Rapid rescoring is a service offered through some residential mortgage credit reporting companies. It allows you to fix mistakes on credit reports in days or weeks, instead of months. The credit reporting companies that offer this service have special dedicated access to the major three credit reporting agencies that allows them to make changes to credit reports and recalculate the score within days, instead of the weeks it can take if go through traditional challenges. Most resellers that supply this service also offer help in determining which items may help improve the score.

Rapid rescoring is not designed to be a credit repair program, although some companies that offer this service will make suggestions for actions that can boost the score, such as paying down a credit card that is close to its limit. It is really designed for situations where you need to correct information that is wrong on the consumers’ report. To do this, you’ll need to get documentation of the correction from furnisher reporting the mistake, usually in the form of a letter signed by the furnisher, on its letterhead.

Because it can be very difficult to predict what effect a particular action will have on the credit score, it’s best to use this in conjunction with a service that analyzes the credit score and makes recommendations for improvements. A case in point: I spoke to a loan officer today whose client paid off a credit card, thinking it would boost the score, but it didn’t.