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If you were a Lexington Law client: your disputes did not continue after they shut down.
When Progrexion filed for bankruptcy in June 2023, active dispute letters stopped. The CFPB mailed $1.8 billion in refund checks to affected customers — but a check doesn't fix your credit report. That work still needs to happen.
What Happened to Lexington Law
In March 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued Progrexion — the parent company of both Lexington Law and CreditRepair.com — for charging illegal advance fees under the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA). The CFPB won a $2.7 billion judgment. Progrexion filed for bankruptcy three months later. Lexington Law, which had operated for over 27 years and served an estimated 4.3 million customers, effectively shut down.
The CFPB subsequently mailed $1.8 billion in refund checks to former clients. If you received one of those checks, you were reimbursed for fees you paid — but your credit report is exactly where it was when they stopped sending letters.
The core lesson from the Lexington Law collapse: The company's entire operation was built on sending dispute letters to credit bureaus under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). That's a legal right every American has — and exercising it doesn't require paying a law firm hundreds of dollars a month.
Lexington Law Alternatives: Full Comparison
These are the services most former Lexington Law clients are considering. The comparison covers price, model, CROA compliance posture, and what you actually get.
| Company |
Price |
Model |
Upfront Charge? |
You Control? |
CROA Risk |
| Sky Blue Credit |
$79/mo |
Traditional CRO — they send letters |
$79 first-work fee |
No |
Moderate |
| Credit Saint |
$79–$139/mo |
Traditional CRO — tiered plans |
Yes — "first work" fee |
No |
Moderate |
| The Credit People |
$19 start / $99/mo |
Traditional CRO — they send letters |
$19 startup |
No |
Moderate |
| Restore Credit Best Value |
$99–$149/mo |
Software — YOU send letters |
Never |
Yes |
Low — not a CRO |
Sky Blue
$79/mo
First-work fee required. They handle letters.
Credit Saint
$79–$139/mo
Tiered plans. First-work fee applies.
The Credit People
$99/mo
$19 to start. Traditional model.
Restore Credit
$99/mo
Billed after service. You review + mail. No upfront fees. Ever.
What Lexington Law Was Actually Doing
Here's what Lexington Law's operation looked like in practice: your credit report had errors or negative items you wanted disputed. Their paralegals would draft letters under the Fair Credit Reporting Act — specifically invoking your rights under 15 U.S.C. § 1681i, which requires credit bureaus to investigate disputed items within 30 days. Those letters went to Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion by certified mail. That's the entire process.
The FCRA gives every American those exact same rights, directly. You do not need a law firm, a paralegal, or a credit repair organization to send a dispute letter. You need:
- A copy of your credit reports (free at AnnualCreditReport.com)
- Identification of specific items to dispute — with the account number and the reason
- A written dispute letter citing your FCRA rights
- Certified mail to the credit bureau's dispute address
That's the process Lexington Law was charging $89–$130/month to manage. They weren't doing something legally complex — they were doing something administratively tedious and charging accordingly.
Why the CFPB went after them: CROA prohibits credit repair organizations from charging fees before services are fully performed. Lexington Law and CreditRepair.com collected monthly fees before each month's work was completed. The CFPB ruled this violated federal law — resulting in the $2.7 billion judgment.
Why Restore Credit Is Different
Restore Credit is software, not a credit repair organization. That distinction matters legally and practically.
Here's what that means in practice:
- You review every letter before it goes out. Nothing is sent in your name without your approval.
- You sign and mail the letters. This keeps the process under FCRA, not CROA — because you're exercising your own legal rights, not paying someone else to exercise them for you.
- We charge after service is delivered. There are no first-work fees, no setup charges, no advance billing. The subscription covers the software — the dispute generation, tracking, response analysis, and follow-up scheduling. You pay at the end of each billing period.
- Cancel anytime. No contracts. No cancellation fees. No 90-day minimums.
The credit repair industry's business model requires opacity — if clients understood the process, they'd do it themselves. Restore's software model flips that. We show you exactly how the FCRA dispute process works, generate the precise letters for your specific items, and help you track what's happening at each bureau.
What Happened to Your Disputes
If you were an active Lexington Law client when they shut down in 2023, here's the reality:
- Letters in transit were likely processed — dispute letters already mailed before shutdown would have been received and triggered bureau investigation timelines.
- Future dispute rounds stopped. Any items that required follow-up letters, escalation, or Method of Verification (MOV) requests never happened.
- Items that were removed may have returned. Some negative items reappear after dispute activity stops — especially if the original creditor re-verified the information.
- Your 30-day investigation windows expired. The FCRA's 30-day clock on bureau investigations doesn't pause. Items that needed timely reinvestigation requests got no action.
First step: Pull fresh copies of all three credit reports. Compare what's there now against any records you kept from your Lexington Law account. Items they were actively disputing may need to be restarted from scratch.
What To Do Now: 5 Steps
-
Pull your current reports from all three bureaus.
Go to AnnualCreditReport.com — it's the federally mandated free access portal. Pull Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. These are full reports, not the abbreviated versions you see on monitoring apps.
-
Document every negative item with account numbers.
Collections, late payments, charge-offs, and hard inquiries. For each one: the creditor name, account number, the date it was reported, the balance, and the status. This is your dispute inventory.
-
Identify what was in dispute versus what's new.
If you have any documentation from Lexington Law (emails, letters, account portal screenshots), use those to identify which items were mid-dispute. Those are your priority — restart them first.
-
Generate and send your first dispute letters.
FCRA disputes go directly to each credit bureau. Use certified mail with return receipt — this creates a paper trail and starts the 30-day investigation clock officially.
-
Track responses and follow up at 30 and 60 days.
Bureaus are required to notify you of investigation results. If an item isn't removed or corrected, you have the right to request the method of verification — the next escalation step.
Start Where Lexington Law Left Off
Restore Credit generates your FCRA dispute letters, tracks your cases across all three bureaus, and guides you through every escalation step. 7-day free trial. Billed after service, never before.
Start Your Free Trial
Starter $99/mo · Pro $149/mo · Family $199/mo · No setup fees · Cancel anytime
The Bottom Line on Alternatives
If you're choosing between Sky Blue, Credit Saint, The Credit People, or Restore Credit, the honest comparison comes down to two questions: Do you want someone else to control the process, or do you want to control it yourself? And are you comfortable paying a traditional credit repair organization, knowing what happened to the largest one in the industry?
Traditional CROs like Sky Blue and Credit Saint are legitimate businesses that operate within CROA boundaries. They do the work for you — which is a service with real value if you prefer a hands-off approach. Their pricing is competitive.
Restore Credit is the right choice if you want transparency, direct control, and a model that isn't structured as a credit repair organization. The software does the heavy lifting — letter generation, tracking, timing — but you remain the person exercising your legal rights. That's a meaningful difference, both legally and philosophically.
The credit dispute process is not complicated. Lexington Law built a $1 billion business on the perception that it was. Their collapse, and the CFPB's judgment, is the government's formal assessment of that business model. You can do this yourself.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Restore Credit a credit repair organization under CROA?
No. Restore Credit is software. You review, sign, and mail every dispute letter yourself — you're exercising your own rights under the FCRA. CROA applies to companies that perform credit repair services on your behalf and charge fees for doing so. Because you are the one taking action, CROA's advance fee prohibition doesn't apply to Restore's software subscription. We never send letters in your name or represent you to credit bureaus.
Can I really dispute credit report errors without a company?
Yes — it's a federal right under 15 U.S.C. § 1681i. Every American can dispute any item on their credit report directly with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion at no cost. Bureaus are legally required to investigate within 30 days and remove items they cannot verify. Credit repair companies like Lexington Law were doing exactly this on your behalf — and charging monthly fees for it. Restore's software helps you do it yourself, faster, with better tracking.
Will my credit score actually improve?
Results depend entirely on what's on your credit report. If negative items are inaccurate, unverifiable, or past their reporting period (7 years for most derogatory items, 10 years for bankruptcies), they can be removed through the dispute process. Accurate, verifiable negative information cannot be removed by anyone — not Restore, not Lexington Law, not any company. Any credit repair company that guarantees removal of accurate information is lying to you. We don't make guarantees. We help you work the process correctly.
What if my Lexington Law disputes were already working?
If items were removed while you were an active Lexington Law client, those removals likely stand — as long as you didn't stop monitoring your reports afterward. Some removed items reappear if the creditor resubmits the data, which can happen without any notice. Pull fresh reports from all three bureaus and verify. If items have returned, they can be re-disputed. The dispute process can be repeated — there's no legal limit on how many times you can dispute the same item if it keeps reappearing incorrectly.
What does the CFPB refund check mean for my legal rights?
Cashing a CFPB refund check does not waive any additional legal rights you may have against Progrexion, Lexington Law, or CreditRepair.com. The refund checks were part of the CFPB enforcement action — they represent reimbursement of fees charged in violation of CROA. If you believe you have additional damages (harm caused by their actions, not just the fees paid), consult a consumer law attorney. Cashing the check is not an admission or release.