If you want to talk to someone about your credit score, your best options are the three credit bureaus for reporting errors, a nonprofit credit counselor for debt problems, a HUD-approved housing counselor if you’re preparing to buy a home, a loan officer at your bank or credit union for a specific loan decision, and a fee-only financial advisor when credit fits into a wider money plan. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is where you go when one of those companies won’t cooperate. Before you call any of them, pull your own reports — most score problems trace back to something you can see on the page yourself.
Check Your Own Reports First
You’re entitled to a free credit report from each of the three major bureaus once every 12 months under federal law.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681i – Procedure in Case of Disputed Accuracy In practice, the bureaus have permanently extended a program that lets you pull all three once a week at no cost through AnnualCreditReport.com. Equifax is also offering six additional free reports per year through 2026.2Federal Trade Commission. Free Credit Reports
Order through AnnualCreditReport.com, call 1-877-322-8228, or mail the Annual Credit Report Request Form to the address listed on the site. Don’t use the bureaus’ own websites for this; the centralized site is the only federally authorized channel for the free annual report.2Federal Trade Commission. Free Credit Reports Look for accounts you don’t recognize, balances that seem wrong, and late payments you believe were on time. Whatever you find here shapes which of the conversations below is worth having.
The Credit Bureaus, for Errors on Your Report
Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion compile the files that lenders read. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you have the right to review your file and dispute anything inaccurate, and disputing is free.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681i – Procedure in Case of Disputed Accuracy
Submit disputes online through each bureau’s website, or send a certified letter with copies of supporting documents. Once a bureau receives your dispute, it has 30 days to investigate. That window can stretch to 45 days if you send additional information during the investigation.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681i – Procedure in Case of Disputed Accuracy If the bureau confirms the error, it has to correct or delete the item.
If you’ve recently been denied credit, use the adverse action notice. The lender is required to tell you the credit score it used, the range of possible scores, the key factors that hurt you, and the bureau that supplied the report.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681m – Requirements on Users of Consumer Reports You also get a free copy of that report within 60 days. The denial letter is often where people find the errors worth disputing.
Nonprofit Credit Counselors, for Debt Problems
If your score is suffering because of high balances, missed payments, or too many open accounts, a nonprofit credit counselor is the person to call. Agencies affiliated with the National Foundation for Credit Counseling employ certified counselors who review your full financial picture, explain which factors are hurting your score, and turn that into concrete steps.4National Foundation for Credit Counseling. Debt Management Plans Initial sessions at NFCC-affiliated agencies are typically free or very low cost.
One of the most useful services is a debt management plan. Instead of juggling several credit card payments at different interest rates, you make one monthly payment to the agency, which distributes it to your creditors. Counselors negotiate with lenders to reduce interest rates and waive late fees, which can shorten your payoff timeline significantly.4National Foundation for Credit Counseling. Debt Management Plans Setup fees generally run $30 to $50, with monthly maintenance fees of $25 to $75 depending on the agency and your state’s fee caps.
Don’t Confuse This With Debt Settlement
Debt settlement companies are not credit help, and they’re easy to mistake for credit counselors. Nonprofit credit counselors never tell you to stop paying your debts; they work with your creditors to adjust terms while your accounts stay current. Debt settlement companies do the opposite. They typically instruct you to stop paying entirely while they negotiate a lump-sum payoff for less than what you owe. Fees and interest keep accumulating, your credit takes serious damage from the missed payments, and you’re exposed to collection efforts and lawsuits.5Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Is the Difference Between Credit Counseling and Debt Settlement, Debt Consolidation, or Credit Repair There’s a tax surprise too: forgiven debt is generally treated as taxable income, so a $10,000 settlement can produce a tax bill you weren’t expecting.6Internal Revenue Service. Canceled Debt – Is It Taxable or Not
HUD-Approved Housing Counselors, if the Goal Is a Mortgage
If the reason you care about your score is buying a home, HUD-approved housing counseling agencies offer free or low-cost one-on-one sessions. That includes an assessment of your finances, help building a budget, and an action plan tailored to your homeownership goal. These counselors can walk you through the score thresholds different mortgage programs require and how to close the gap. Find a nearby HUD-approved agency through the Housing Counseling Locator at 1-800-569-4287.7HUD Exchange. Housing Counseling Program Overview
A Loan Officer at Your Bank or Credit Union
Talking to a loan officer won’t move your score by itself, but it will tell you exactly where you stand with that institution. Every lender uses its own risk models and score thresholds for different products. A loan officer can tell you what you’d need to qualify for the auto loan or mortgage you’re after, and what changes on your file would tip the decision.
Rapid Rescoring
If you’re in the middle of a mortgage application and your score is just below the cutoff, ask your lender about rapid rescoring. This lets the lender request an updated credit report after you’ve made a specific change, such as paying down a card balance or getting an error corrected. It typically takes three to five business days instead of the usual reporting cycle. You can’t request it yourself; the lender has to initiate it.
Financial Advisors, When Credit Is Part of a Bigger Plan
A financial advisor treats your credit score as one piece of a wealth-building strategy. Higher borrowing costs from a lower score mean less money for retirement contributions, investments, and emergency savings. Advisors help you weigh tradeoffs, like whether it makes more sense to aggressively pay down a high-interest card or capture a 401(k) match you’re leaving on the table. They can also help you time large purchases so your credit profile is in the best shape when you apply.
Pay attention to how the advisor is paid. Fee-only advisors are compensated solely by their clients and typically operate as registered investment advisers held to a fiduciary standard, meaning they’re legally required to put your interests first. Commission-based advisors who work for a broker-dealer are held to a lower “best interest” standard and may have incentives to recommend products that generate commissions. For credit and debt advice, the fee-only model tends to produce cleaner recommendations because the advisor has no reason to steer you toward a particular product.
Credit Repair Companies: Read This Before You Pay
Credit repair companies charge a fee to dispute negative items for you. Everything they do, you can do yourself for free. Filing disputes with bureaus, requesting debt verification from collectors, and reviewing your reports costs nothing when you handle it directly.
If you still want to hire one, federal law gives you specific protections. The Credit Repair Organizations Act requires a written contract before any work begins, and that contract has to spell out the total cost, a detailed description of services, and an estimated timeline.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1679d – Credit Repair Organizations Contracts The company cannot charge you before the services are fully performed.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1679b – Prohibited Practices You have three business days after signing to cancel without penalty.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1679e – Right to Cancel Contract If a company violates these rules, you can sue and recover either your actual damages or everything you paid the company, whichever is greater, plus punitive damages and attorney’s fees.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1679g – Civil Liability
Warning signs of a scam include demands for payment upfront, promises to remove accurate negative information, advice to use an EIN in place of your Social Security number, pressure to lie on credit applications, and any work started before you’ve signed a contract.12Federal Trade Commission. Spot the Scams When Fixing Your Credit Legitimate credit repair companies exist. The main thing you’re paying them for is time, not access.
The CFPB, When a Company Won’t Cooperate
When a dispute with a bureau or creditor stalls, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is the next call. You can submit a complaint about credit reporting errors directly on the CFPB’s website, and the agency forwards it to the company and works to get you a response.13Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Do I Dispute an Error on My Credit Report This isn’t a lawsuit and the CFPB doesn’t represent you, but companies tend to respond more seriously to a complaint filed through the bureau than to a second round of the same dispute letter. The CFPB also tracks complaint patterns, which feeds into enforcement actions against repeat offenders.