There was a very interesting article today on ABC news about credit repair companies and how they scam millions of dollars out of consumers each year.
The article spoke of a recent crackdown by the Federal Trade Commission on companies claiming to be Real Estate, but in reality the service was cloaked in real estate but pitched credit repair. People who showed up for a seminar relating to real estate were pitched the credit repair side of the business. Not wise and certainly shady.
What was most interesting about the article however, wasn’t the article itself, but the comments left by people. It was surprising to see comments defending credit repair and calling the writer “biased”.
One commenter said, ” agree… I was at the Dept. of Public Safety to get my Drivers License and they also wanted me to PAY up front before rendering service. They said they would mail it to me. Are they also a Scam for charging UP FRONT? The same thing happened at to me at Subway today when I got lunch.”
Touche! That’s a very interesting point that commenter made. While it isn’t legal to charge in advance for credit repair (because of federal law), is it fair for a company to render a service for free? If the company is actually mailing letters on your behalf and working to help fix your credit issues, then shouldn’t they be paid for their time?
Sure critics will say that its impossible to fix your credit and therefore you should never pay anyone, BUT the system simply doesn’t operate that way. Over half of all negatives in 1 out of 4 credit reports is wrong. If the consumer finds they are unable to correct the issues because of the red tape of the credit bureaus, then it should be their right to hire someone to aid them.
It’s a touchy topic whenever you broach the issue of credit repair. The best method is to always research whomever you hire and make sure the service is legitimate. It’s the same as with any other service, you check out who you are hiring before you hire them.
If you are skittish about anyone having your personal information then there is always the route of self help. Doing your own credit repair can be done, but you do need to commit yourself to the process because it does take some time.
Also be aware that there is nothing that a credit repair firm can do for you that you cant do BUT they can do it much faster and probably with way fewer mistakes because its all they do.
Bottom line is that credit repair will always be a dirty word because there are hundreds of fly by night companies who claim to fix credit but in reality do nothing but steal your money. Buyer beware should hold firm no matter what the service.
