§ Claim under review · Advice
"The sign said what it said… NEED YOUR CREDIT FIXED? 👀📈 We're bringing BIG ENERGY to your credit goals. It's time to stop letting your past stand between you and your future. DM CreditByCortez to get started. 💙💛"
Verdict
Partially accurate but misleading
Confidence
MediumSummary
The post frames this as an offer of a paid service; the claim behind it is that a third party can "fix" a consumer's credit so that past negative history stops limiting their access to credit. That premise is only partly supported. US regulators state that inaccurate, duplicated, identity-theft or outdated items can be disputed and removed, but that accurate and up to date negative information generally cannot be removed by anyone, and most of it stays on a report for seven years. The FTC and CFPB also state that the same disputes can be filed by a consumer directly at no cost, that federal law bars credit repair companies from charging before services are fully performed, and that consumers get a written contract and a three day right to cancel. The advertisement makes no explicit promise of a score increase, a price or a timeframe, so nothing it states outright is contradicted, but the unqualified wording implies past credit problems can be cleared in a way the regulators' guidance does not support. No registration record, pricing, contract terms or track record for this specific business could be located, so nothing here is a finding about that business one way or the other. General information only - not financial advice.
The readings
key figures from the evidenceCFPB-ordered consumer redress and penalties against Lexington Law/CreditRepair.com
Why this verdict
Evidence
US regulators state that negative credit information that is accurate cannot be removed on request by anyone. The CFPB states that you generally cannot have negative information removed from your credit report if it is accurate, that most negative information remains for seven years, and that some types remain longer . The CFPB also states that many companies promise to "repair" or "fix" credit for an upfront fee, that no one has the right to remove accurate negative information such as late payments, and that a report can only be fixed if it contains errors, which a consumer can do on their own at no cost.
The FTC's guidance is aligned. The FTC states that consumers should not believe a credit repair company that promises to remove accurate and up-to-date information, and that anything a credit repair company can do, a consumer can do for themselves for little or no cost.
The FTC also states that before doing any work, credit repair companies must provide a detailed written contract explaining the consumer's legal rights, including a three-day right to cancel without charge, and the total cost, and that it is illegal for such companies to lie about what they can do, to charge before helping, or to ask a consumer to lie on credit applications.
The statutory basis exists in the Credit Repair Organizations Act. Under 15 U.S.C. 1679b(b), no credit repair organization may charge or receive any money or other valuable consideration for a service before that service is fully performed.
Under 15 U.S.C. 1679e, a consumer may cancel any contract with a credit repair organization without penalty at any time before midnight of the third business day after the contract is executed.
Legitimate dispute activity does exist, which is what makes the category not uniformly fraudulent. The CFPB notes that a consumer can dispute accurate information if it appears multiple times, and can dispute negative information arising from identity theft or that is not about them, and that credit reporting companies should remove those items. Consumers can obtain reports to check for such errors at no cost: consumers can review each of their credit report disclosures weekly for free at annualcreditreport.com, the only website authorized by law for this purpose.
The sector has a documented enforcement history. The CFPB took enforcement action against Lexington Law, CreditRepair.com and their parent companies, alleging they illegally charged upfront fees and engaged in deceptive bait-and-switch advertising for credit repair services , and the companies were ordered to pay $2.7 billion in consumer redress and civil penalties and were banned from telemarketing credit repair services for 10 years. The prohibited claim set in FTC actions has long included claiming that a credit repair organization can permanently remove negative information from consumers' credit reports even when the information is accurate and not obsolete, requiring advance payment, and failing to provide the written statement of Consumer Credit File Rights before an agreement is signed.
State-level rules add a further layer that varies by location. State credit services organization laws commonly add registration or licensing requirements, with many states requiring a credit repair company to register with a state agency before it can legally solicit or accept clients in that state , and bond requirements differ by state, for example a $10,000 surety bond in Texas under Tex. Finance Code 393.602 and registration with the state financial regulator in California.
I found no trace of "CreditByCortez" in regulator databases, enforcement records, licensing sources, or general web search results beyond the Instagram handle in the post itself. That is a no-trace finding about a small business, not evidence of wrongdoing.
Findings
✓ What's accurate 4
- Credit repair as a service category is lawful in the US when conducted within CROA, and disputing inaccurate or unverifiable items can in fact result in their removal.
- Some negative items genuinely can be removed: errors, duplicates, items arising from identity theft, items not belonging to the consumer, and items past the reporting period.
- The post makes no explicit promise of a score increase, a guaranteed outcome, a timeframe, or a price, so it does not on its face assert anything provably false.
- A business operating this way can be entirely legitimate, and nothing found indicates otherwise about this specific account.
≈ What's misleading 4
- Omitted qualifier: the post says "NEED YOUR CREDIT FIXED?" with no distinction between inaccurate items, which can be disputed and removed, and accurate and timely negative items, which per CFPB guidance generally cannot be removed by anyone. A reader is left with the impression that all negative history is addressable, which the regulator's stated position contradicts.
- Exaggeration: "stop letting your past stand between you and your future" implies the past itself can be erased from the file. Where the past entries are accurate, the record says time and repayment behaviour, not a service provider, determine when they stop counting.
- Omitted qualifier: the post does not disclose that the same dispute process is available to the consumer directly at no cost, nor that federal law bars charging before services are fully performed and grants a three-day cancellation right. These are the specific facts a reader would need to evaluate the offer, and none appear.
- Jurisdiction transfer: the post names no country. CROA, FCRA, the seven-year reporting window and state registration and bonding rules are US rules, and a reader outside the US would be operating under a different framework entirely.
? What's uncertain 4
- Whether CreditByCortez is registered or bonded where required. No licensing or registration record was locatable, and many but not all states require registration before soliciting clients.
- What the service actually consists of, what it costs, whether fees are charged before services are fully performed, and whether the CROA-required written contract and disclosures are provided. None of this is in the post and none was findable.
- Whether any specific outcome claims are made in direct messages after contact. Only the public advertisement was available for review.
- Whether the "results" implied by the tone are drawn from removals of inaccurate items or from claims about accurate items. Not determinable from the advertisement.
Sources
7 of 8 linked to recordsCFPB, "Is it possible to remove accurate but negative information from my credit report?"
CFPB, "How long does information stay on my credit report?"
FTC Consumer Advice, "Looking to fix your credit? An illegal credit repair scam isn't the answer" (Dec 2025)
FTC Consumer Advice, "Spot the scams when fixing your credit" (Jan 2026)
15 U.S.C. 1679b (prohibited practices) and 15 U.S.C. 1679e (right to cancel)
CFPB enforcement record, Lexington Law / CreditRepair.com $2.7bn judgment and 10-year telemarketing ban
FTC, 2008 credit repair settlement press release (illustrative of the prohibited claim set)
Searches for "CreditByCortez" / "Credit by Cortez" across regulator, licensing and general web sources