My experience with Lex Law--I will update

[nelly16]

Well I'm back to update again. I had a couple more deletions. I guess one of them was actually deleted a few weeks ago, I just didn't realize it because it still says settlement in the comments section (so I thought it was still a negative). However the 120 day late that was connected to that settlement is gone off EQ and EX so I'm happy and the only time someone will see the comments is with a review of my report.

Overall I have
3 deletions off EQ
3 deletions off EX
6 deletions off TU

I still have
7 left on EQ
7 on EX
5 on TU

The things left include collections which are the medical bills I wasn't responsible for (these have been hard to delete---probably because they are paid so the CA doesn't really care). A 30 day late and 60 day late on different accounts. And a charge off on a store card (they have been tough to delete).

I'm not planning on asking lexlaw to challenge the 30day late or 60day late at all. Both are many years old and had great payment after. Since I've deleted addresses I don't want to take the chance that they are deleted (which could happen with the methods of verifying lexlaw uses). I am just planning on using Goodwill letters on my own. They are hardly affecting my account so it just doesn't seem like worth taking the risk of unintended consequences.

So what do I think about lexlaw---they have gotten deletions so I can't complain. I do feel kind of dumb because i know I could be doing this stuff myself. Honestly I should have just waited and done my research and then jumped in. But either way I'm getting deletions. So I guess I'm neutral right now. I still wish their service was better though---hold times and email times need improvement.

[reeflandman]

Interestingly, I have found a bit of disorganization from LexLaw as well. I am a new customer, 1.5 weeks now, but things seem a little slow. I have emailed several times with different questions and do receive responses but not within the 24 hours I would expect. Also, I provided my EX report several days ago and it has yet to show in my Valet although they verified they have it via email.

I went with the premiere account to help remove 8 old CO's and a Judgement as I hope to receive the most aggressive service with that membership level. We shall see...

Congrats on your progress so far!

[nelly16]

Well, this will probably be one of my last updates---I am canceling LexLaw tomorrow.

I received letters from EQ and EX today letting me know that I had been put on fraud alert at my request (I never requested this). I tried calling LexLaw to find out what was going on. Of course I couldn't get ahold of them...this time it's because they were closed (no idea why since it's not a holiday and it was within business hours).

Anyway I called EX and cancelled the alert. They told me it was put on because EQ alerted them to it. Then I called EQ and canceled it. They told me that "I" had sent a letter to them a week ago claiming one of my collection accounts was fraud and I was disputing it as fraudulent. Anytime something is disputed as fraud a fraud alert automatically goes on for 90 days and the other agencies are notified. I still have to call TU but need to wait for the letter to get the proper authorization numbers.

So anyway, I am ticked at LexLaw because the collection account was NOT fraudulent and disputing it that way was pointless, petty, a waste of time and unproductive. EX threw out all the other disputes that were made on the other collections at the same time as a result. I can't get ahold of LexLaw to get an explanation either. When they ask what reason to dispute I CLEARLY explained item verify not "not mine."

I've come to the conclusion that paying them is a COMPLETE WASTE. All they do is send out DV letters and nothing more. I can do that very easily. I've learned so much since I started out. I can't tell you how many times I've called and had to explain things to LexLaw (what a 623 is, importance of opting out, deleting addresses etc). They are disorganized, you can't get responses for 48 hrs plus, it's just a mess.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND THEM AT ALL. You are MUCH better off taking the time and doing the research yourself. I know this website promotes LexLaw but I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend that people take the time to do this themselves. I regret using lexlaw and wish I had just taken a deep breath and not been so hasty. I will update tomorrow after I cancel and get their side of the story but I am very disappointed and will be happy to have control over my own credit repair.

[chane]

I guarantee you that Lexington didn't dispute it as fraud. The CRAs do that from time to time, it happened to me and clients that I have worked for.

The "not mine" is what did it. They think that if you are saying that it's not yours, then someone else must be using your identity, and they declare it fraud. It's not Lexington's fault.

Also, you are wrong about them only sending out DV letters and nothing more. What they sent out was clearly a dispute letter.

I understand if you don't like Lexington and that's fine, but it's not fair to say that they are doing things that they're not. They know what they are doing as far as credit repair goes. If their customer service is not up to par, it's because they have way more clients than they can handle at this time.

[nelly16]

Originally Posted by chane

I guarantee you that Lexington didn't dispute it as fraud. The CRAs do that from time to time, it happened to me and clients that I have worked for.

The "not mine" is what did it. They think that if you are saying that it's not yours, then someone else must be using your identity, and they declare it fraud. It's not Lexington's fault.

Also, you are wrong about them only sending out DV letters and nothing more. What they sent out was clearly a dispute letter.

I understand if you don't like Lexington and that's fine, but it's not fair to say that they are doing things that they're not. They know what they are doing as far as credit repair goes. If their customer service is not up to par, it's because they have way more clients than they can handle at this time.

Perhaps this may not have been the proper forum to post my honest opinion of LexLaw since it seems to be more of an avenue to give business to LexLaw.

When I said the "not mine" thing I said no one ever claimed that. I had made it perfectly clear that all of the items WERE MINE. The only way they were ever supposed to be disputed were "item verify." (this is all according to LexLaw's website). When I spoke with EQ on the phone they said I had disputed a collection on Mar. 8 claiming it was fraud. All I know is what I have been told. I, personally, never disputed that item--LexLaw did it on my behalf. If they disputed it based on fraud (or even the "not mine" reason)---either one would be incorrect and something that I had SPECIFICALLY asked them NOT TO DO!

As for the DV letters---I'm sure they are capable of doing more, I am just sharing my own experience. The only letters they have sent out on my behalf, up to this point (minus the fraud one) were DV letters. I am perfectly capable of sending DV letters out myself. Why would I pay $60 a month for someone to send DV letters (they don't even send them CMRRR---I have proof...one was returned to me, undeliverable)?

I am sure, Chane, that you are supportive of LexLaw since this site is linked to them and it appears to be ad supported by them. But from my PERSONAL experience they seem to be unprofessional, have horrible customer service, and do not provide anything I cannot do myself. Through my own research I have found several forums that have provided tons of information (I wish I had found it before signing up with LexLaw). I've been leaning towards canceling and this fraud issue was the final straw. I will not be giving my business to a company that is acting on my behalf in a way that I specifically asked them not to.

All I can do is give MY opinion and MY experience---and unfortunately, as of recently, it has not been very good.

[chane]

Originally Posted by nelly16

Perhaps this may not have been the proper forum to post my honest opinion of LexLaw since it seems to be more of an avenue to give business to LexLaw.

I said in my last post that it's fine that you don't like Lexington Law. We want people to share their opinions of them and every other credit repair company or credit monitoring service or whatever. However, it's important to me that everyone is fair because they are not here to defend themselves.

I should invite a representative though. I think it would be good for both LL (or any other company) and the client.

When I said the "not mine" thing I said no one ever claimed that. I had made it perfectly clear that all of the items WERE MINE. The only way they were ever supposed to be disputed were "item verify." (this is all according to LexLaw's website). When I spoke with EQ on the phone they said I had disputed a collection on Mar. 8 claiming it was fraud. All I know is what I have been told. I, personally, never disputed that item--LexLaw did it on my behalf. If they disputed it based on fraud (or even the "not mine" reason)---either one would be incorrect and something that I had SPECIFICALLY asked them NOT TO DO!

I misunderstood that part. I thought you did request that they dispute it as "not mine". Either way disputing it as "not mine" or as fraud is a big mistake and everyone has known that for years. I would be very, very surprised if Lexington disputed it that way.

As for the DV letters---I'm sure they are capable of doing more, I am just sharing my own experience. The only letters they have sent out on my behalf, up to this point (minus the fraud one) were DV letters. I am perfectly capable of sending DV letters out myself. Why would I pay $60 a month for someone to send DV letters (they don't even send them CMRRR---I have proof...one was returned to me, undeliverable)?

I agree, you are perfectly capable of doing all of this yourself. Credit repair companies, in my opinion, are for people who do NOT want to do this themselves. Most people either hire a CRO or learn it themselves, not both.

I am sure, Chane, that you are supportive of LexLaw since this site is linked to them and it appears to be ad supported by them.

We believe Lexington Law is the best CRO, but we support many other CROs. However, we have a bigger list of CROs that we do NOT support.

One of the other top credit repair sites also supports them. Creditboards doesn't, but their philosophy seems to be that you don't deserve to have your credit repaired unless you do it yourself. They believe that all CROs are scams. My philosophy is also that your best option is to do it yourself, but if you don't have time or can't quite understand it, hire a CRO...there are very good ones out there.

But from my PERSONAL experience they seem to be unprofessional, have horrible customer service, and do not provide anything I cannot do myself. Through my own research I have found several forums that have provided tons of information (I wish I had found it before signing up with LexLaw). I've been leaning towards canceling and this fraud issue was the final straw. I will not be giving my business to a company that is acting on my behalf in a way that I specifically asked them not to.

All I can do is give MY opinion and MY experience---and unfortunately, as of recently, it has not been very good.

We value your opinion.

There are a few great forums out there. We are working hard to become the best. We were established 3 to 8 years after they were so they have a bit of a head start, but we are growing very fast and I have some awesome plans for this site. For the first few years it was just me running AAA by myself, I did all of the design, wrote all of the content and everything. But, I now have a team of designers, programmers, marketers and writers that are much better than me and I will continue to find the best. This site WILL be the top credit repair site very soon. That's a promise.

[nelly16]

Quick update--

I spoke with LexLaw on the phone today and am very unhappy with how it went. They didn't really offer much of an explanation at all. They said it couldn't have been anything in their letters (they insisted they would not have claimed fraud--which I do believe). However they did say there is a possibility that they sent a letter claiming the collection was in the "not mine" category by mistake. Unfortunately the rep on the phone was unable to pull up the letters they had sent to determine if that happened or not. I really don't see how they couldn't pull up the letters that were sent and find it to be very unprofessional. Also they pulled my reports online (off my credit monitoring service) on the date that EQ claims the fraud thing came up so LexLaw said there is a possibility that the dept that handles the reports might have done something improperly when pulling them. Either way, what's done is done and I was able to call all 3 bureaus and get the fraud alert removed.

I asked the rep I spoke with if they could have a supervisor call me (I had waited on hold for 18 minutes and was not interested in calling back later since the supervisor was on another call). She told me the supervisor would call me by 8pm tonight to address my concerns. They go by MST and 8pm is in 15 minutes so I'm not expecting my phone call (I spoke with her this morning). I also have not received any response to 2 emails I had sent 48 hrs ago.

I understand LexLaw is probably swamped and has more customers than it can handle. But when you have customers paying as much as $79/mo they really need to get it together. I was happy with them at first but it has gone downhill very quickly. I was willing to reconsider canceling if their supervisor had called and smoothed things over but I can't believe the lack of service. It's time for them to stop taking new customers while they hire more staff and expand. It seems to me that they've grown beyond what they can handle. So while things seemed great at first they ended badly.

Oh and FYI to those who have just started with LexLaw---you need to cancel 13 days before your next billing cycle. It's fair and I have no complaints about that, just want to make sure others are aware of this so that they can cancel at the proper time.

[nelly16]

Originally Posted by chane

I said in my last post that it's fine that you don't like Lexington Law. We want people to share their opinions of them and every other credit repair company or credit monitoring service or whatever. However, it's important to me that everyone is fair because they are not here to defend themselves.

I should invite a representative though. I think it would be good for both LL (or any other company) and the client.



I misunderstood that part. I thought you did request that they dispute it as "not mine". Either way disputing it as "not mine" or as fraud is a big mistake and everyone has known that for years. I would be very, very surprised if Lexington disputed it that way.



I agree, you are perfectly capable of doing all of this yourself. Credit repair companies, in my opinion, are for people who do NOT want to do this themselves. Most people either hire a CRO or learn it themselves, not both.



We believe Lexington Law is the best CRO, but we support many other CROs. However, we have a bigger list of CROs that we do NOT support.

One of the other top credit repair sites also supports them. Creditboards doesn't, but their philosophy seems to be that you don't deserve to have your credit repaired unless you do it yourself. They believe that all CROs are scams. My philosophy is also that your best option is to do it yourself, but if you don't have time or can't quite understand it, hire a CRO...there are very good ones out there.



We value your opinion.

There are a few great forums out there. We are working hard to become the best. We were established 3 to 8 years after they were so they have a bit of a head start, but we are growing very fast and I have some awesome plans for this site. For the first few years it was just me running AAA by myself, I did all of the design, wrote all of the content and everything. But, I now have a team of designers, programmers, marketers and writers that are much better than me and I will continue to find the best. This site WILL be the top credit repair site very soon. That's a promise.

You definitely have done some good work on this forum. This was my first start with credit repair and before finding this forum I had no idea I could even remove the negatives on my reports. If it weren't for this forum I would still be walking around with a bunch of negs (some my fault, some not) and feeling hopeless. Each of the forums have their positives and negs. Creditboards being older does give them an advantage. And you can tell they definitely are much more the "do it yourself" mentality. This board seems to support either way. But both have great info and have helped me so much.

[nelly16]

It's been a while since I've given an update so I wanted to come back and give my final update. I closed my account with LexLaw after I left my last post. I was incredibly disappointed after the fraud alert incident and then the lack of communication/customer service just made it that much worse. After a few days (not the same day as promised) the supervisor finally called me. He said my account would be closed at my request and that everything would be done. I had some success getting my collections deleted from work on my own (I went through the BBB) and was using Goodwill letters to get other items deleted. Because of this I realized that LexLaw simply wasn't getting the results I was paying them for and that I was ending up doing more work on my own while they seemed to be dragging it out (I'm guessing to get more monthly dues).

I had been cancelled for a week or so when I received emails that items had been disputed on my behalf! The items being disputed and CAs that letters were sent to were the negatives that I HAD DELETED ON MY OWN!! I was furious since 1) I thought my account was closed and inactive and 2) I didn't want to upset/wake a sleeping giant or mess up my own hard work because of their sloppy work/miscommunication. Once again I sent emails/made calls only to sit on hold for 20+ minutes and then get a recording that told me their lines were too busy and I'd have to call again later and then it hung up. Finally after a very disgruntled email (yes, I was ticked) I received a call from the supervisor the next day. I explained my account was supposed to be closed and I wanted it closed immediately, no games!

A couple days later I get ANOTHER email telling me that they pulled my reports and I needed to visit my "case valet" to change my settings and decide which items I wanted to dispute next. This is all happening after I had been told SEVERAL times that my account was closed. I once again tried calling (while I was on vacation, might I add) and sat on hold forever, unable to reach anyone. I then fired off ANOTHER email, a VERY UPSET (yet polite) email insisting on a cancellation (or else). I have since logged in to confirm that my account is cancelled and no more activity is going on.

[nelly16]

IN SUMMARY---
I have NOTHING, I mean, NOTHING positive to say about Lexington Law. They are sloppy, clueless, irresponsible and pretty much a bunch of paralegals running around with their heads cut off. There is no communication between them and a complete lack of follow through. They have a set method they must follow which means you will not get results as fast as if you did it on your own (they have to send certain letters first, even if there might be a better option---this, I believe, helps to lengthen the process and collect more dues).

They are incredibly understaffed so trying to get through on the phone is harder than getting in touch with President Obama or the queen of England. Email turnaround isn't any better either (and is usually a form email that doesn't answer any questions).

Everything they do, YOU CAN DO YOURSELF!! If you send items CMRRR, it will probably cost the same. However, LexLaw doesn't send them CMRRR, so if you choose not to, you'll save money. You'll have more invested and committed and you'll know what the heck is going on. The letters they send are just standard letters that you can find on here or any other forum (I know, they sent me copies of the letters they used on my case).

The only, and I mean only situation I would use them for, is if you have tons (we're talking 30+ items on each report) and you're too lazy to do it yourself. I think you also need to be someone who is fine taking a back seat and handing everything over to them (which I, clearly, am not). If you expect good customer service, or communication, then LexLaw is NOT for you.

I am sorry to bash on them as I know this forum is a big supporter, but I just had a terrible experience. I think they mean well, they just have grown too quickly and can't handle the client base they have. In the end they got 2 deleted from EX, 2 from EQ and 6 from TU (though 3 of those would have come off anyway with my BBB complaint). They also caused numerous hassles including the fraud alert and additional items being added (for example an old paid CA was only on one report and when they disputed it, it started reporting on the other 2 reports---and is still there) and mis-representing deletions by misreading reports (thinking items were deleted that weren't or not inputting the last few pages of a report and thus not seeing the last few negs).

I said I would be completely honest in this thread and update with my honest opinions, and this is what I thought. If anyone has any questions please ask---I will check in once in a while.