"Credit Repair" Services That Exploit FCRA Pls Read
Hey hey hey!
There are a few companies popping up around town (florida) that charge people with horrible credit a $500 fee to restore their credit. They find loopholes in the Fair Credit Reporting Act and exploit them to get legitimate charges (BKs REPOS Collections etc...) taken off of their report. Their score goes through the roof and all of a sudden they can apply for a mortgage. Has anyone heard of this practice, any info would be greatly appriciated. Also it is an MLM "downline" system in that if i refer you to the company i get a cut or your earings all the way down the line. Thanks!
I'm a Floridian, and by chance I was at a Home Depot tonight and was helped to load my purchases by an African-American employee there who mentioned that he had recently suffered messed-up credit (we were discussing new homes, and he related that Lennar had sold him one with a "free" alarm system that turned out to have a three year contract ... and when he tried to break it they put it on his credit bureau reports). Anyway, I suggested www.Creditboards.com like I always do, and he said he had attended a seminar and paid an attorney $500 to take care of it, and it was indeed taken care of and he was able to buy a truck and house with his credit uglies from his divorce and subsequent banktruptcy deep-sixed.
It's out there and somebody's doing it. YMMV, though.
I ran was pitched one that was 900 or $1200.
Had to do w/ the credit card not being a valid debt insrument and using precisely worded (cite code sections) letter that they would only show you after paying the fee.
I passed.
This one is 500 bucks and offers a full money back guarantee in writing, if your score does not increase.
I would love to find out the name of the attorney that that gentelman used. I am a ex-college student who is in a credit nightmare. My fica is dispicable and i have went from writing form letters to using Lexington Law. My Fica seems to still be going down. I consolidated all my student loans but it was too late poor money management coming out oc college hurt me alot. Althought 97% of my reported collection items are paid I am still in the low 500's. I am working leveraging a loan but I am having a hard time.
are they reported as collection items or "paid as agreed", if they're collection, then your score will be hammered.
What does money back guarentee mean anyway?
I'm in a lawsuit w/ a large store that promised a "money back guarentee" started out w/ me nievly asking for 10K more than the offered (28K v. 38K), and w/ legal fee we are way north of 200K.
They are a large company. Now do I trust that a company, that specialize in fishy credit fixing "techniques" is going to give me my money back?
Read some of the credit boards out there, people seemed to have pretty successfully worked the system to fix things. w/o 500-900 kits.
Despite the experience of my Home Depot helper, I would still recommend www.creditboards.com www.artofcredit.com and www.creditinfocenter.com's forums over having anyone else try to do the job. But it's your time and your money.
Providership,
That link did not go to a web page. Can you send again?
Thanks
Jeff
has anyone had any luck with Lexington?
Yes there are some MLM's popping up doing credit repair, mortgages, investments, insurance, you name it they are there.
I would not personally go near them. Think about it. Someone recieves a kit that shows them the "system to get others in the system, for fee" and a small article on how to do credit repair.
You do not want to use loop holes in the CRA. You need to know how the bureaus work and operate and also your rights under the CRA. The vast majority of credit repair can be done yourself legally. Citing a whole lot of passages from the CRA only gets the bureaus "P.O.'ed" as they deal with the CRA everyday and can possibly recite it by heart word for word. You do not need to remind them.
Credit Repair on your own should cost on the high end about $80 for pulling your reports and mailings.
However, getting legitimate charges off of your report is a huge red flag. I would wait to see how the FTC is going to deal with them. Since the company is an MLM and probably has investors concerned and is more than likely incorporated to protect the owners the SEC is going to jump in them as well.
There are some good articles on these types of companies at www.sec.gov and www.ftc.gov.
The FTC just slammed one company out of Washington State for an REI scam.
[addsig]
There is nothing a credit repair can do for you that you cannot also do for yourself. As a matter of fact, we are required by the FTC to give clients a letter entitled: "CONSUMER CREDIT FILE RIGHTS UNDER STATE AND FEDERAL LAW" which explains that you can dispute items on your own.
However, if a pipe breaks in my bathroom, I can fix that myself too. Do I? No, because I am not the professional in that field. I hire a plumber who has expertise in fixing pipes and bathrooms. There are reputable credit repair companies who value their clients and feel very good about what they help them accomplish (mortgages, home ownership, loans, refinancing, consolidation, financial freedom, etc.).
Every credit report is different and will require substantially different strategies and time frames to repair. Anyone who tells you that they can get something done in a guaranteed time frame is probably lying to you. The process works, but you have to be persistent and you have to know the law and how and when to follow up on things. Every credit report will also require different amounts of money spent to fix. How many certified letters must be sent at $4.42 each? If you were sending 5, it would cost you $22.10, but if you were sending 30 it would cost you $132.60. See the difference? Paying someone who claims that they can fix your credit for a fixed price is not advisable. They should charge you based on how many accounts they remove and you should not pay for accounts that they cannot or do not remove. There is allot to be said for knowledge and experience vs. finding form letters on the internet or hiring a service that you pay monthly. If you are paying a service a monthly service fee, wouldn't they want to keep your repair going as long as possible? Of course they would. They are in business to make money. Their business model is not in your best interests. Sorry for the rant, but as you can see, this is something I feel very passionately about.