Credit repair companies and fixing your credit file yourself

Credit repair companies sell a simple promise: pay a fee and negative marks on your credit file, such as missed payments, defaults or court judgments, will be cleaned up. In the UK, that promise runs into a hard rule. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) states that a firm must not claim to be able to remove negative but accurate information from a customer's credit file, including entries concerning adverse credit information and court judgments¹. Accurate entries stay until they expire under the rules on how long information stays on your credit file, no matter who is asking.

That does not make every credit repair firm a scam. Some do lawful work: checking your file for errors, raising disputes with lenders and credit reference agencies, and adding explanatory notes. But everything a legitimate firm can do, you can do yourself for free. The three main consumer credit reference agencies in the UK are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion², and each has a process for correcting wrong information that costs nothing. This page explains what credit repair firms may lawfully do, what they may not, how to check a firm is authorised, and how to fix your file without paying anyone.

What credit repair companies offer

A credit repair company offers to improve what lenders see when they search your file. The services typically fall into three groups: disputing entries the customer says are wrong, asking for entries to be removed or marked as satisfied, and adding notes explaining the circumstances behind adverse information. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which oversees how credit reference agencies handle your data, notes that consumers may ask to submit a "notice of correction" note to explain the circumstances behind an entry⁶, and this is one of the few things that can genuinely be added to a file.

The limits are set by who actually controls the data. As a general rule, if the entry you are looking at has the name of a company on it, it is likely to be that company who is responsible for that entry, and the credit reference agencies cannot amend this data without the permission of that company². So a credit repair firm, whatever it charges, is in the same position as you: it must persuade the lender that reported the entry, or the agency holding it, that something is wrong. There is no third party with special powers to delete records.

The FCA's Consumer Credit sourcebook sets out what firms providing credit information services must and must not do. The rules state that the Principles apply to a firm providing such services, and that a firm should set out clearly in any communication to a customer the extent of the service it is able to offer¹. In other words, a firm may lawfully offer to check your file, raise disputes and explain your rights, but it must be honest about what that work can achieve. A firm that promises removal of accurate entries is not offering a service that exists.

If you are trying to understand what is on your file in the first place, the guides to what is on your credit report and how to check your credit report for free cover the ground without a fee.

Fees: high charges for what you can do free

Credit repair firms typically charge upfront fees or monthly fees for their work. The FCA does not cap these fees, but the pattern of complaints about similar fee-charging services is well documented. The Financial Ombudsman Service reports that people contact it because they are unhappy about being charged a fee by a credit broker for finding a loan, sometimes charged a fee even without getting a loan, with fees not refunded when no loan was taken out or offered, and being misled or not correctly informed about the loan's terms or cost⁷. Credit repair firms that also act as brokers, introducing customers to lenders, generate exactly this kind of complaint.

The contrast with the free routes is stark. You can check your credit file for free, including through Experian and TransUnion³. Raising a dispute with a credit reference agency costs nothing. Adding a notice of correction costs nothing. Even where a fee is lawfully charged in a related context, the rules are strict: in Scotland, a landlord should not charge a fee for doing a credit check for you or your guarantor, and such fees are illegal and can be claimed back⁸. The principle is the same across credit services: the checking and correcting of your own financial information does not require a paid third party.

If money is tight because of the debts behind the adverse entries, the debt section sets out free sources of debt advice and the solutions available, which is usually the more useful starting point than paying for file repairs.

Credit repair firms must be FCA authorised

Firms providing credit information services in the UK are regulated. The FCA's rules in this area apply to firms offering these services, and the regulator expects them to be authorised and to follow the Principles, including the Consumer Duty¹. Before paying anything to a credit repair firm, check its status.

The FCA has launched a tool to help consumers check if financial services firms are authorised and have permission to sell products and services⁹. You can also check whether a provider or adviser is authorised on the FCA register at register.fca.org.uk¹⁰, or telephone the FCA consumer helpline⁹. The Financial Ombudsman Service likewise advises people to use the FCA's Firm Checker to confirm a firm is authorised and help avoid scams¹¹.

The check matters for more than legality. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) only covers financial services firms that have been authorised by the FCA or the Prudential Regulation Authority to do business in the UK¹². Its guidance sets out the steps: first check your provider is authorised by the FCA, then find out if the particular activity the authorised firm is carrying out for you is regulated by the PRA or the FCA¹³. You can check the Financial Services Register on the FCA's website at register.fca.org.uk to see if the firm mentioned is authorised¹⁴. For debt management specifically, FSCS protection requires that the firm was authorised by the FCA and held client money¹⁵.

Authorisation also opens the door to redress. The FCA can use its powers under section 404 of the Act to make rules requiring authorised persons, electronic money issuers and payment service providers to establish and operate consumer redress schemes³. Consumers may choose to complain to the firm and seek redress from it, and refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service if the firm does not satisfy the complaint and it is appropriate to do so¹⁶. An unauthorised firm sits outside all of this: no ombudsman, no compensation scheme, and often no realistic way to recover your money.

Why a firm cannot remove accurate information

The FCA's rule is explicit. A firm must not claim to be able to remove negative but accurate information from a customer's credit file, including entries concerning adverse credit information and court judgments¹. This rule has been in force since 1 April 2014, and in June 2026 the FCA added further guidance: it is likely to be a contravention of the Principles, in particular the Consumer Duty cross-cutting obligations to act in good faith and to avoid causing foreseeable harm, where a firm claims to be able to remove negative but accurate entries but instead offers its service as a lender or credit broker, or fails to inform a customer that a credit reference agency will only send the customer's credit file to the customer¹.

The reason the rule exists is structural. The Information Commissioner's Office says credit reference agencies cannot amend data on credit files provided by other companies without that company's permission⁶. The ICO's guidance for the public puts it plainly: if the entry has the name of a company on it, it is likely to be that company who is responsible for that entry, and the agencies cannot amend this data without the permission of that company². Each of the credit reference agencies provides lenders with the facilities to make their own changes to the information you see on your credit file¹⁷. There is no back door.

The legal framework behind this is long-standing. The Consumer Credit (Credit Reference Agency) Regulations 2000 supplement sections 157 to 160 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and section 9(3) of the Data Protection Act 1998, which relate to disclosure to consumers of information about their financial standing held by credit reference agencies and the correction of such information where it is found to be wrong or incomplete¹⁸. In other words, the law gives you, the consumer, the right to see and correct your file. It does not give anyone the right to delete accurate history.

What can be done with accurate but adverse entries is limited and free. Consumers may ask to submit a "notice of correction" note to explain the circumstances⁶, covered in detail in notice of correction on your credit report. And the rules protect you in one respect when shopping around: a firm undertaking a credit reference search should not leave evidence of an application on a credit file where a customer is not yet ready to apply¹⁹, which is why eligibility checkers use soft searches.

Fixing your credit file yourself

Everything a legitimate credit repair firm does, you can do without paying. The process is straightforward, and the agencies and lenders are set up to deal with you directly.

Start by getting your reports. You can check your credit file for free, including through Experian and TransUnion³, and the three main UK credit agencies are TransUnion, Equifax and Experian²⁰. Then find the entry and who reported it: as a general rule, the company named on the entry is the one responsible for it, and the agencies cannot amend that data without the company's permission². Raise the problem with the agency or the lender directly. The Insolvency Service, for example, states it is not able to correct any information on your credit file; you must contact the credit reference agency to resolve any issues²¹. The same logic applies to every public body: the correction route runs through the agencies and the lenders, not through intermediaries.

If the entry is accurate but the circumstances deserve explanation, add a notice of correction. Consumers may ask to submit a "notice of correction" note to explain the circumstances⁶. If the dispute is not resolved, complain to the firm and then to the ombudsman. The Financial Ombudsman Service can ask a business to correct a credit file, refund extra costs, and pay compensation for distress or inconvenience²². In one published case study, the ombudsman ordered a lender to remove the negative judgement from a customer's credit file²³, which shows the remedy exists when the entry is wrong, and it is free to pursue.

The step-by-step detail is in how to correct wrong information on your credit report, with the wider picture in credit scores and credit reports. If the underlying problem is missed payments or defaults, missed and late payments on your credit file and defaults and default notices explain how long they last and what improves them.

Clearing decrees and court records

Court judgments are the entries people most want removed, and the rules are the same for everyone: accurate judgments stay until the rules say they go. In Scotland, decrees are only removed from the Register if they are recalled by the court, entered in error or paid in full within one calendar month of the date of decree²⁴. Paying after that month does not remove the decree; it is marked as satisfied. The Registry Trust notifies credit reference agencies of all decrees, recalls and dismissals on a regular basis²⁵, so the register and your credit file update together.

For a decree to be shown as satisfied, a letter of satisfaction must contain the name of the court, the case number, the date of decree, the amount of decree, and the date that the debt was repaid in full²⁶. Creditors have a duty to move promptly: water companies, for example, are told to tell courts promptly when customers clear their debts²⁷. The Registry Trust notifies credit reference agencies of all decrees, recalls and dismissals on a regular basis²⁵, so a properly issued satisfaction should reach your file without a paid intermediary.

The position is similar in Northern Ireland, where credit reference agencies pick up information from other sources such as the Insolvency Register, advertisements of bankruptcies in newspapers, "The Belfast Gazette" and the "Belfast Telegraph", and the Enforcement of Judgements Office²⁸. The detail for each nation is in credit files in Scotland, credit files in Northern Ireland and the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines, with the one-month rule for CCJs in paying a CCJ within a month and the satisfaction process in getting a certificate of satisfaction for a paid CCJ.

Where FCA protection stops: scams and false information

Not every firm marketing credit repair is authorised, and some are straightforwardly fraudulent. The FCA's June 2026 guidance addresses the borderline: where a firm claims to be able to remove negative but accurate entries but instead offers its service as a lender or credit broker, or fails to inform a customer that a credit reference agency will only send the customer's credit file to the customer, that is likely to be a contravention of the Principles, including the Consumer Duty obligations to act in good faith and to avoid causing foreseeable harm¹. A firm that takes payment on a promise it cannot lawfully deliver is at best misleading you and at worst defrauding you.

The term "credit repair" also appears in a different market altogether: after a no-fault car accident, accident management companies arrange credit hire cars and repairs, and the consumer enters into an unregulated agreement for the hire car and repairs, setting out daily rate credit hire charges payable at a future date⁴. If the third-party insurer refuses to pay, for example where they think the accident is the consumer's fault or dispute the amount, the consumer might be held responsible for covering the costs⁴. This is not credit file repair, but the shared name causes confusion, and the financial exposure can be serious.

If you have already paid a firm you now suspect is bogus, act quickly. Speak to your bank, building society or credit union, as they can protect and reimburse victims of certain types of fraud, and report to Action Fraud at www.actionfraud.police.uk¹⁴. The ombudsman can also look into complaints about the bank or payment service provider that received the money, considering the steps taken to recover it and whether it should have had concerns about its customer's account²⁹. Before any future payment, use the FCA's Firm Checker to confirm the firm is authorised and help avoid scams¹¹.

Where to complain: trading standards and the Financial Ombudsman

If a credit repair firm has charged you, misled you or done nothing useful, there are free routes to challenge it. The first step is always to complain to the firm itself and seek redress from it¹⁶. The ombudsman only looks at complaints the business has had an opportunity to deal with first, and you can come to it if you are unhappy with the decision or the business does not respond within the time limits³⁰. It can also look into a complaint before eight weeks have passed, but only if the business and the customer agree⁵.

For claims companies specifically, you can complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service if you are unhappy with the service you have received, for example the results of your claim or the fees charged, and you can complain to the FCA if you are unhappy with the conduct of a claims company³¹. In Northern Ireland, Consumerline can refer your complaint to the Trading Standards Service for investigation or the Financial Conduct Authority which authorises lenders³³. The ombudsman's consumer credit work covers complaints about payday loans, the affordability of lending, being unhappy with the quality of goods bought or hired with credit, and other types of lending including mortgages³².

The ombudsman takes these cases seriously and in volume. Its annual activity report for 9 July 2023 to 8 July 2024 recorded 129,090 complaints about banking including consumer credit, and 75 complaints about claims management²⁸. Its quarterly data shows credit records complaints continuing: 210 were opened in Q1 2025/26²⁷, and 33 credit broking complaints were opened in Q1 2026/27²⁶. For credit broking complaints, the ombudsman expects to see a copy of the customer's application, the lenders introduced to, how the business made its role and legal name clear, fee details, compliance with section 155 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, the work undertaken to find a loan, and whether the customer's details were passed to another company⁷. A credit repair firm that also brokered a loan to you can be examined on all of those points, and the remedies can include correcting a credit file, refunding extra costs, and paying compensation for distress or inconvenience²².