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The following answer is based upon UK laws and regulations with regards adverse credit. As I am British myself, I can not claim that things work exactly the same in the US. The answer is based upon research I have carried out with regards my own credit record.

The most common way of repairing a Credit Report is via a reputable Credit repair Company and normally involves the removal of CCJ's (County Court Judgement). However, there is a lot of debate about credit repair companies:

Can they actually remove CCJ's and can they actually get the money owed on a CCJ reduced?

Lets start by looking at how you receive a CCJ:

1. You receive, but do not pay a bill, a loan, an invoice etc
2. You would then receive a formal demand for payment from the creditor. By Law, the demand must state your name, your address, the creditors name, their address, how to contact them, what is owed, what it is owed for, when you must pay the amount by and what will happen if you do not pay i.e. "if you do not pay £50 by December 5th, 2005 we will take legal action".
3. You ignore the demand
4. The creditor sends you a "Claim Form" (previously known as a Summons) demanding payment within "x" days or your defence in writing (following laid out court rules)
5. You ignore the Claim Form
6. The creditor asks the court to enter a Default Judgment (the CCJ). When the Defendant (you) does not reply to the Claim Form, the court enters a "Default Judgment". This means that you defaulted on your opportunity to respond to the creditor's claim.
7. The court sends you the CCJ giving you 28 days to pay. If you pay within the 28 days, the CCJ is not recorded if you contact the court.
8. You ignore the CCJ
9. When the 28 days expire, the CCJ will be on your record for 6 years. On the sixth anniversary of the date of the Judgment the CCJ will automatically erase from your credit record.

Now back to credit repair.

The main issue with all credit repair opportunities is, did you receive the Claim Form? If you did, you cannot remove the Judgement.

However, this is not the end of the matter with most credit repair companies. If you are prepared to state that you did not receive the Claim Form, and you have a reasonable reason why you did or could not receive it, you have the grounding for a successful credit repair. You will complete a few forms with the credit repair company and make an application to set aside the "Default Judgement".

You cannot set aside a CCJ that you

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