Last reviewed: 2 October 2026
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What credit repair costs, and how the rules let fees be structured
The sources we read set rules about when a fee may be requested and, for debt relief, how it may be calculated; they do not set or report a price, so this page prints no typical dollar amounts. The Credit Repair Organizations Act, in the FTC's summary, bars companies offering credit repair services from demanding advance payment, requires written contracts, and gives consumers cancellation rights.[1] The FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule adds fee-timing limits for telemarketed credit-history, loan and debt relief services, shown in the table below.[2] This is general information, not legal advice, and it names no company.
Fee timing and structure, by type of service
| Service described | Source | When a fee may be requested | How a fee may be calculated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Credit repair services (general): FTC summary only, not a section-level reading of the statute | Credit Repair Organizations Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1679-1679j, as summarized by the FTC[1] | The FTC summary says the Act bars companies offering credit repair services from demanding advance payment.[1] The summary does not give the section-level detail. | Not addressed in the FTC summary. |
| Goods or services represented to remove derogatory information from, or improve, a credit history, record or rating (telemarketing) | 16 CFR § 310.4(a)(2)[2] | Not until (i) the time frame the seller represented for all goods or services has expired, and (ii) the seller has given you a consumer report from a consumer reporting agency showing the promised results were achieved, with the report issued more than six months after they were achieved.[2] | Not addressed. |
| Debt relief services (telemarketing) | 16 CFR § 310.4(a)(5)(i)[2] | Not until the seller has settled or altered the terms of at least one debt under an agreement you executed, and you have made at least one payment under it.[2] | Per debt, either proportional to the total fee by the debt's share of the total enrolled debt, or a single percentage of the amount saved on each debt.[2] |
| A fee in advance of a loan or credit extension, when a high likelihood of success was guaranteed or represented (telemarketing) | 16 CFR § 310.4(a)(4)[2] | Requesting or receiving any fee in advance of obtaining the loan or credit is an abusive practice when the seller or telemarketer guaranteed or represented a high likelihood of success.[2] | Not addressed. |
The telemarketing rows apply to sellers and telemarketers under the Telemarketing Sales Rule;[2][3] the debt relief row applies to a "debt relief service," which the rule defines (16 CFR § 310.2) as a program or service represented to alter the terms of a debt owed to one or more unsecured creditors or debt collectors, and "telemarketing" is defined as a plan to induce a purchase by telephone involving more than one interstate call.[4] Whether the rule covers a particular offer depends on those definitions and the facts, which this page does not work through. The Credit Repair Organizations Act row is the FTC's summary only and is not read against the statute's text here. For the Credit Repair Organizations Act's fee provisions in detail, see the advance-fee rule, explained and what your credit repair contract must say.
Reading a fee schedule
Our Standard asks for a published, flat fee schedule (point 5) and no advance fees before results (point 1); see how we check. Using only what the table above supports, questions worth putting to any provider and getting answered in writing:
- What is each fee for, what event triggers it, and when is it due?
- Does any fee come due before the time frame the provider represented has ended? For telemarketed credit-history services, the rule bars that.[2]
- For debt relief: has at least one debt been settled under an agreement you executed, and have you made at least one payment under it, before any fee is requested?[2]
- If fees are charged per debt, is the formula proportional to the total fee, or one percentage of the amount saved on every debt?[2]
- Does the contract state a cancellation right? Our Standard point 9 looks for the Credit Repair Organizations Act cancellation disclosure; see the contract guide.
How to verify this yourself
- Read the FTC's summary of the Credit Repair Organizations Act[1] and the full text at 15 U.S.C. §§ 1679-1679j.
- Read 16 CFR § 310.4(a)(2), (a)(4) and (a)(5)[2], and the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule page for its plain-language guidance.[3]
- Compare each line of your own contract with the table; for debt settlement, our worksheet does the per-debt arithmetic for your numbers.
What this page does not cover
It does not report what credit repair or debt relief typically costs, because the sources do not; it does not say what is a fair price; and it does not decide whether a particular company's fees are lawful. State laws that cap or regulate fees are outside it (see state bonding and registration and debt settlement licensing). It is not legal or financial advice. To see which companies we have checked against the Standard, with dates, go to Find a company; that is a record of a dated check, not a recommendation or a price comparison.
When we will update this page
We revisit it if the Telemarketing Sales Rule or the Credit Repair Organizations Act changes. Sources last read 2 October 2026.
What you can do next
- Find a company — see which specific US companies we checked and what we could verify.
- How we check — the rules and sources behind each result.
- More credit help guides
- Report an error on this page or in a result.