Answer:
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns consumers against seeking credit repair assistance from scammers and illegal credit repair agencies. True enough, going through a financial crisis can make anyone vulnerable to scams and rip-offs.
These are the signs if the credit repair companies are scams
No Upfront payment
Advises you to lie or use false information
Promises to instantly fix your credit history
You are not told about your rights
You are not given practical advice
The key to repairing bad credit is to write a properly formatted credit repair letters to one or all of the credit bureaus and send them out via registered mail.
source:
http://www.ezcreditrepairsolutions.com/anatomy-of-a-credit-dispute-letter/
Consider finding a consultant that is a member of a trade association that regulates the credit service industry. Credit Consultants Association is such an organization.