualCreditReport.com.

Congratulations on learning the ropes! The next step for you is to get your business insured and protected.

4 – Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR)

The Telemarketing Sales Rule, among other restrictions, sets payment restrictions. You can learn more on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) website.

The Telemarketing Sales Rule (or the “TSR”) severely restricts credit repair companies.

For example, credit repair companies cannot accept fees unless the customer's credit report improves six months after performing the service. Practically speaking, it is impossible to comply with this TSR provision.

You can have a successful credit repair business without telemarketing. Telemarketing is a terrible idea that will only turn people away.

No one wants to receive phone calls from strangers.

Instead, use word-of-mouth and affiliate partnerships to grow your credit repair company, as explained earlier in this guide.

State Laws for a Credit Repair Business

To operate a credit repair business in the United States, you must follow the laws related to credit repair at the federal and state level.

Check here to know if you are allowed to run a credit repair business in your state.

FAQ

What is Credit Repair?

Credit repair is the process of fixing your credit report so that your credit score improves. This can involve removing negative information from your report, disputing errors, and negotiating with creditors to get them to remove late payments or other negative items from your account.

Credit repair services can help you through the process, but knowing what you're doing and how it will impact your credit score is essential.

What is a Credit Repair Business?

A credit repair business is a service that helps people improve and then maintain their credit scores by disputing negative items on their credit reports.

Doing so may improve your client's credit scores, allowing them to borrow more easily.

A credit repair business helps people change their lives, and you can make a great living in the process.

You can quickly start and run a credit repair business as a side hustle or full-time job from the comfort of your home.

How much can you charge for credit repair services?

Credit repair businesses typically charge $59 to $99 a month.

Look at your competitor's pricing strategy; don't be too hungry initially, as you are not yet established.

Attract your first customers with friendly pricing!

How much can you make with your credit repair business?

The answer to this question depends on several factors, including how much you charge, the size of your business, and the services you offer.

You can use this credit repair business calculator to estimate your monthly recurring revenue depending on the following:

  • Initial one-time service fee

  • Recurring fee

  • Number of active clients

  • Expected churn rate (monthly cancellations)

credit repair business profit calculator

How to Fix Credit?

The steps involved in repairing your customer's credit include the following:

  • Getting access and reviewing their credit report.

  • Analysis: Identifying negative items on their report that you can dispute. These items may be erroneous; credit agencies can make mistakes when entering data into a credit report.

  • Sending dispute letters to the credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. They are legally obligated to analyze dispute letters and remove erroneous negative items from credit reports.

  • Credit Report Freeze: It allows you to freeze your credit report so that creditors cannot access it without your permission. A credit bureau has 24 hours to freeze your account once it receives this request. The credit agency will only lift the freeze if you tell them to do so.

  • Negotiating with creditors to have late payments and other negative items removed from their accounts.

  • Monitoring your customer's credit report to ensure that negative items are removed and their credit score improves.

You can take many more steps to help your customers improve their credit scores, but these are the basics.

These steps can be time-consuming, so you should be patient and work diligently on your customer's behalf.

It's also important to remember that credit repair is not a quick fix. It can take months or even years to see significant improvements in your customer's credit score.

But the effort is worth it, as a good credit score can help your customer access loans or save thousands of dollars in interest over the lifetime of a loan.

And that's why starting a credit repair business can be so rewarding for you as a credit repair business owner changing lives.

What are the leading Credit Reporting Agencies (CRA)?

The 3 main credit reporting agencies in the US are TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian.

A credit reporting agency (CRA) is another name for a credit reporting bureau.

Financial institutions partner with CRA, for example, to provide lists of potential customers and soft inquiries for prequalification approval requests on personal loans or credit cards.

Can you do everything on behalf of your customers?

Credit repair businesses can help customers file the necessary paperwork to start dispute processes.

You can prepare the dispute letters, but your clients must sign and mail them themselves.

How to automate your credit repair business?

Use credit repair software like Credit Repair Cloud, sales funnels, and email marketing to automate your credit repair business.

Credit Repair Cloud is a web-based software that helps you process disputes, manage your customers, automate workflows, and get paid.

It includes a built-in CRM to track your customers' progress, a dispute wizard to help you prepare letters, and a payment gateway so you can get paid automatically.

Sales funnels help you convert leads into customers by walking them through several steps, from awareness to purchase.

Email marketing helps you nurture leads and keep customers updated on their progress.

How to scale your credit repair business?

As you grow, outsource your operational tasks to freelance virtual assistants or in-house employees. Hire a team of remote sales representatives to help you acquire new clients.

If you have the budget, consider investing in marketing and advertising to scale your business even faster.

You can also pivot your business and offer digital products like dispute letter templates you sell via an online course platform.

Conclusion

Now that you know how to start a credit repair business, it's time to start!

You can gradually work your way through the steps. For instance, you could use credit repair software like Credit Repair Cloud and its free 30-day trial to educate yourself on the credit repair process and then practice for free with people you know before registering your company and handling paid clients.

By taking things slowly, you increase your chances of success by learning as you go and building a solid foundation for your new business venture.

Credit repair is an essential service that can help people get back on their feet financially. With the right credit repair software and knowledge, it can be a very profitable business venture.

If you're motivated to start repairing credit for others, we suggest checking out Credit Repair Cloud's free training today.

You could be on your way to becoming a successful credit repair entrepreneur in just a few short steps.

What challenges do you face in starting your credit repair business? Let me know in the comments!

What are you waiting for? Start your journey today!


Disclaimer

I am an independent Credit Repair Cloud Affiliate, not an employee. I receive referral payments from Credit Repair Cloud. The opinions expressed here are my own and are not official statements of Credit Repair Cloud.

Ecombridges information is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for legal advice or professional financial advice.

Credit Repair Organizations Act and other legal requirements vary per state. You should always seek advice from legal professionals and appropriate financial institutions.

About The Author

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *