It’s likely you’ve heard stories about people who have sought out credit repair organizations for help to improve their low credit score, but who have instead been cheated by credit repair scams. In order to understand what you need to do to protect yourself against such unscrupulous people|these scammers|these crooks}, you must learn how they function.
They’re betting that those who are up to their neck in debt will be desperate enough to grasp at whatever is told them, hoping these fraudulent companies really can deliver on their promises, so they can regained their serenity. They in many cases are so disheartened by the system, which is downright cruel to people who have problem credit, that they’ll do anything whatsoever to resolve their problems.
Most of those seeking help near bankruptcy, or at least contemplating it. These are the people who are most vulnerable to credit repair scams.
And why is this? Because they are impatient, and don’t realize that fixing their credit requires at minimum 6 – 12 months. Very often, these folks feel that they don’t have much time, and unless they act right now, it will be too late. Ironically, when they sign up with such unscrupulous agencies instead of solving their financial problems, they will lose whatever little money they still had, since they’ve made the mistake of chasing a mirage.
Here are some red flags that could indicat credit repair scams:
1. They promise miracles – these unscrupulous companies promise they will get every negative account deleted from your credit report. They will also guarantee that your score will increase in an astonishingly short time.
They try to accomplish this by disputing everything negative in your report. The bureaus may initially remove some or most of the disputed items that they can’t verify within the required 30 days. In the meantime, it will seem that this fraudulent agency has delivered on its promise.
But if the credit reporting agencies verifies the items at a later date, they’ll go back on the credit report – plus you will have earned the reputation of being a hustler!
2. They tempt you to bend the rules – they will employ illegal tactics, such as using other people’s identity to improve credit score, by offering to give you a new SSN, so that you can “start life afresh.”
Warning! Such tactics can land you in a lot of trouble. It’s not only against the law to take up a “new” SSN, the number could have a police record attached to it, or any such things that will be much worse than bad credit.
3. They ask for full payment up front – most of the credit repair scams ask you for their fees in full up front. This is understandable, because they will be worried that you will soon discover that that they can’t deliver as fast as they had promised. And at that point, you would refuse to pay.
In conclusion, credit repair scams are avoidable. Just remember that no matter how desperate you become, look closely for the warning signs!