The honest answer to “how long does credit repair take” is: it depends on what broke it. A few late payments from two years ago is a different project than a bankruptcy or a wave of collections. People underestimate the first scenario and overestimate how bad the second one is. Both can be worked through — they just run on different clocks.
I’ve talked to a lot of people trying to fix their credit — mostly buyers who are trying to get ready for a mortgage or a car loan. The expectations are usually off in one direction or the other. So here’s a realistic breakdown by issue type.
