Beware Of Bogus Credit Repair Companies!

So-called "Credit Repair" companies claim they can be negative information from credit reports. Advertising as "Credit Advisors," "Rating Correction Services" or "Credit Consultants," they trumpet variations on this message: "rejected because of bad credit? We can help!" Many of these companies charge hundreds if not thousands of dollars for the promise to "clean up" bad credit reports. But the truth is that these companies can only do what you can do to help you - at no extra charge.

Nobody can remove negative information that is accurate from your credit report. No company has a "secret" to remove all negative information.

But this is not their debts. This misleading quotation from a credit repair brochure: "Charged-off accounts, collection accounts, judgments, tax liens, repossessions and even bankruptcies can be removed from your credit records in less than one year (five to seven months). "

One tactic is to bombard credit reporting agencies with requests to verify information. When a credit reporting agency can not verify an entry within 60 days, it is the information from the report. But if the information is later verified exactly, it will be back in the report.

Before the signing of a contract with a company that promises to repair your credit, remember these facts:

* You may obtain a copy of your credit report on their own.
* You have the right to dispute entries in your credit report.

Caution guaranteed credit offers!

Credit repair and other companies often complain that they "guarantee" that give you a credit card, regardless of your credit history. In fact, these companies do not always honor their guarantee. Sometimes it is just your money and run - you will not be any credit, regardless of what they promised.

If they get a card at all, it is often referred to as "secured" bank credit card, with high-front "application" fees, which requires you to deposit and keep several hundred dollars in a savings account or a card that can only You buy in a catalog from a store that you probably never heard of. (You can opt for a secured credit card from you. For a free list of banks that do not charge fees for secured cards, see the information of consumers associations in the "More Information" below.)

Credit repair is often advertising on television, in newspapers and even on match books. Some require consumers to dial a "900" phone number for more information. Calls to 900 numbers cost $ 2 or $ 3 per minute, then stops a few minutes of information on the cards can be expensive.

Some companies are trying, people apply for a credit card, by using financial information from other people with good credit history. It is a criminal act to apply for credit under a different name - do not do business with these companies.

Law enforcement authorities have shut down many credit repair outfits, but it is difficult, a fraudulent credit repair outfit unless people complain about them. Therefore, careful to credit repair ads and be sure to contact the agencies listed, if you believe that a credit repair company took advantage of you.