How to Protect Yourself Against Improving Credit Score Scams

If you don’t have a great credit score, if you are always in debt and always behind payments and looking to find ways to improve your credit score, you will find them.

Sometimes you are in badly over your head in debt and wonder what you can do. Sometimes you are denied loans, a mortgage or extra credit, and you wonder if you can do anything about it. When you look it up on the net, you will find many sites which offer free credit counseling, offer to help you manage your debt better and get your financial health in order.

The improving credit score scam

There are many sites which offer to help you improve your credit score for a fee or for free. Be very wary of these because many of them are fake. Many of the companies offer you free credit reports from three companies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Of these only FICO (Fair Isaac Corporation) score from Equifax is valid and true. The credit scores from the other two are frequently inflated.

How do they work

Some of the fake sites take a fee and upfront money and then temporarily remove the negative ratings by sending mails to the bureau disputing many of the charges on your bills. While the bureau is investigating, the negatives will disappear. But eventually when you know that you have used your card, you know you are going to be liable for the debt on the card as well.

Some companies promise that they will get you the desired loan or mortgage after charging hefty fees. Either they will leave you in the lurch or put you on the company which will also try and scam you with high loan or mortgage rates, or not give you the money after taking money upfront from you.
There are known sites like 3BureauCreditReportsPlus.com, ConsumerInfo.com, Credit.com, CreditCheckTotal.com, CreditNexus.com, CreditSmartReports.com, CreditReport.com, CreditReportsandScores.com, Free3BureauCreditReport.com, FreebieCreditReport.com,  FreeCreditReportsInstantly.com,  FreeEquifaxPromo.com, FreeScore.com,  IdentityGuard.com, myFICO.com,  MyFreeCreditNow.com, Score1st.com, SpendOnLLife.com,  ThreeReportsForFree.com,  TrueCredit.com,  ZeroCreditReport.com which charge you for third party credit monitoring services which may harm you in the long run.

The bad and very bad scams

Some companies make you sign up for a free trial after you have given your credit card details, of course, saying that you will be billed only after the free trial period expires. And they are not going to remind you about it, so you will likely forget about it and get charged. This will probably not cost you an arm and a leg.

But if a shady company offers to help you saying that you should furnish false social security numbers and then start with a new identity, be careful. This is a criminal offence, so don’t be taken in by such firms.

Finding real help when you need it

It is not difficult to do the credit monitoring yourself or with your accountant or tax advisor. If you do sign up with a company verify its credentials very carefully, reading all the fine print. Check web site reports which will tell you if it a scam site.

The National Foundation for Consumer Credit (www.nfcc.org) is affiliated with Consumer Credit Counseling Service offices nationwide and you can go into a CCCS office, or work with a counselor by telephone, to get free or low-cost budget planning services.

http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:yfsUh1xu6g4J:www.thinkglink.com/article/2009/02/24/credit-counseling-agencies:-beware-of-scam-agencies-pretending-to-improve-your-credit+improve+your+credit+score+scam&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in

http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/consumer-law-consumer-credit-reporting/11803676-1.html

http://www.experian.com/