The most important thing you should look for when you’re in need of trustworthy credit repair services is the affiliations of the company you’re evaluating. Every trustworthy agency will be happy to provide you with their references on request. Here are a few tips to keep in mind to protect yourself from deceitful credit repair companies.
1. The company should belong to the Ethical Credit Repair Alliance (ECRA) or another reputable regulatory body. You will often hear it advised to hire companies that are subscribed to the BBB (Better Business Bureau) But if you are considering. those agencies that are members of the ECRA are some of the best.
This body has its own stringent codes of conduct and any member organization will do their work in the client’s best interest. All credit repair companies who are members of this organization will have to maintain high standards in their business practices. This helps to protect you, the consumer from any type of unethical and sub-standard practices.
2. Know what credit repair is before seeking help. The majority of those who get “taken” by dishonest companies when seeking assistance to improve their credit, do not know anything about what repair of credit involves. It’s important to know what these services can do for you and what they cannot.
Only when you have this knowledge, can you identify which companies are dishonest and which are not. For instance, derogatory accounts on your credit report cannot be removed if the credit bureaus verify their accuracy. You will find many such credit repair companies claiming to be able to completely clean your credit report in a very short time. Now consider carefully; can this be done without breaking the law? If not – and it clearly is not – are you sure you want to engage in methods that are illegal?
3. Do not accept e-mail offers. At a time when you find yourself in financial desperation, don’t think for a moment that it’s good fortune that sent you such an e-mail. These are fraudulent companies who use unethical means to gather e-mail addresses, and send out e-mails by the millions meaning to trick some needy soul whom they can scam for all they’re worth!
Don’t fall for these e-mails. These are usually always these are crooked agencies searching for unsuspecting victims. Reputable credit repair companies will make their offers by e-mail or US mail only after you have ask for them.
4. Creating a “new identity” cannot be done legally. This is a big mistake too easily accepted by a lot of people, primarily because it looks like the “Silver bullet” that will resolve all their difficulties. This is so easily believed because, again, most people do not understand credit repair. This method is called “File segregation” and it’s most definitely illegal!
A credit score is an aggregate of the history of your financial behavior from the day you became an adult until the present. So acquiring a “new” history is an impossibility. So if you were to attempt it, doesn’t it make sense that it can’t possibly be legal? Therefore it’s crystal clear that the credit repair companies that propose to solve your problems by offering file segregation as a way out are crooks.
5. If a company asks for complete payment before any services have been rendered, beware! Under the Credit Repair Organizations Act these credit repair service must present you a written contract and that payment be made only after services have been performed. You have the right also to cancel the contract within three days.
Some companies may charge an upfront fee for credit report analysis or a consultation, and then charge additional monthly fees as they follow up every month with the credit bureaus to improve your credit. But if a company demands their entire fee be paid in advance, there’s a good chance it’s because they know no payment will be forthcoming once you know that they cannot do what they have promised they would. These kind of businesses are ripoffs and you would be will advised to run the other way!
6. Credit repair takes time. As we discussed, no trustworthy credit repair business can repair your credit overnight or remove verifiable derogatory accounts from your credit report.
At best it takes two or three months to fix minor problems, by getting erroneous information deleted, and through timely payments on your loans. More serious negative trade lines like foreclosures and the like stay on your credit report for 7 years, even given exemplary management of your finances. If there are bankruptcies, they will be there for 10 years. Any company that guarantees quick removal of such items is not to be trusted.
7. No contract, no deal! If you’re not offered a contract, tell them to take a hike; this is your rights under the law. Scammers are leery of presenting a contract, and if a contract is given, important information will be missing in regard to the services, the fees charged, and the like. You will be able to understand the nature of these companies based on their contract. And if they do not offer a contract.
8. If anything is guaranteed, beware! Even the top quality companies can guarantee the results of their credit services. After looking at your credit report, they can promise to use all legal means to affect improvement in your score. But results cannot be guaranteed regarding credit repair.
Unfortunately human nature being what is, people believe what they want to hear and prefer to hire a company who tells them as much, rather than hire a credit repair business who gives them an honest and truthful assessment of the situation. Avoid this all too common self deception! Even though promises of results are more appealing, credit repair companies that guarantee they can achieve given results are not telling the truth.
9. See if there are counseling services. A good many credit repair companies will give you free counseling services.
If the company that you are considering to engage does not, look a bit beyond. It might not be a trustworthy agency. All agencies of repute encourage and educate people on how to repair credit. The company performs those services that are for those matters that need professional intervention to effect the best results.
10. If you’re given wrong advice, look out! Some agencies have you dispute every derogatory trade line on your credit report by declaring “this is not my account..” Although this may result in short-term improvement in your credit score, the creditors whose loans have been disputed may later counter it, and it will later be verified by the bureaus.
Because of the numerous inaccuracies in record-keeping by the credit bureaus, there is a very high probability that there are inaccuracies on your credit report. But credit repair companies that tell you to state “this account is not mine” even if it is, are not to be trusted.
As you can see, there are plenty of red flags along the way to alert you of a possible ripoff. Before anything else, before you hire credit repair companies is to be informed in regard to credit repair, and terms like “credit score” and “credit report”. You also need to know the minimum applicable laws before you go for any type of credit repair help. A good start is to pay a visit to the web sites of the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection and the Ethical Credit Repair Alliance.
