Credit Repair? It Just Might be a Scam
Another credit repair firm caught deceiving customers
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Yes, a credit score is something you need in order to navigate the financial marketplace. Sometimes, credit scores are used in employment decisions.
You have one even if you don’t want one or don’t use much or any credit.
The credit bureaus work for the financial services industry, not for consumers.
So, what if you have bad credit — maybe an account in collections or maybe just past bad use of credit products — and now, you want to rectify that.
Along comes a company promising “credit repair” and you think it could fast track your path to better credit.
You should know that you can do most credit repair yourself for free.
The biggest factor: Time. If you have mistakes, you can have those corrected if you are vigilant in writing the credit bureaus.
However, if you have legitimate accounts that are delinquent or in collections, the only way to “repair” that is by paying the debt (or possibly settling, though that has implications for your score) and then waiting.
As time passes and you have a history of on-time payments while your delinquencies get further away, your score will improve.
There’s not a credit repair company that can make time go any faster.
That doesn’t stop some companies from trying to get your money in exchange for the promise of credit repair or debt relief, though.
A recent example comes from Burlington Financial Group.
Victims of that company’s deceptive practice are now receiving refunds from a $30 million fund set aside for…
