Credit Versio Credit Repair Review 2022 – Investopedia
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Credit Versio
Our Take
Credit Versio offers an affordable DIY approach to credit repair using software that gently steers you along and monitors your progress. It's best for people who want to take charge on their own but need a little guidance to get things going.
Very affordable
Can get started ASAP
Easy-to-use, intuitive interface
Short track record
Requires you to send letters yourself
May not have a money-back guarantee
No hand holding from a live credit analyst
Credit Versio is one of the newest companies in the credit repair world, having been around for about as long as the pandemic. That short track record hasn't held it back, however, and the company claims over 100,000 people signed up in its first year alone.
The company has an overall good reputation, driven by people looking for a different approach to credit repair. Unlike traditional credit repair companies that have someone do all the work for you, Credit Versio is a DIY credit repair software program that guides you on how to fix your own credit for a fraction of the price.
Credit Versio
Credit Versio isn't your typical credit repair company. Rather than assigning you to a live credit analyst who handles things for you, it puts you in the driver's seat using AI-driven software that guides you through a step-by-step plan customized to your own credit reports. It then monitors your progress over time and if your tactics fail, it suggests alternate strategies to try until you've achieved the results you want.
Another thing that separates Credit Versio from the rest of the pack is how you pay and the additional services you need to get the job done. Credit Versio is free; you'll need to purchase a subscription to one of two companies (SmartCredit or IdentityIQ), and you'll get all of the perks associated with these plans, including identity theft insurance and credit monitoring. But after that, Credit Versio itself charges no additional fees, making it a transparent and affordable route for people willing to take charge of their own credit repair.
Credit Versio uses a DIY approach to credit repair. If you’d rather hand things off to someone else because you don’t have enough time to do it on your own or you’re not confident in your abilities, consider hiring a more traditional credit repair company.
When you sign up with Credit Versio, you're getting two products: Credit Versio's program and a separate credit monitoring service through either IdentityIQ or SmartCredit (your choice). Thus, some of the services come from Credit Versio itself, and others come from whichever program you select.
After you sign up, Credit Versio uses either IdentityIQ or SmartCredit to immediately pull your credit reports from each of the three credit bureaus. It then imports them into its software program, where it scans for 20 different types of errors, such as duplicate listings or fraudulent activity.
The heart of Credit Versio's approach is guiding you through the process of sending your own credit disputes. Once you identify an error that needs to be corrected, it'll guide you through the process of auto-generating a dispute letter. You can select a reason for the dispute from a drop-down list, or use a custom field to enter your own wording.
Credit Versio then emails you the letter, and you print and send it off. The program monitors your credit reports to see whether the letter had any effect, and if it did, it may be reflected in a credit score increase. If it didn’t, the program will keep suggesting alternative strategies until you’re successful in removing the negative mark.
Credit Versio claims it's more effective because the letters you send come directly from you, making them harder for the recipients to ignore as formulaic spam from credit repair companies. That may be true, but in addition, it may be better to use the "custom reason" field to tailor your writing to your own situation and provide more details, rather than using all of the pre-written wording for generating dispute letters.
Sans a real, live person helping you, Credit Versio actually does offer quite a robust suite of educational tools featuring well-known credit experts. These videos and articles can help you learn more about specific nuances that may be affecting you, such as negative accounts that you've paid off, and how to fix or at least understand them so you can plan around them.
Credit Versio works with a third-party credit monitoring program: either SmartCredit or IdentityIQ. The credit monitoring services these programs provide are the backbone for Credit Versio, offering the raw data (i.e., your credit reports) that it uses to generate a credit repair plan for you.
Thus, you get the added benefit of credit monitoring. If anything pops up on your credit reports that may be concerning, such as identity theft, you'll be immediately notified. And depending on which credit monitoring program you select, you'll get either twice-monthly or unlimited updates on your TransUnion credit report and associated credit score.
Another added benefit of the third-party credit monitoring service is that it comes with identity theft insurance. If you’re forced to pay for someone else’s misdeeds while they were pretending to be you, you’ll be covered for up to $25,000 in damages if you select IdentityIQ’s plan, or $1,000,000 in damages if you select SmartCredit’s plan. This protection lasts for as long as you continue the subscription.
Since Credit Versio is really a free add-on service to other companies that you actually pay for, you'll need to spend a fair amount of time scoping out those companies too.
Notably, neither SmartCredit nor IdentityIQ offer a free trial, although IdentityIQ does offer a seven-day trial for just $1. The downside is it doesn't offer any form of a money-back guarantee. SmartCredit may offer this in limited circumstances (only if you ask for a refund "prior to your second bill," according to its service terms).
Unfortunately, Credit Versio doesn't offer any mobile apps for those who prefer to use this connection method—a missed opportunity, especially considering it is a software program. It is also geared towards individuals, and it does not offer business credit repair services.
Although Credit Versio is software-based, it does offer a customer support team. The downside is it's relatively limited, with phone lines only being open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PST, Monday through Friday. If you're on the East Coast, that translates into call-in hours from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. EST, which can be a problem if you need help in the morning before work. And no one will be able to get assistance on the weekend. You can also get help via email.
Being such a new company, there hasn't been a lot of time to collect independent reviews or complaints on watchdog sites like the CFPB.
There's also a lack of customer reviews on many traditional review sites, with the notable exception of Trustpilot. There's actually quite a lot of information here, and most of it is quite positive. People generally seem to have good success with the service, and it has earned a TrustScore of 4.4 out of five.
Credit Versio doesn't require you to sign any contracts. As long as you continue paying for the required third-party credit monitoring, you'll have access to Credit Versio. These credit monitoring services, in turn, also don't have any minimum contract requirements and allow you to cancel at any time.
Credit Versio itself is free, and that makes it the cheapest credit repair company out there. Instead of charging money itself, it partners up with two credit monitoring services, and that's where the actual cost comes from. You can sign up for these services directly through Credit Versio. Here are the options you can choose from, and how they differ:
If you're not sure about using Credit Versio, try opting for the IdentityIQ plan and getting started immediately. You'll be able to see whether you like using it, and it'll only set you back $1 if you cancel within the first seven days. To get regular progress updates, though, you will need to continue the service.
Credit Versio is much different than other credit repair companies. If this is your first bout with the world of credit repair, it's a good idea to shop around before deciding. Here are some tips to find the best credit repair options for your situation, whether that's with Credit Versio or not:
The simple truth is that most people can handle fixing up their credit on their own for free. Credit repair companies are best for people with very complicated situations, very little knowledge or confidence about how credit works, and/or very little time. If you're somewhere in between—not quite sure what to do, but capable of doing most things yourself with a little guidance and online research—then Credit Versio is the perfect option for you.
If you do want that extra guidance, browse our picks for the best credit repair companies to find the help you need.
Our team evaluated 17 credit repair companies and collected over 600 data points before selecting our top choices. We weighed 39 criteria, giving the highest weights to those that are the most significant for customers.
The top picks were selected based on:
We took into account factors like how many disputes will be sent per month, what kinds of dispute letters will be sent, cancellation and return policies, and how long companies have been in business. This information was used in our company's star ratings and best picks.
Credit Versio. "Home Page."
Trustpilot. "Credit Versio."
Credit Versio. "Pricing."
SmartCredit. "Service Agreement."
IdentityIQ. "Terms of Service Agreement."
Credit Versio. "Credit Coaching."
Credit Versio. "How It Works."
National Consumer Law Center. "AUTOMATED INJUSTICE: HOW A MECHANIZED DISPUTE SYSTEM FRUSTRATES CONSUMERS SEEKING TO FIX ERRORS IN THEIR CREDIT REPORTS."
Credit Versio. "I Paid Off a Negative Account But It Was Not Deleted."