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Credit Repair Scams and Reputable Credit Repair
- By Stuart Hunter
- Published January 15, 2010
- Finance
- Unrated
Stuart Hunter
Providing credit repair services since 1991, Lexington Law has helped over 500,000 clients legally take on their credit. Last year alone, Lexington Law helped clients remove over 600,000 negative items from their credit reports.
View all articles by Stuart Hunter
The credit repair industry can be a scary place. With the number of news articles, television stories, and opinion pieces warning of credit repair scams that get pushed out by well regarded media outlets, it can look like the only logical option is to steer clear of credit repair companies entirely - something the news outlets seem to advocate.
There are dozens of articles talking about how to avoid a credit repair scammer. Most itemize a list of red flags such as companies charging hefty upfront fees, advocate creating a clean credit identity, don't keep you informed of your right to repair you credit yourself, and generally make misleading or untruthful statements. At this point, however, a very small portion of articles mention that there are credit repair services like Lexington Law who do not engage in the fraudulent practices that typify a credit repair scam. In fact, some articles from premier news agencies such as CNN end by suggesting people "get legitimate help" from consumer credit counseling services.
Not only is this advice incomplete as it implies that there are no legitimate credit repair services, but it is also completely useless to people who truly could benefit from
the assistance of a legal credit repair service. Credit counseling programs may be able to assist people who are unable to pay off their debts, but it will do nothing to repair your credit reports. Some credit counseling programs even have the potential to make your credit score worse.
Unlike credit counseling services that work to bring your debts under control, credit repair services are designed to help you raise your credit score. They are not mutually exclusive offerings and in many cases, a person who has used a credit counseling service to help manage their debts becomes a great candidate for credit repair.
Legal credit repair services serve a purpose and it is a disservice to say otherwise. Hopefully as consumers and news columnists alike become more familiar with credit repair and the services credit repair organizations provide, we will start seeing a better balance between news stories warning of credit repair scams and news stories listing the qualities to look for in a reputable credit repair service.
There are dozens of articles talking about how to avoid a credit repair scammer. Most itemize a list of red flags such as companies charging hefty upfront fees, advocate creating a clean credit identity, don't keep you informed of your right to repair you credit yourself, and generally make misleading or untruthful statements. At this point, however, a very small portion of articles mention that there are credit repair services like Lexington Law who do not engage in the fraudulent practices that typify a credit repair scam. In fact, some articles from premier news agencies such as CNN end by suggesting people "get legitimate help" from consumer credit counseling services.
Not only is this advice incomplete as it implies that there are no legitimate credit repair services, but it is also completely useless to people who truly could benefit from
Unlike credit counseling services that work to bring your debts under control, credit repair services are designed to help you raise your credit score. They are not mutually exclusive offerings and in many cases, a person who has used a credit counseling service to help manage their debts becomes a great candidate for credit repair.
Legal credit repair services serve a purpose and it is a disservice to say otherwise. Hopefully as consumers and news columnists alike become more familiar with credit repair and the services credit repair organizations provide, we will start seeing a better balance between news stories warning of credit repair scams and news stories listing the qualities to look for in a reputable credit repair service.