The Credit Ombudsman Service is waging war against credit repair companies, which it says are charging some consumers large fees to deal with issues they could resolve for free themselves.In the March issue of its Consumer News bulletin, published this week, COSL said credit repair companies also claim to be able to get default listings or other negative filings removed from credit reports, when in most cases these records cannot be removed.COSL has advised consumers to contact their credit provider or an ombudsman if they think there is an incorrect listing on their credit file.And it has cautioned that if a default listing or other negative filing is correct, in most cases it cannot be removed from a credit report.Last year COSL made a submission to the body drafting the credit reporting code, asking it to include a rule that credit reporting agencies not deal with fee-for-service credit repair companies. Credit repair agencies work by obtaining authorisation from consumers to access their credit records. If they find incorrect entries, they make a complaint to the credit reporting bureau or the credit provider (or the ombudsman) and ask for the entries to be removed.The ombudsman is concerned that the average fee for this service is $1000 per listing and the consumers are often a low-income earners with small credit contracts. By going to the credit provider or an ombudsman the consumers could have removed incorrect entries at no charge.