You don’t need a credit repair company because a qualified consumer attorney who knows the FCRA Fair Credit Reporting Act can do the same services and more for free! Your legal fees are paid under CROA or the FRCA.
- Large Upfront Payment
It is illegal under the CROA (Credit Repair Organization Act) to pre-pay a company for credit repair. The company will often con you into paying all the money right away. When you realize it is a scam, they will already have your money. You have recourse under the CROA to get your money back and your legal fees paid as well.
- Able to create a New Credit Report. NOT!
Some credit repair scammers will claim they can trick the credit bureaus into creating a new credit report with no bad entries in it. This is illegal.
- Knows of a Loophole
There are none. A credit repair company may claim more experience at credit repair than you, but they can’t do anything more for you. If they say they can do something you can’t, don’t believe them.
- Only Accepts Cash
Never pay cash. In fact, under the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act), FDCPA (Federal Debt Collection Practices Act), and CROA (Credit Reporting Organization Act), you don’t need to pay ANYTHING out of pocket because these federal laws require the debt collector or CRA (credit reporting agency) to pay for your legal fees in a successful suit against them.
- Won’t tell you what they do
Since it’s your credit report, you should know what the plan of attack is to correct the errors on your credit report. Remember that credit repair companies cannot do anything more for you than an experienced FCRA attorney. And under the FCRA, the CRA’s pay your legal fees!
- No Physical Address
If a credit repair company isn’t willing to tell where they are, they are hiding something. Hire an expired FCRA/FDCPA consumer attorney who knows how to handle credit report error cases.
- Promises to Delete Bad Credit
Be careful of a credit repair company which promises to delete a bankruptcy, repossession, and delinquency, regardless of whether or not that listing is correct. They can’t. Only inaccurate or incomplete entries can be fixed on your credit report under the law. Only a credit reporting agency or furnisher of the information can remove or request that an entry be altered or removed.
- Won’t Talk about your Rights
Anything a credit repair company can do, so can a FCRA attorney or you, and for free. Consumer attorney get their fees paid by the creditor or credit reporting agency under the FCRA and FDCPA. Don’t pay a dime to a credit repair company; it’s a waste of your money and very risky.
- Contacts you after Filing Bankruptcy
Credit repair scammers try to get people after they have filed bankruptcy by making false or misleading promises about removing the bankruptcy from your credit reports. They can’t; the listing stays there for 10 years.
- No Signed Contract
The CROA requires a signed contract stating exactly what credit repair services will be performed and the fees to be charged. The reality is that it’s foolish to hire them when a FCRA consumer attorney can do the same thing, while you also pay nothing since your legal fees are paid under the FCRA/FDCPA.
