Credit score is the basis of a person's creditworthiness. Maintaining good credit score is important for getting jobs, loans for various purposes like buying a house, insurances etc. However to repair credit score one should not always go to the credit repair companies. Most of the consumers who have opted for such credit repair offers have ultimately lost a great deal of money with no observable boost in the credit score.
How to avoid credit repair scams
There are various ways through which you can avoid a company scamming rather than helping you. These are as follows:
- Check out the companies reports with the Better Business Bureau at www.welcome.bbg.org.
- Don't ever opt for the company which doesn't give you a copy of your Consumer Rights.
- Don't trust a company which asks you not to contact the credit bureau directly.
- You shouldn't trust a company which doesn't mention a consumer's legal rights, what course to take if you are not satisfied with the company.
- A consumer should always know that any information that is right information about credit cannot be removed from the report to boost the score. Therefore if a company promises that they can remove any such information don’t trust them.
- If you aren't given a copy of the contract before you can sign it, don’t trust the company.
- Don't trust the company which asks for payment before they have helped you in the right way regarding your score.
- Don't ever trust a company which promises to lift others credit score to boost your score.
- Don't opt for that company which asks you to create a new ID and social security number. Creating a new social security number is almost not possible.
- Never trust a company which promises that they can waive your consumer rights under the credit repair organizations act.
- Never trust a company which doesn't provide you with the following information:
a) The amount charged by them for the repair.
b) The address along with the name of the organization.
c) The time needed to perform the said services.
d) The details of the services that they are going to perform.
e) The statement mentioning that you can stop contacting them and that you can cancel the contract within 3 days time.
Scammed? Then do these...
If you are scammed, you should contact an attorney general. You can also file a complaint to the Better Business Bureau and also to the Federal Trade Commission. If you realize that a company has scammed you, you should immediately take the above said actions. The companies following unfair means to collect money from consumers should be rightly punished.
What to do to raise the score yourself
To boost your credit, the first thing you must do is to obtain all three copies of the credit report. Then check carefully if there are any negative listings on your report. If there are, you can opt to dispute them with the credit bureaus. You should rather keep an eye on the due dates, so that you do not default. If there are any such defaults, contact the creditor for paying off the dues and the charge-offs. You can also open new accounts to reestablish credit and get secured credit cards to pay the debts.