A consumer contacts a credit repair service to get their bad credit fixed or to improve the credit rating. What one has to understand is that if the debts are legitimately owed a credit repair might not be able to help. The repair services generally negotiate with the creditors on behalf of the consumer and help them improve their credit report over certain period of time.
There are a number of such services available in the market and one has to differentiate between a legitimate service and a con. There are a few points which should be kept in mind in order to avoid hiring a fraud repair service.
- A consumer must not fall for false promises. Some services will lure customers by promising them the impossible. They generally tell the customers that they can erase any kind of bad credit like, bankruptcies, defaulted loans, tax liens etc. Such promises are untrue.
- Any kind of upfront payment to a repair service is generally not advisable. A payment should be made only after the services have been performed. Generally they charge each item that has been rectified on the credit report.
- Any service which promotes credit card fraud should be avoided. If the service is asking you to get an employer identification number rather than your social security number you must get alerted. Using the EIN instead of the social security number is illegal. Using the EIN to establish a new credit card identity is a federal crime.
- In case you come across a credit repair service which makes false promises then it should be reported to the Federal trade commission. This will ensure that others are not conned by this repair service.