Credit Repair Free Advice-- How to Spot a Credit
Repair Scam
Jeanette
Fisher
We've all seen them: ads
offering to repair bad credit. In today’s world,
companies proposing to fix a person's credit seem to
be everywhere--on television, in newspapers and
magazines, and in your Internet mailbox.
Their ads are easy to spot. They say things like:
"Repair your credit
rating--guaranteed!"
"Remove bad information from your
credit file--immediately and forever!"
They're fantastic claims and immensely appealing,
especially if you're having financial difficulties
that are affecting your own credit rating. Therein
lies the problem: their claims are fantastic, based
on fantasy, and they can't help repair your credit,
regardless of what they may claim. Fortunately,
there are ways to get your credit back on track--and
you can do it yourself, sometimes for free, without
the help of Credit Repair companies.
Here's how to avoid
becoming a victim of Credit Repair scam:
First, know what they
promise--and it's a very appealing. For a fee, they
claim to be able to clean up your credit report,
which, in turn, will allow you to be able to get a
loan, whether it's for a car, a home, or anything
else. Be assured that regardless of how expensive
their services may be or how lavish their promises,
those companies can't do what they say they'll do.
Worse, their credit repair advice can hurt you.
Second, you need to recognize the warning signs when
it comes to credit repair scams. If a company wants
you to pay them up front for their services, you
should immediately begin to be concerned. They'll
tell you the fees are to cover the valuable
information they're about to give you, but you
should know that all that information is available
to you FREE from various sources, including the
federal government. (For instance, a great source of
free information from the Federal Trade Commission
can be found at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/repair.htm.)
If you pay up front, many of those companies will
simply disappear--taking your hard-earned money with
them. To protect consumers from that scenario,
congress passed the Credit Repair Organizations Act,
making it illegal for Credit Repair companies to
require payment until after they've fully fulfilled
all the promises they initially made.
If a company encourages you not to contact the
various credit reporting companies on your own,
that's another warning sign. You have every right to
do contact the agencies yourself. And you don't need
to pay anyone to do it in your behalf.
A third, and even more potentially damaging, warning
sign is if a company suggests that you pay them to
help you create a new credit identity, which will
allow you to begin creating a new credit report,
free of the damaging information on the report you
already have. This has serious potential problems,
including involving you in a fraud against the
federal government. You could even go to prison.
It's your responsibility to remain as creditworthy
as possible, but sometimes things get out of hand,
often through no fault of your own. When that
happens, it's tempting to seek out the help of a
company that makes lavish promises, but by knowing
what those companies CAN'T do to help, you can
safeguard yourself from becoming a victim of a
Credit Repair scam.
Copyright © Jeanette J. Fisher
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