by Charlotte Raynor Piggush

Created on: January 09, 2009

If you are considering repairing your credit, the best thing you can do is do it yourself. You will see or hear advertisements alleging that a company can offer fantastic credit repair services that are "guaranteed" or "legal." These companies might utilize slogans that can be quite tempting to individuals who are in dismal need of credit repair. There are other companies who advertise that they have genuine testimonies from various clients, most of which are not even real.

As soon as you figure out that you are in terrible need of credit repair, you need to act on it right away. You need to keep in mind that this credit repair needs to be handled by you and no one else. Fortunately, there are quite a few things that can assist you in staying away from scam credit repair companies.

> The Deception

Day in and day out, many businesses solicit to people who have terrible credit records. Frequently, they guarantee to clean up credit records, for a fee, to assist people to obtain a loan, a car, mortgage on a home, or possibly even obtain a job. The hideous truth is they cannot do this; you need to remember this particularly if you do not want your credit to get worse. These companies will only take the money you pay them for this service and disappear.

> The Signals of a Scam Artist

If you contact a credit repair company, there are cautionary signals that can assist you in deciding if this company is a genuine credit repair company or a scam. One warning signal is if the company wants you to pay the cost of the credit repair before they supply any service. Additionally, stay clear of businesses that do not give you your legal rights that you are allowed and do not give you information on things you can do yourself to repair your credit.

There are also companies around that will recommend people to contact a credit reporting agency directly. You should stay away from these companies.

Another big alert is a company that recommends that you generate a new credit identity and then create a new credit report by utilizing an Employer Identification Number to use instead of your social security number. By all means, stay away from companies that suggest this!

Last of all, steer clear of companies that recommend that you dispute all data included on your credit report or tell you to do any activity that might seem illegal to you.

Keep in mind that you can be indicted for mail or wire fraud if you utilize the mail or the phone to apply for credit or give data that is not true. Trying to obtain an Employer Identification Number from the Internal Revenue Service under false pretenses, using an incorrect social security number and lying on a credit application are all federal crimes.

Above all, consider that there is a rule in the Credit Repair Organization Act that states that repair companies cannot make you pay for credit repair until it is completely done.

In order to steer completely away from bad credit accounts, and therefore keep you safe from deceptive credit repair companies, you need to request an annual credit report. Because the information in your credit report helps your likelihood in obtaining a loan or even insurance, evaluation of your credit report is vital. Before you apply for a loan, make certain that the data in your credit report is accurate, complete and updated frequently. On a final note, you can also be secure from identity theft by doing annual evaluations of your credit report. Identity theft can generate a huge crisis in other ways besides just your credit report.

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