3 Best Credit Repair Services for Single Parents (Feb. 2024)

Best Credit Repair Services For Single Parents

If this planet has a job tougher than single parenting, I have yet to encounter it. Even putting aside the physical and emotional challenges of raising one or more children on your own, the financial stress can often be overwhelming.

It’s no wonder some single parents fall behind on their bills and damage their credit. When this happens, credit repair for single parents may help you recover your financial standing. That’s important because having the ability to access affordable credit may be a critical asset during family emergencies.

We review three of the best credit repair services that single parents can use to fix errors on their credit reports to help increase their credit scores. Those mistakes weigh down your score, and removing them can immediately improve your credit standing.

3 Credit Repair Services for Single Parents

While you can undertake credit repair yourself, these credit repair companies provide you with expert assistance when you don’t have the time, knowledge, or inclination to do it yourself. Though not a solution for all credit problems, these companies are good at cleaning up credit reports that are weighed down by erroneous information.

  • Since 2004, Lexington Law Firm clients saw over 81 million items removed from their credit reports
  • Get started today with a free online credit report consultation
  • Cancel anytime
  • See official site, terms, and details.
★★★★★

4.9

Overall Rating

Better Business Bureau In Business Since Monthly Cost Reputation Score
See BBB Listing 2004 $99.95 8/10

Lexington Law charges $99.95 per month for credit repair services. You start with a free consultation that previews negative items on your TransUnion credit report.

When you sign up for its service, Lexington Law works with you to identify errors on your three credit reports and then generate the appropriate correspondence to remove the errors. The company has helped more than 500,000 clients since 2004. In 2018 alone, it removed more than 9 million derogatory items from its clients’ credit reports.

  • Free online consultation
  • CreditRepair.com members saw over 8.6 million removals on their credit reports since 2012
  • Free access to your credit report summary
  • Three-step plan for checking, challenging and changing your credit report
  • Online tools to help clients track results
  • See official site, terms, and details.
★★★★★

4.6

Overall Rating

Better Business Bureau In Business Since Monthly Cost Reputation Score
See BBB Listing 2012 $69.95+ 8/10

CreditRepair.com disputes errors on your credit report for a subscription fee that starts at $69.95 a month plus a one-time charge of $14.99. Your subscription buys you a full analysis of your three credit reports and targeted correspondence to challenge and remove incorrect information.

You also get TransUnion credit monitoring, text and email alerts, and a credit score tracker. In 2018, CreditRepair.com filed 28 disputes, on average, per client with a 40-point increase on TransUnion credit scores over the initial four-month period.

Sky Blue Credit Repair has been cleaning up credit reports since 1989. It disputes questionable items on your credit report for $79 a month for individuals, $129 for couples. The service provides a 90-day, full money-back guarantee, and you can cancel or pause the service at any time.

Sky Blue Credit Repair pledges to challenge 15 items every 35 days. The service also includes goodwill letters, debt validation, cease communication letters, and debt settlement consultations, all for no extra cost.

What Options Do Single Parents Have to Fix Their Credit?

Removing incorrect items from your credit reports is an important first step toward fixing your credit. You can attempt this job on your own by requesting free copies of your credit reports from AnnualCreditReport.com and then sending out letters to dispute errors.

Credit Report Evaluation Infographic

Credit repair correspondence must be done precisely and correctly to be effective. Unless you are willing to spend the time to learn the right way to correct your reports, you may be better served by using a credit repair company like the ones reviewed here.

But fixing and monitoring your credit reports is only the beginning. It’s then up to you to take the steps necessary to improve your credit.

You have several options, starting with debt consolidation. You can accomplish this by transferring all your debt balances to a single credit facility such as a credit card, home equity loan/line of credit, or personal loan.

You then systematically pay down your old debt without incurring any new debt. Naturally, this works best if you have enough net income to pay down your debt.

A more aggressive approach is to enter into debt settlement consultations with your creditors. In this process, you meet with an arbitrator (which can be a credit repair company that offers the service) and your creditors to work out new repayment terms.

Those new terms may include some debt forgiveness, lower interest rates, and/or longer repayment periods. Creditors prefer this approach over bankruptcy since they are likely to receive more repayment and spend less money than taking you to court or proceeding with a collection.

Bankruptcy may be the best option if you are unable to repay debts, although it will severely damage your credit, at least in the short run. However, you can expect a diminishing impact on your credit score after the first two years.

In Chapter 7 bankruptcy, folks with few financial resources can have their debts discharged (i.e., forgiven), but their credit reports will carry the bankruptcy for up to 10 years. Alternatively, you can file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy if you have too many resources to qualify for Chapter 7.

Chart Showing Time Items Take to Age Off a Credit Report

Under Chapter 13, you reorganize your debts and agree to repay them under a court-supervised plan. This is much like the debt settlement option but involves a court-appointed Chapter 13 trustee who collects your payments and distributes the money to your creditors. After three to five years, your remaining debt is discharged, but your bankruptcy stays on your credit reports for 10 years, with less impact on your score over time.

The good thing about bankruptcy is that it cleans the slate and lets you start rebuilding your credit. You do this by using credit only modestly and making all your payments on time.

You should keep your credit utilization ratio (i.e., total credit used divided by total credit available) under 30%, although 20% or lower will be more helpful. You may have to start with secured credit, and you can ask a friend or relative to add you as an authorized user on a credit card.

How Much Do Credit Repair Services Cost?

The cost of using a credit repair company is typically in the range of $100 per month, give or take $20. The price depends, in part, on the number of services you want to use.

In some cases, you may want to have potential errors on your credit report identified, whereas you may want the company to aggressively dispute derogatory items in the hope of having them removed.

It can take a month or two for the process to start yielding positive results. Typically, you sign up for a six-month period, although you should be able to cancel at any time.

Some companies offer extra services a la carte while others include them at no extra cost. For example, Lexington Law offers their services for $99.95 per month.

On the other hand, CreditRepair.com offers three service levels, charging $69.95 per month plus a one-time fee of $14.95 for its basic plan. Even the most basic service offers several tools to help you track and analyze your credit scores. It does not offer debt settlement services.

The fee at Sky Blue Credit Repair is $79 per month with an initial $79 start-up fee. Couples can sign up for $119 per month. Unlike the other companies, this one offers only one service level that includes extra services as needed.

How Can a Single Parent Get Financial Help?

A single parent may need financial support for a variety of reasons, such as covering the costs of food, child care, rent, or utilities. Your home may need repair that you can’t afford, or your kids may need expensive medical care.

Thankfully, federal, state, and local programs, as well as nonprofit organizations and charities, address many of the problems faced by a single parent who needs financial assistance.

For example, nutritional assistance is a primary concern for single parents. Accordingly, you can sign up for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (i.e., food stamps) that provides benefits to help you buy the food you need.

The National School Lunch Program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) helps about 30 million children per year get a low-cost or no-cost lunch at school. The Farmers Market Nutrition Program, also from the USDA, issues coupons that eligible parents can use to purchase food from farmers, farmers markets, and roadside stands approved for the program.

Low-cost health insurance for children is available to low-income families through the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), a part of Medicaid. In 2018, there were 9.6 million children age 19 or younger who participated in CHIP.

If you need help with housing or temporary shelter, you can reach out to organizations like Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. For a directory of financial resources available through government programs, check out the Benefits.gov website.

See Quick Results by Removing Mistakes from Your Reports

Our review of companies offering credit repair for single parents recommends three providers that offer affordable assistance. These companies work with you to remove mistakes from your credit reports at the three national credit bureaus.

Removing errors from your credit reports should immediately boost your credit scores. You can help by paying your bills on time and controlling the amount of credit you use. We also identify sources of information about many organizations and programs that offer financial support to single parents.

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