I remember paying month after month, hoping this time my score would finally move. The company told me to be patient, that results take time. But the truth was, nothing really changed. Even when an item got deleted, it showed right back up. I felt like I was throwing money into a black hole.
What I did not realize then was this simple fact: credit repair cannot actually repair your credit. The law does not allow people to sell it the way they do, and the final decision about your report always belongs to the three bureaus. That means no matter how much you pay, you are not in control.
The breakthrough came when I learned about compliance. If an account is out of compliance with the FCRA standard, the bureaus must delete it permanently. It does not matter if the debt is valid or not. That is when I finally saw progress.
I have seen people go from 520 to over 650 once their out-of-compliance items were removed. I have seen families who kept getting turned down for homes finally close on the house they thought they would never get. That is the difference between chasing repair and using compliance.