Before you read any further into this article, there is something that you need to realize about scams that claim to fix your credit reports and their accompanying scores:
NO ONE CAN REMOVE NEGATIVE INFORMATION IF IT IS TRUE!
With that said, if you have legitimate inaccuracies on your reports, you will need to file disputes to begin the removal process. If you don’t have the time or patience to do this yourself, you can hire a legitimate company to complete the process for you. However, they cannot access your credit reports form the three major credit bureaus; you have to do it. If they offer to access your reports for you, stay away, because they are a scam.
The ‘Big 3’ credit bureaus of Trans Union, Equifax and Experian are renowned for taking their sweet ol’ time at fixing any errors that you may find. There are legal limits on timeframes, but they always seem to push every deadline to a photo finish, driving even the calmest individual to sheer insanity.
Legitimate companies, known as Rapid Rescoring companies, claiming to have the ability to ‘fix credit’ will only deal with mortgage brokers and lenders who are trying to get a better loan interest rates and terms for their clients, not directly with an individual. So if this is not the situation for which you are working under, you’ve got a scam.
Scams-- Know the Signs!
- Any company that will work with you directly, not through a mortgage broker or lender, can charge you a lot of money to do nothing more than what you can do yourself. If they claim anything else, it could very easily be a scam.
- Any company that claims to deal with the credit bureaus directly is a scam. Legal representation for filing errors is one thing, but you must get copies of your credit reports on your own first, then submit these reports directly to your credit repairing company of choice.
- Any company that claims to take negative facts off of your credit report is a scam. By law, the credit bureaus can only remove errors from your reports. If something is negative but true, no one can have them removed, not even the president. Bankruptcies, foreclosures, repossessions, and other nasty credit issues can remain on all of your reports (as long as they are true) for upwards of ten years, and there isn’t a thing you can do about it.
As long as you come to the realization that these companies don’t have any powers over you, go ahead and use them. Just be sure to do your homework on a company before handing over your hard earned money.
