*Loan,banking and credit>>>credit repair

Do those "credit repair" places really increase credit scores?

are they legit, and if yes, do they help much at all? How long do they take to do whatever theyre going to do ?

no, pay who you owe, thats the best way.

You have to be on the brink of bankruptcy with no assets,60 days late on everything,but they can negotiate payments,reduce amounts owed,under certain circumstances.For a fee.A big fee.
Yes many like CCCS are legit, but you have to watch out for a lot of scams where they take your money and don't respond. The best way to repair your credit is to pay your creditors, if you're having trouble paying, just call them up and set up a payment plan. Anything Consumer Credit Counseling Sevices can do, you can do for free.
What happens is they dispute negative entries on your credit report. This something that you can accomplish your self.

There are alot of scams in this area and most will do more harm than good.

There are several attorneys that specialize in the area of consumer credit. I would trust the attorneys, because they know the law and how to work it to their advantage.
http://www.creditrepairattorney.net...
Actually, there are legitimate credit repair businesses that assist you in increasing your credit score. Remember that NO legitimate business can remove bad credit items if they are true and within the proper reported period. In most cases 7 years. However, what has gotten credit repair business a bad name are the scam ones that claim they can repair your credit, even if your reports are accurate (and reflect a poor payment history). Usually, they send out a bunch of dispute letters on everything (valid or not) and hope that the credit bureaus will remove everything that is not verified by the creditor/lender. However, while this might and I stress the word MIGHT be a quick/short temporary fix, it will not repair your credit for the long term. Only time and a good payment history will do that.

However, a good credit repair service, such as Credit Plus, can help you by assisting you with what you need to improve your score; what you can ignore; and proper verification and accurate reporting of what your record is. I have seen them improve a party's score by 100 points which is QUITE a bit. However, that's a great case scenario and they cannot do that in every case.

Just make sure you check out what ever company you are considering; ask them what they are planning on doing for their money and you; and whether or not they actually are approved by the bureaus to "rapid restore". I will be surprised if every company you talk to will be able to answer all these questions in a way that you are comfortable.
experience in the industry (legal/finance)