Use Extreme Caution When Choosing a Credit Repair Company

There are many credit repair rip-offs to watch out for. These deals usually promise help with damaged credit, but what usually happens it that they charge far too much, get you into an illegal situation, or otherwise make your financial situation worse. Watch out for the most common of them.

1) Companies that suggest that you lie on an application for a loan or urge you to get a second identity. This could get you in trouble, in addition to being just plain dishonest. Should you find that a credit repair company is trying to get you to apply for a loan or credit with false or misleading information, you now know to disassociate yourself from them.

You could be charged with fraud if you allow this to happen, and it will be your responsibility for these actions, even if it was at the suggestion of the credit repair company. It would be very unpleasant, to say the least, to have to deal with both credit and legal problems at the same time.

1) Repair companies that bill you for doing work that you could have done for yourself – like putting together a monthly budget. Also, up front charges should make you concerned about the company.

There is an abundance of great information online for anyone wanting to eliminate credit card debt and repair their credit. Make the most of this information prior to paying someone to help you.

1) Credit repair companies that take money from you for the purpose of paying your creditors, and keep it in an escrow account. This is a huge problem for debtors, since it is a scam.

Here’s how it works: you give money to the repair company who is supposed to use it to pay off debts. The company places the funds in escrow where is grows. The notion is that the company is to use the money to settle your debts once the account grows to the same amount as your debts. The problem is that the company may be taking money out of the escrow account to pay themselves administrative fees, but your creditors are getting nothing, so your interest charges could be increasing and the creditors may even initiate legal action. The result of all of this is that your credit rating could suffer even more.

1) Credit companies that do too much talking and too little listening to your concerns, that want you to sign a contract you did not read, or that try to pressure you. These types of companies can’t be trusted and you should move on to someone that can be.

5) Credit repair companies that offer fast or even “instant” credit repair – no matter the current condition of you credit. This is a misleading claim that no legitimate credit repair company can deliver on. As a matter of fact, fully repairing a bad credit history can sometimes take years no matter what the company claims. It is generally best to focus you attention mostly on how to eliminate credit card debt, knowing that your credit history will improve over time as a result.

In many cases, credit repair companies will suggest that they can remove items reflecting poor credit from your credit history through a process of disputes. This information is not to be believed. Information in your credit report cannot simply be removed if that information is true and accurate. Even though a credit bureau must investigate claims of inaccurate information within thirty days, this does not mean that the information will automatically be removed. Refuse to do business with any credit repair company making this claim and keep looking for honest help.

Hopefully, these tips will help you avoid credit repair scams and allow you to properly locate companies that can truly help you with your credit card debt elimination plans.