How To Avoid Credit Repair Scams And Get Your Credit Repaired Safely

The FTC or Federal Trade Commission has been investigating consumer complaints of fraud and unfair business practices in the United States for more than 90 years. They also work on behalf of the consumer by gathering and publishing consumer information to help educate and inform them.

Some credit repair agencies have been charged with making fraudulent claims and you should be aware of this. Some companies might claim to repair your credit in a short period of time and the FTC says this is illegal.

As with any company in business, you must use care in the claims you make. It is no different with credit repair agencies, as one company knows. Operating under the name of the national credit repair agency, the FTC slapped a charge of “engaging in fraudulent credit repair activities” against it in 2003.

The national credit repair agency claimed they could remove any information from a consumers credit report with a sophisticated software system they owned. According to the FTC complaint, the agency did not have a special system and by making this and other false claims they were able to entice more than 183,000 consumers to spend more than $53 million on credit repair services.

Most times the information on your credit report is accurate and verified by the credit bureau. But if you believe you have found information on your report to be inaccurate or unverifiable, than you have a right to dispute it. A credit repair agency should not suggest that a consumer dispute information that is accurate.

Credit bureaus have thirty days to investigate any disputed information you have.

The FTC advises that you associate with a law firm when you decide to get credit repair help. A reputable law firm will know of many legal methods to use that will get you on your way to a better credit score.

Some illegal methods include file segregation, making false statements on credit applications and using employer identification numbers. Run far away from any agency that would recommend any of these methods.

Visit FTC and their official website to make a complaint against any companies.

Your first step is to get your free credit report that you are entitled to, under The Fair Credit Reporting Act. You can get one free every twelve months from each of the top three credit bureaus Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

You can get your free report at annualcreditreport.com or call for it at 1-877-322-8228. Or write to Annual Credit Report Request Service, PO Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.

You will receive your report instantly if you order it online. It will take at least fifteen days or more if you order it by phone or mail.

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Published by: Steven Mueller on August 30th, 2009 | Filed under Legal



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