False Hope of Credit Repair
I have heard talks of people saying they got no fax payday loans to cover the cost of advice or services from a credit repair company, and the advice they got from the supposed credit repair company was information they could have gotten off of the internet for free. The truth is the majority of these credit repair companies are scams. They offer consumers false hope by telling them that they can remove negative marks from their credit report to help them finance a car or get a mortgage for a home, but the truth is that no one can remove negative information from your credit report; it’s against the law.
Your Dollars Spent For No Reason
Due to the current economic crisis our nation is suffering, these credit repair companies are using the financial worries of consumers to prey upon them and sometimes even make their debt worse than it was before. In researching this topic, I have found that consumers are paying these companies thousands of dollars for their so called “repair counseling or repair services” and they are not seeing any improvement on their credit scores. That’s money that could have been put towards paying off debt not lining someone else’s pocketbook. In fact most of the credit repair companies are encouraging you to stop making payments until you have validation or proof of your debt from the creditor. This is probably the worst thing you can do to your credit; not only will it put more negative marks on your score, but it can also lead to the creditor “charging off” your account which will in turn put your debt in the hands of collection agencies, again adding even more negative marks to your credit score.
How to Spot a Scam
The first thing you should look for is if the company is asking for fees up front before they provide any information or services. This is a giant red flag. Under the Credit Repair Organizations Act, credit repair companies cannot ask for payment up front and they must complete the promised services before a payment is issued to you. Second, does the company ask you to stop making payments to your creditors? Again, I stress to you that this is the worst thing you can do to your credit; even if you need no fax payday loans to make payments on time, you should always try to pay your creditors on time. The next thing you should watch for is if the company will provide your rights without paying a fee first. The last major thing you should look for is if the company advises you to acquire an Employer Identification Number to use instead of your Social Security Number to obtain a new credit identity and credit report. This is probably my favorite of all, because this does absolutely nothing to change your current credit report and it sounds like they could possibly be involved in some sort of fraud.
Credit Isn’t Repaired Overnight, It Takes Time
The only person who can truly make a difference to your credit report is you and you alone. Repairing your credit will take a vast amount of time. “I Dream of Jeannie” is not going to show up on your door step and make your credit disappear with a twitch of the nose. If you are about to fall behind on payments for loans or credit cards, no fax payday loans can help you keep negative marks off of your credit report. You can also find more useful information on how to repair your credit and no fax payday loans at personalmoneystore.com.
Great article but i must make a couple of corrections; the 1st is that credit repair is not illegal as long as the credit repair company operates with in the CROA (Credit Repair Organization Act) guild lines. 2nd, items that can not be verified by the credit reporting agencies through the collection company or original creditor “must be removed” from the credit report per the FCRA. 3rd, if the company is exempt from CROA (Bank, Credit Union or 501c3, it is perfectly legal to charge up front prior to services being rendered per CROA. I do agree that there are many unscrupulous credit repair companies out there, but there are also some companies that charge a fair price and provide a fair amount of education for the client. You are correct in saying that someone can do this on there own, but they can also change their own oil. Most prefer Jiffy Lube. I would welcome a call from you if you like to discuss further. You can reach me at 573-418-0932. Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to clarify a few things.
Just because someone can do it for themselves that makes the service a scam. I disagree Mark, this article was poorly written and has little to no factual data in it.
Personally, I believe the best thing to do to repair credit is to do it yourself. There are many informative resources out there that can come in handy on your journey. Not to mention, you will save a lot more money by doing so. In times like this, you need to be saving more and spend less. But beware. If you are absolutely ready to take the reins on your credit to recovery, remember that it requires solid commitment. You must commit to setting aside enough time to work on your credit files. Knowledge, commitment, and determination are the keys to effectively repair your credit.
There is NO magical cure for bad credit. The only way out is to get your own self out, by your boot straps. You can buy advice, but there are few services, if any, that will seriously do anything beyond just tell you to pay down your balance. I hope no other people fall victim to more of these scams.
John, you are correct. I was trying to be polite to the author. Anyway, Although i agree with some or pieces of all the commentary’s, the fact that a person can repair their own credit goes with out saying. A person can also represent themselves in a court of law, but probably should not. The PayDay Loan item is without a doubt a SCAM, but to say that their are no legitimate companies out there and to say that all they will do is tell you to pay down your balances is just ignorant. Coming from a 10 year mortgage background and a Certified Credit Consultant through Central Michigan University, Former Credit Restoration and Debt Management Instructor for the UAW (United Auto Workers) in Kansas City and St Louis I have to respectfully disagree with Perky on Payday and Vkingston. If you need more info please feel free to contact me at 573-418-0932. At least educate yourself on the credit industry and the whole process before you try to give other people advise.
Certain types of negative information can be removed from a person’s credit report. Inaccurate items and items that have exceeded the credit reporting time limit can both be disputed and removed. However, accurately reported negative information must remain legally remain. There are some credit repair agencies that submit multiple disputes hoping the account publisher won’t respond. Some people get lucky and this works. But, without the good-credit building habits to back up credit repair, the good credit will only go bad again.
The legal and moral aspect of disputing data on a credit report works both ways – The credit reporting agencies, let me rephrase that, the multi-billion dollar a year credit reporting agencies have a moral and legal obligation to report accurate information. Remember the burden of proof is on them, not the consumer. Any information that is erroneous, obsolete or UNVERIFIABLE whether true or false is up for play. It is not my moral or legal duty or for that matter any consumers to just sit back and except the credit reporting agencies or the voluntary reporting of creditors, who by the way have them selfs been subject to multi-million dollar law suites for holding or shredding customers checks so they can report a late pay. Plan and simple, if you are a consumer and derogatory information on your report and it is UNVERIFIABLE, per the FCRA it must be REMOVED!! PERIOD. Morality does not come into play here. Its the law!
I found this article helpful in that it allowed me to see that really I can do the research and I know what credit situations I have gotten myself into, so I will learn how to pay it down. I do not need help from a company to do so.
Ducan, i applaud you for taking the intuitive to do this on your own. It may take you a little longer but the process of going through it should be good for you. On the other hand i have clients that are Attorneys as well as Bank executives (Directors) and they opt to have a professional service assist them due to the amount of time investigating how to CORRECTLY and most EFFECTIVLY complete the process. I am here to help you free of charge if you need any assistance. You can call me at 573-418-0932. I can steer you in the right direction.
We know you can represent yourself in court and that it’s not best suggested if you don’t know how. That’s why you pay thousands of dollars to a lawyer to do it for you. But reality is, some have represented them selves in court and have won. That just goes to show you don’t need a “certificate” or some sort of certification stating you know what your doing. People are perfectly capable of learning and doing on their own, so I suggest the cheapest way to go about credit repair is to try it on your own. What are “credit repair” companies doing that people in financial turmoil can’t? Oh I know, charge others for some simple advise!
Fancy, I agree that there are situations that an individual can handle on their own. But sometimes it is better or more convenient to hire a professional. My question to you is what is your credit score and what is your experience in dealing with the credit reporting agencies. My suspicion is that most people that give the “you can do it on your own” advise are just regurgitation what they have heard someone else say and really have no experience with anything. It’s called a cliche.
I think the big problem with most folks when it comes to repairing their own credit, is they don’t really know what to do or how to do it. We need to teach these folks that it’s not as hard or time consuming as they may think.
On top of teaching folks how to repair their credit themselves, we need to give them an education on exactly what affects their credit and how they can optimize their own scores then maintain them once they get there.
This, in my view, is the key to helping consumers in today’s turbulent credit environment.
You don’t need a professional to tell a collector ” Hay, this is how much I can pay ” … fact is, even more so now in these hard times that a collector is happy to get what they can for the most part.
Be honest with a collector and let them know your situation, if you can do monthly payments ( even if its $20 a month ) let them know.
Once you get your debt paid off just remember cash is king.
Great advise Johnny! My question to you is why would you pay a debt collector full amount when they only paid pennies on the dollar for the debt? why would you pay a debt collector when the statute of limitations for collecting the debt has pasted? Why would you pay a debt collector when they may not be licensed to collect the debt in the state you reside? May be the rather then simply agreeing to pay the debt you do some research to educate yourself on the FDCPA. Thats what i would advise. People have all types of legitimate situations that occur that cause them to go in to a collection status and need help understanding what the laws are to help them make a decision as to the best course of action.
I agree with Mark, he knows what he is talking about.
There is no legal reason to pay a debt passed the statute of limitation unless you have some religious or moral compulsion to get rid of you hard earned money.
You should keep it and put it on your family.
When it comes to credit repair in order to succeed you’ll ned to know some law. Specifically FCRA, FDCPA, TILA…. It takes about 3 months to the average person to acquire the minimal knowledge necessary to be effective in credit repair.
The do it yourself thing that everybody recommends is just about going
to the internet and copy/paste those credit repair letters found everywhere.
When you send those letters the creditor and collectors know that you have no idea of what you are doing