Credit Repair Services and Scams |
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Everyday we see several ads on the internet, newspapers and our email inbox, which claim to be credit repair services. Just as the name suggests, they repair our credit scores. They claim that they can erase out any of your bad credit history and get you a completely new credit history which has an excellent credit score. Well, if you believe it you better log on to an idiot is born every minute.com. How can someone simply erase all of your financial and banking records? The answer is that no one can do it. So basically, these credit repair services are nothing but scams. These agencies are floated by people who want to make a quick buck for themselves on the pretext of helping people. But then there are credit repair services which are genuine as well. So how do you distinguish between them? The Scams It's pretty easy to know which credit repair services are scams. Mostly these companies will ask you to pay their fees up front even before they offer you any service. They also do not divulge your own legal rights to you. There are many things related to credit scores that you can do for free. Getting a credit report is one of them. If the company does not tell you all this, then you better be wary of them. If the company advices you to get a new credit identity by applying for an employee identification number, then please beware of it. It's a crime to apply and get an employee identification number filing false information. What You Can Do If you apply for a mortgage loan or a credit card and the lender denies your loan application then you can request for a copy of your credit report. You are entitled to receive at least one free copy of your credit report from the nationwide credit reporting agencies. Then you can apply for an investigation of the information on your credit history if you find anything misrepresented. This usually does not involve any charge at all. Then if you find any information that is incorrect or false, you can dispute it accordingly. The Dispute Process You need to let the credit bureau know which parts of the report you think is inaccurate or misrepresenting. Documents which support your claims should also be included in the letter. But please ensure that you only attach or send the copies and not the originals. Also make sure that you send this by certified mail so that you can record what all the credit bureau has received. Genuine Credit Repair Services These are companies that help you in the whole process of reviewing your credit score, helping you understand the information in it and finally disputing any errors. Identity thefts are one of the major issues that can be seen on many credit reports. They handle the entire process right from the start to the end. You only have to provide them with the necessary documents. All the other aspects like procuring a copy of the credit score and disputing any wrong information will be done by them. Rather than claiming that they can erase any records of bad credit, these are companies that give you genuine advice on how you can work yourself to improve your credit scores. If you work according to this advice, you can easily reduce your bad credit scores within a few years time. There are many aspects involved in bad credit score improvement. Debt consolidation, financial planning, cutting down unnecessary expenses are some of them. |
