Credit Secrets & Tips

Some of credit repair companies are legitimate business that work within the law to help you resolve credit problems and rebuild your credit.

However, they charge excessive fees range from $100 to $2500 to “clean up” your credit record. They claim that they remove your bad credit, even bankruptcies from your credit report.

Some of these are little more than floating con artists. They move into a locale, charge unsuspecting consumers a hefty up-front fee for their services, and then skip out of town, leaving their victims poorer and without the credit record improvements they are promised.

To protect yourself, the following are 7 sure signs of a credit repair company that will rip you off:

1. The contract doesn’t contain the following information:

• The amount you are being charged
• Details about the services being performed on your behalf
• The date by which the services will be performed (or the time period required to perform the services)
• The name and business address of the organization
• A statement letting you know you can cancel the contract within 3 days

2. Recommend that you do not contact a credit bureau directly

3. The company promises to create, or asks you to create, a “new” identity with a new social security number or federal employer identification number (EIN)

4. The companies make big promise about what it can do for you, such as “We can wipe out bankruptcies and other negative information, no matter how bad credit history.”

5. You aren’t given a copy of the “Consumer Credit File Rights Under State and Federal Law”
letting you know your rights to obtain a credit report and dispute inaccurate credit report information and what you can do yourself for free.

6. Ask for a large up front cost without explanation anything, and without any written documentation.

7. You aren’t given a copy of the contract to view before you’re asked to sign it.