"Raise your credit score by 200 points before lunchtime", "Remove all of your late payments and collections by the weekend", and "Judgments and bankruptcies are gone within 48 hours" are just some of the many deceitful, fraudulent, and erroneous claims that many credit repair companies have been known to promise victimized consumers. Their claims are a sham, deceptive, and are false.......but also pretty funny if you think about it really.
Unfortunately, in today's struggling economy, many consumers are unemployed and are struggling with credit card debt. With the nation's unemployment rates at an all time high, it's nothing to really be ashamed of. The truth is, it's actually common in today's economy to be unemployed or to be employed but being unable to make payments on your credit cards. Looking back several years ago, many people didn't have any problems with paying more than the minimum payment to each of their credit cards on a monthly basis. Today, that is an entirely different story. Most people today are finding it difficult to be able to pay just the minimum payment. Unfortunately, many Americans have been heavily affected by the present economy and their credit scores have been affected as well.
As a result, many credit repair companies have gone on the prowl to add even more financial injury to struggling Americans. They make claims that seem to help you but in reality, they are only making it much worse for you. Doing just a simple search on Google.com for "credit repair scams" would provide you with thousands of websites and articles illustrating how credit repair companies have victimized their clients. The truth is, no company can succeed on the claims listed above, but they all certainly try to make you feel like they can.
Most credit repair companies charge anywhere from $1,000.00 to $15,000.00 to "clean up your credit file". Some people believe that the company will be able to call someone that they know on the inside who is working at Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union and say "clean up this report". Some people also believe that these credit repair companies can mail some magical letter or waive some magical wand and get your credit report cleaned up. None of this is possible. Unfortunately, some people believe this because this is actually what has been promised by some credit repair companies (except for the magical wand of course). But I honestly wouldn't be surprised if that's been mentioned as well.
Once you pay these companies, you will simply lose your money and end up exactly where you started from. Some companies have been known to work on 10% of a file just to show you that they have done at least something. Years ago, the government stepped in and regulated the industry, which now does not allow any upfront fees until the work has been completely performed. Did this stop credit repair companies from charging large upfront fees? Of course not! Like they say - an Order of Protection is only effective if the person follows it. Simply having an Order of Protection doesn't actually keep someone away from you if they choose not to follow it. Sadly, the government stepped in, but many credit repair companies continue their large upfront fee structure anyway.
I've always been wondering to ask these companies some questions. Such as, I'm paying a large fee, so what happens if you complete only 15% of what I paid for? What happens if you complete 80% but 50% of it comes back within 24 months? What happens if you shut down? What happens if the creditors say that they will not work with a credit repair agency? The list just goes on and on. Truth is, they can say anything they want, but you and I both understand that once they have your money, you aren't going to be getting it back.
Trying to abide by the government's role in this industry, there are also a handful of companies which will offer you a monthly flat fee payment and promise you that they will handle your entire credit file for a small monthly fee. Problem is, with the low rates that they are charging and the tens of thousands of clients that they have, they cannot offer you any personal attention and they merely provide a very simple service, to say it nicely. Think about it - if they are charging you $59 per month and they are handling your entire file, how many hours can their paralegal / attorney spend on your file. If the company is getting away with paying their attorney $50.00 per hour or a paralegal $15.00 per hour, that means that in order for the company to generate any form of a profit on you, they would have to instruct their attorney to spend less than 1 hour on your file each month. They would have to inform their paralegal to spend less than 3 hours on your file each month. If the company employee's paralegals only, then you'll be getting around 3 hours of work each month, at the absolute maximum. If they employee attorneys only, then you will be getting 1 hour of time each month, at a maximum. If they employee paralegals and attorneys, then you will probably be receiving around 30 minutes of an attorneys time and 90 minutes of a paralegals time each month, at a maximum. Overseas workers can surely be hired to save money. Is that what you feel you really deserve? Don't you feel that you deserve more? Surely, if you are hiring the company to fight one late payment for you, then perhaps the time that the company will spend with you each month is fine.
But if you need help with 5, 10, 20 items on your credit report each month or just a few items but all of which are difficult, how will they be able to actually help you?
Another thing to keep in mind is very important. If the company is charging you on a monthly basis and continues to receive monthly payments from you, why would they ever inform you that your file is complete, please do not send us any more money? As long as you continue paying them, they will continue to drag and drag your file. This means that it may take them 10x longer to handle your file as compared to someone who doesn't have an interest in keeping you for the long-term on monthly payments.
Here's the truth - they use form letters to send to the credit bureaus. Problem is, the credit bureaus have already picked up on this strategy and have been mailing letters to the credit repair companies stating that they know that this is a letter from a credit repair company and will not be investigated or addressed. Let's go further - sure, you can see claims on their websites with "1 million late payments removed", "500,000 charge off's removed", and "700,000 collections". Let me ask you a question now. Can you design your own website on Wix.com for absolutely free and double those numbers? Can you triple them? Can you say "3 million late payments removed", "1,500,000 charge off's removed", and "2,100,000 collections removed". Of course you can. Are these claims verified? By who? Somehow, I doubt it. They have some "pretty" samples of work that they have performed. Usually around 10 satisfied clients on their website will attest to their satisfaction as well. I could show you that as well. What happened to the other 1 million though? Anyway, moving on.
No matter how you dice it, chop it, attack it, etc., credit repair always starts off with one simple strategy. Contact the credit bureau! If you don't succeed with contacting the credit bureau, you can contact the creditor directly. Once they receive your request, they have thirty days to investigate your dispute and respond to your letter. Any information which is unverifiable or inaccurate must be deleted. If they refuse to remove the information off your credit reports, you can mail a second letter with additional information. A large percentage of creditors are unable to verify the information. If that does not get your information deleted, you may proceed with legal action. There are plenty of attorneys who specialize in taking creditors to court who refuse to remove negative, unverifiable information from your credit report.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Leonard_Gendelberg
Unfortunately, in today's struggling economy, many consumers are unemployed and are struggling with credit card debt. With the nation's unemployment rates at an all time high, it's nothing to really be ashamed of. The truth is, it's actually common in today's economy to be unemployed or to be employed but being unable to make payments on your credit cards. Looking back several years ago, many people didn't have any problems with paying more than the minimum payment to each of their credit cards on a monthly basis. Today, that is an entirely different story. Most people today are finding it difficult to be able to pay just the minimum payment. Unfortunately, many Americans have been heavily affected by the present economy and their credit scores have been affected as well.
As a result, many credit repair companies have gone on the prowl to add even more financial injury to struggling Americans. They make claims that seem to help you but in reality, they are only making it much worse for you. Doing just a simple search on Google.com for "credit repair scams" would provide you with thousands of websites and articles illustrating how credit repair companies have victimized their clients. The truth is, no company can succeed on the claims listed above, but they all certainly try to make you feel like they can.
Most credit repair companies charge anywhere from $1,000.00 to $15,000.00 to "clean up your credit file". Some people believe that the company will be able to call someone that they know on the inside who is working at Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union and say "clean up this report". Some people also believe that these credit repair companies can mail some magical letter or waive some magical wand and get your credit report cleaned up. None of this is possible. Unfortunately, some people believe this because this is actually what has been promised by some credit repair companies (except for the magical wand of course). But I honestly wouldn't be surprised if that's been mentioned as well.
Once you pay these companies, you will simply lose your money and end up exactly where you started from. Some companies have been known to work on 10% of a file just to show you that they have done at least something. Years ago, the government stepped in and regulated the industry, which now does not allow any upfront fees until the work has been completely performed. Did this stop credit repair companies from charging large upfront fees? Of course not! Like they say - an Order of Protection is only effective if the person follows it. Simply having an Order of Protection doesn't actually keep someone away from you if they choose not to follow it. Sadly, the government stepped in, but many credit repair companies continue their large upfront fee structure anyway.
I've always been wondering to ask these companies some questions. Such as, I'm paying a large fee, so what happens if you complete only 15% of what I paid for? What happens if you complete 80% but 50% of it comes back within 24 months? What happens if you shut down? What happens if the creditors say that they will not work with a credit repair agency? The list just goes on and on. Truth is, they can say anything they want, but you and I both understand that once they have your money, you aren't going to be getting it back.
Trying to abide by the government's role in this industry, there are also a handful of companies which will offer you a monthly flat fee payment and promise you that they will handle your entire credit file for a small monthly fee. Problem is, with the low rates that they are charging and the tens of thousands of clients that they have, they cannot offer you any personal attention and they merely provide a very simple service, to say it nicely. Think about it - if they are charging you $59 per month and they are handling your entire file, how many hours can their paralegal / attorney spend on your file. If the company is getting away with paying their attorney $50.00 per hour or a paralegal $15.00 per hour, that means that in order for the company to generate any form of a profit on you, they would have to instruct their attorney to spend less than 1 hour on your file each month. They would have to inform their paralegal to spend less than 3 hours on your file each month. If the company employee's paralegals only, then you'll be getting around 3 hours of work each month, at the absolute maximum. If they employee attorneys only, then you will be getting 1 hour of time each month, at a maximum. If they employee paralegals and attorneys, then you will probably be receiving around 30 minutes of an attorneys time and 90 minutes of a paralegals time each month, at a maximum. Overseas workers can surely be hired to save money. Is that what you feel you really deserve? Don't you feel that you deserve more? Surely, if you are hiring the company to fight one late payment for you, then perhaps the time that the company will spend with you each month is fine.
But if you need help with 5, 10, 20 items on your credit report each month or just a few items but all of which are difficult, how will they be able to actually help you?
Another thing to keep in mind is very important. If the company is charging you on a monthly basis and continues to receive monthly payments from you, why would they ever inform you that your file is complete, please do not send us any more money? As long as you continue paying them, they will continue to drag and drag your file. This means that it may take them 10x longer to handle your file as compared to someone who doesn't have an interest in keeping you for the long-term on monthly payments.
Here's the truth - they use form letters to send to the credit bureaus. Problem is, the credit bureaus have already picked up on this strategy and have been mailing letters to the credit repair companies stating that they know that this is a letter from a credit repair company and will not be investigated or addressed. Let's go further - sure, you can see claims on their websites with "1 million late payments removed", "500,000 charge off's removed", and "700,000 collections". Let me ask you a question now. Can you design your own website on Wix.com for absolutely free and double those numbers? Can you triple them? Can you say "3 million late payments removed", "1,500,000 charge off's removed", and "2,100,000 collections removed". Of course you can. Are these claims verified? By who? Somehow, I doubt it. They have some "pretty" samples of work that they have performed. Usually around 10 satisfied clients on their website will attest to their satisfaction as well. I could show you that as well. What happened to the other 1 million though? Anyway, moving on.
No matter how you dice it, chop it, attack it, etc., credit repair always starts off with one simple strategy. Contact the credit bureau! If you don't succeed with contacting the credit bureau, you can contact the creditor directly. Once they receive your request, they have thirty days to investigate your dispute and respond to your letter. Any information which is unverifiable or inaccurate must be deleted. If they refuse to remove the information off your credit reports, you can mail a second letter with additional information. A large percentage of creditors are unable to verify the information. If that does not get your information deleted, you may proceed with legal action. There are plenty of attorneys who specialize in taking creditors to court who refuse to remove negative, unverifiable information from your credit report.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Leonard_Gendelberg
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