Credit Repair Scams and Reputable Credit Repair
- By Lexington Law
- Published 01/15/2010
- Finances
- Unrated
Lexington Law
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.
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The credit repair industry can be a scary place. Given the abundance 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 appear as if the best course of action is to avoid credit repair companies altogether - a course of action many news outlets seem to support.
A quick search turns up numerous articles detailing how to keep yourself from becoming the victim of a credit repair scam. Most itemize a list of red flags such as companies charging hefty upfront fees, claim to help you create a new credit history, don't advise you of your rights, and otherwise make misleading or untruthful statements. At this point, however, a very small percentage of articles mention that there are credit repair services like Lexington Law who do not engage in the illegal or 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 pay off 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 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 detailing qualities to look for in a reputable credit repair service.
A quick search turns up numerous articles detailing how to keep yourself from becoming the victim of a credit repair scam. Most itemize a list of red flags such as companies charging hefty upfront fees, claim to help you create a new credit history, don't advise you of your rights, and otherwise make misleading or untruthful statements. At this point, however, a very small percentage of articles mention that there are credit repair services like Lexington Law who do not engage in the illegal or 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
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 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 detailing qualities to look for in a reputable credit repair service.