Credit Repair Scams and Legal Credit Repair
- By Stuart Hunter
- Published January 15th, 2010
- Credit
- 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, TV stories, and opinion pieces cautioning against fraudulent credit repair services that get pushed out by well regarded media outlets, it can look like the only logical option is to avoid credit repair companies entirely - something the news outlets seem to advocate.
There are numerous 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 new credit identity, don't keep you informed of your rights, and otherwise make misleading or untruthful statements. At this point, however, a very small portion of articles mention that there are credit repair companies like Lexington Law who do not participate in the fraudulent practices that typify a credit repair scam. In fact, some articles from premier news agencies such as CNN end by suggesting consumers with credit problems "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 may be able to help people who are unable to make payments on their debts, but it will do nothing to improve your credit rating. 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 once they have completed the program.
Legal credit repair services like those provided by Lexington Law do 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'll start seeing more of a balance between news stories warning of credit repair scams and news stories detailing qualities to look for in a reputable credit repair service.
There are numerous 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 new credit identity, don't keep you informed of your rights, and otherwise make misleading or untruthful statements. At this point, however, a very small portion of articles mention that there are credit repair companies like Lexington Law who do not participate in the fraudulent practices that typify a credit repair scam. In fact, some articles from premier news agencies such as CNN end by suggesting consumers with credit problems "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
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 once they have completed the program.
Legal credit repair services like those provided by Lexington Law do 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'll start seeing more of a balance between news stories warning of credit repair scams and news stories detailing qualities to look for in a reputable credit repair service.