Is Credit Repair Illegal?

For everyone who’s seen an ad on a website promising to wipe clean your credit history and provide you with a new vista of credit opportunities practically overnight, you’ve probably asked yourself – could that possibly be legal?

It’s a fact of life that many folks have gotten themselves into serious credit trouble – defaulting on credit cards, missing payments, running up unnecessary debt, and opening too many credit accounts.

That’s where the world of credit repair businesses has appeared to help the credit-challenged examine their credit reports and work to modify or clarify the details to help boost their credit score.

Legal Procedures – With Expert Help

But like many internet-based businesses, the world of credit repair is also full of potential scammers looking to take your money and do very little in return.

Legitimate credit repair agencies work to spot discrepancies on your credit report and work directly with creditors to remove outdated or inaccurate items. They’re able to sift through the red tape and paperwork piled on by banks, businesses and even collection agencies, and provide direct results, legally and efficiently.

A trusted firm like CreditRepair.com is also willing to admit that much of what they do could be carried out by anyone with a whole lot of time and patience, as many do-it-yourselfers who have taken the DIY credit repair approach.

If you’ve ever tried to dispute an inaccurate claim on your report, you’ll understand that it’s not a fun or easy task, as you dig deeper and deeper into an impenetrable web of financial bureaucracy and voicemail hell just to try to find the right department to properly address a claim.

Making Credit Repair Easier. But Not Overpromising

Above-the-board credit repair companies have mastered the art of cutting through that noise and getting results. They can spot the least obvious errors – ones that may be severely impacting your credit score – and work with creditors to remove those items.

Beware of credit repair companies that promise to wipe all of your credit problems away overnight, as it is an involved process that takes time.

More importantly, keep an eye out for credit repair help that encourages you to essentially create a new credit identity – a dishonest process called “file segregation” that encourages you to use a new employer identification number or social security number when applying for loans. It’s a federal crime to misrepresent yourself in this fashion, and any company that encourages you to do so is leading you in the wrong direction.

Real credit repair companies cannot solve every problem especially if you’ve had a particularly rocky credit history – those who’ve walked out on credit card debt, had cars repossessed or shown a track record of perilous credit choices.

But they can be helpful to many of us in addressing our credit behavior: figuring out the right balances to pay to produce better a better credit score, or which accounts to close (or even keep open) to help boost your credit score.

If you’re ready to see what real credit repair can do for you, let’s talk.

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