Credit Repair Business: How To Avoid Credit Card Processing Pitfalls

If you’ve just started your own credit repair business or are thinking about earning a side or full-time income in this industry, you’ll need a solid strategy to help you earn recurring revenue. Running a credit repair business can be a great way to earn passive income — you market and sell services to your clients once, then they are billed monthly for services - like a subscription.

All you need to do is keep these clients engaged and provide them with the tools, resources, and advice they need to fix their credit.

Here are seven ways to get recurring payments from your credit repair business:

#1: Offer Affordable Plans for Clients

You must provide an affordable service to clients so they are more inclined to continue paying a monthly fee. Consider different price points for your clientele based on income levels and the price of similar services available in your area. You need to find that sweet spot where clients see the value in your services and feel comfortable paying a monthly fee.

Use this Credit Repair Business Revenue Calculator to run projections.

#2: Use the Right Payment Software

When you’re busy servicing clients, the last thing you want to worry about is chasing down  everyone’s payment each  month. Automate the process with a software program designed for credit repair businesses so that you can offer recurring billing with a credit card on file. This will streamline the payment process and take one more task off your to-do list.

Chargebee is the only payments software that will work with Credit Repair Cloud. Get your FREE Chargebee Launch Plan here.

#3: Select a  Merchant Gateway Platform that Allows for Credit Repair

You must have  a merchant account and gateway that allows for charges of credit repair services and fees. The most common  merchant gateways, such as Square, PayPal, and Stripe will  not allow charges for credit repair (and you cannot fool them). They will ban your account without notice and hold your money for up to 120 days for breaking their terms and conditions.

So you can authorize payments properly, get a merchant account for credit repair here.

#4: Focus on Providing Exceptional Service

Start with friends and family to establish your processes. Your credit repair business will grow quickly through referrals. When people are extremely satisfied with your services, they are more likely to refer friends, family members, and colleagues to you and stick with you for the long-term. One of the best ways to provide exceptional service is by communicating to your clients what you are doing, why and involving them in the process. Try and go above and beyond and become a credit repair hero through customer service and provide services that aren’t readily available elsewhere to build your business fast and keep those recurring payments coming in.

#5: Set Up First Work Fees Correctly

The most successful credit repair firms do charge a one-time fee for starting the service but typically don’t charge this  upfront, as that is not allowed in many states. Instead, they will charge a ‘first work’ fee after working on the first round of letters.

Use a credit repair business software program to trigger these payments in Chargebee after the first set of letters are saved in the system so that instead of being paid “upfront” you instead being paid for the work you have already just done.

#6: Offer a Money Back Guarantee (and give refunds)!

How can offering a refund ensure you will get more recurring clients and ongoing payments? A money back guarantee will give clients some assurance that you will be going out of your way to keep their business and they are not locked in to any type of contract. This peace of mind will bring you far more paying clients. Additionally, any customer can get their money back at any time from their credit card company by filing a chargeback. If you get too many chargebacks, your merchant account will cancel your service (and hold your fees for up to 120 days). So it’s far better to offer a guarantee and give a refund to everyone who asks. Operating this way will always earn you more money in the end. It’s the right way to do business.

#7: Make a Commitment to Educating Clients

Your credit repair business is built around services that educate and empower clients. Make a commitment to provide as many educational materials as possible and provide expert guidance through all the steps of the credit repair process. You want to serve as a coach and trusted guide as clients learn how to resolve credit issues, fix mistakes and errors on their credit report, and send impactful letters to creditors and credit bureaus. Connecting with these clients via email, phone, and even text messaging to provide useful tips and advice they can use immediately will help build your reputation and encourage them to stay with you for the long-term.

Get our Guide To Getting Paid At Credit Repair