There is all kinds of conflicting information available to those searching for credit help on the internet.

Most sites emphatically claim that your credit file can be repaired, even if that requires getting correctly reported negative items off of your credit report.

On the other hand, the FTC and credit bureau web sites all say that you cannot possibly have an accurate negative item removed from your credit file.

So who is right? The small web site operators or the government and credit bureaus? Do I really need to answer that?

If the government can convince you to live with bad credit you won't pester their buddies at the credit reporting agencies about getting rid of those entries. It cost them money every time you dispute anything.

The banks and other lenders also love a few bits of negative information so they can make you pay dearly for thier services.

The credit reporting agencies also love a marginal credit file because they get to sell the same file to multiple lenders every time you try to buy anything on credit.

As you can see, the stake is large for the credit industry. If everybody in the country with bad credit decided to start repairing it today, the industry could be in trouble.

Most of the negative items would have to be removed because neither the bureaus or the furnishers of information are staffed to handle the disputes.

So even as the government and credit bureaus tell you that credit repair can't be done, check out some of the site on the web.

The claims are real. Credit reports can be fixed. I am living proof, and went from terrible and accurate credit reports to qualifying for a mortgage in less than a year with perfect credit files and a stack of credit cards.

Just be leary of all the promises you see on sites that have something to sell. The books are for the most part informative, but they cannot work miracles and any information you can get from a book is available for free if you look hard enough for it.