Terms of use, and what a real contract would say.

Using this website

Everything here is provided for general information. Credit reporting law is federal, but statutes of limitation, licensing and consumer protection rules vary by state, and your own circumstances vary more than either. Do not rely on a web page in place of advice about your own file.

The dispute and validation letters on the do-it-yourself guide are given freely, for you to adapt and use. There is no permission to ask for and no attribution required. They are examples rather than legal documents; check that what you send is true before you sign it.

Links to outside sites — annualcreditreport.com, the CFPB, the FTC — are provided because they are useful. We do not control them, and we receive nothing from anyone for linking.

What a client agreement would say

A contract with a credit repair organisation has a shape set by federal law, and the summary below reflects that shape rather than being an invention of ours.

• Services and cost. Each piece of work named, what it is expected to achieve, how long it is expected to take, and the total cost, all in writing before anything begins.
• No advance fee. Nothing is charged or accepted until the services described have been fully performed. Every invoice follows the work it relates to.
• Three business days to cancel. Without penalty or reason, using the form attached to the contract, at any time before midnight of the third business day after signing.
• A separate statement of rights, headed "Consumer Credit File Rights Under State and Federal Law", given to you before signing and kept by you.
• No promise of a result. No score, no number of points, no date. Making one would be unlawful and any clause purporting to do so would be void.
• Waivers are void. Any term in which you give up a right under the Credit Repair Organizations Act has no effect, whether or not you signed it.
• Cancellation at any later time, in writing or by phone, with an invoice only for work already completed at that point.

What we would ask of you

Only two things. That what you tell us about your accounts is true, because a dispute is a statement made in your name and neither of us should be signing something false. And that you tell us if a collector sues you, immediately, because that changes what needs to happen and it needs to happen faster than we work.

Limits

Nothing in a contract of this kind could limit your rights under the Credit Repair Organizations Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act or the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and nothing in ours would try. You keep a private right of action under all three.

Ohio law would govern, and the courts of Cuyahoga County would have jurisdiction. Last reviewed September 2026.