How to read a credit repair contract fee table
The sales page says “plans from $79,” the contract PDF opens to a dense table with setup, monthly, and “success” lines, and the rep says not to worry because refunds exist.
Read a credit repair fee table by labeling every charge type, the due date relative to fully performed work, the cancel math, and the total cash at risk over 90 days - then refuse tables that stay vague or front-load fees for work not yet done. Marketing minimums are not the table. The table is the product price.
This page is fee-table literacy. Full contract checklists and money-back comparisons live on sibling pages. Bring a highlighter and a calculator, not only hope.
Step 1: Label every row type
Write next to each row one of these labels before you talk to sales again:
- Setup / onboarding fee: one-time charge for enrollment, analysis, or portal access - note if it is refundable.
- Monthly program fee: recurring charge while enrolled - note billing day and whether work must occur first.
- Per-item or per-bureau fee: extra cost per tradeline or per bureau packet - can explode on thick files.
- Add-on product: monitoring, “priority,” attorney network, or score coaching sold beside repair.
- Third-party pass-through: postage, e-filing, or vendor costs - ask who controls the amount.
- Success / contingency language: any payment tied to deletes or score moves - read against honesty rules carefully.
If a row cannot take a label, it is not ready to sign. Vague “program investment” language is a stop sign until rewritten in dollars and dates.
Step 2: Find when money leaves your account
For each labeled row, write the due trigger: on signature, after first letter sent, monthly on a calendar day, or after a defined result. CROA themes in § 1679b care whether fees land before services are fully performed for covered work.
Build a 90-day cash calendar: day 0, day 30, day 60, day 90. Include setup plus three months if the plan is monthly. That number - not the “from $79” ad - is what you compare to DIY postage and time.
If the table charges a full month on day one with no defined work unit completed, ask for written fee timing that matches fully performed services. Silence or “industry standard” is not an answer.
Sample 90-day cash note
Example: “Setup $99 on sign + $99 on day 1, 31, 61 = $396 before any result letter is due under a 30-day reinvestigation clock.” That note changes how “cheap monthly” feels.
Step 3: Define the service unit the fee buys
§ 1679d expects contracts to describe services with enough specificity that you know what you bought. A fee table without a matching service description is incomplete even if the dollars look clear.
Ask whether a monthly fee buys a set number of disputes, unlimited disputes, only “review,” or portal access alone. Portal access is not reinvestigation labor.
If per-item fees apply, count your free-report problem lines times that fee before you enroll. Thick files turn “small per item” into the real price.
Step 4: Connect fees to cancel and refund math
Read cancel steps and any money-back clause beside the fee table, not after. Covered contracts often include a short cancel window after signing under § 1679e themes - confirm the notice you actually received.
Ask what happens to prepaid months, setup fees, and per-item charges if you cancel on day 10 versus day 40. Write the answers on the table itself.
A refund badge that only returns a tiny setup fee after a long lock-in does not rescue a high monthly burn. Compare fee tables and refund tables as one system.
Fee-table red flags
Walk or renegotiate when you see these patterns:
- Day-one full payment for months of unfinished “future work” with no fully performed unit defined.
- “From $X” ads that never appear as a selectable row in the signed table.
- Mandatory add-ons revealed only after the card is stored.
- Per-item fees with no cap on a file that has twenty collections.
- Success fees stacked on top of monthly fees without clear, lawful definitions of success.
- No total payment amount stated anywhere near the fee schedule.
FTC materials on credit-repair scams and CROA still apply when the table is the weapon. Pressure to sign before you finish the 90-day cash math is a process smell.
Questions that force a comparable table
Send these in writing and demand answers on company letterhead or email you can save:
- What is the total I will pay if I stay 90 days with no deletes at all?
- Which fees are due only after a named service is fully performed?
- What is the maximum per-item exposure on my current free-report inventory?
- What exact cancel steps stop the next monthly draft?
- Which rows are optional add-ons I can refuse without losing core service?
- Where is the total payment amount required for the written contract?
If two companies will not answer the same list, you cannot compare them - and that is useful information before either fee table owns your card.
Worked example: two tables, one decision
Table A: $0 setup, $99 monthly billed after first exportable dispute letters, cancel any time in writing, no per-item fees. Table B: $199 setup due on sign, $79 monthly starting day one, $25 per item after ten free disputes, 6-month minimum.
On a file with fifteen problem lines, Table B can cost more in 90 days even though the monthly number looks smaller. On a thin file with two clear errors, Table A may still win if letters actually export.
Your decision also includes DIY cost. If free reports and two disputes are enough, the winning “table” may be postage and your time - with no CROA seller in the loop.
Print both tables, write the 90-day totals at the top in large numbers, and only then listen to the sales narrative. People remember the story; paper remembers the cash.
If a rep refuses to let you take the fee table home overnight, treat that as a close tactic, not a limited-time legal requirement. Real contracts survive a night of reading.
What not to optimize
Do not optimize for the lowest advertised monthly alone. Optimize for cash at risk before first results, exportable work, and lawful fee timing. Cheap empty months are expensive.
Bottom line
Fee tables become honest when every row has a type, a due trigger, a service unit, and cancel math you can explain aloud.
CROA written-contract and fee-timing rules sit under the table whether the sales page mentions them or not.
If you keep one habit, compute 90-day cash at risk before you sign any monthly number that looks small.
Refuse vague rows. Force written answers. Compare two tables with the same question list.
When the table is clear and the cash math is boring, you read the price like a buyer - not like a lead.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most important fee-table line?
The due trigger relative to fully performed work, plus 90-day total cash at risk. Monthly stickers alone mislead.
Are setup fees always a red flag?
Not always, but day-one setup plus monthly before any defined work needs hard questions under CROA fee-timing themes.
Should success fees exist?
Any outcome-tied fee needs extreme clarity and must not smuggle untrue claims. Prefer transparent process fees you can audit.
How do I compare two companies fairly?
Same 90-day cash math, same free-report inventory, same written question list on timing and cancel.
What if the table is oral only?
Do not enroll. Covered services expect written contracts with payment terms you can keep.
Does a refund badge fix a bad table?
No. Compare refund triggers separately. A weak refund on a high burn is still a bad deal.
References
Primary sources used for the legal rights and process claims in this guide. Links open in a new tab.
- U.S. Code (Cornell LII)15 U.S.C. § 1679d - Credit repair organizations contracts
- U.S. Code (Cornell LII)15 U.S.C. § 1679b - Credit Repair Organizations Act (prohibited practices / fee timing)
- U.S. Code (Cornell LII)15 U.S.C. § 1679e - Right to cancel credit repair contracts
- Federal Trade CommissionCredit Repair Organizations Act (statute library page)
- Federal Trade CommissionCredit repair: how to help yourself and avoid scams
- Consumer Financial Protection BureauHow can I tell a credit repair scam from a reputable credit counselor?
- AnnualCreditReport.comFree weekly credit reports from the nationwide consumer reporting companies