If I ran the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), there are a number of businesses that I would shut down immediately on the grounds that they are in business simply to defraud people. Near the top of my list would be credit repair companies. These companies claim that they can get negative information out of your credit report, regardless of how it got there. They companies advertise on TV all the time, claiming that they can ‘clean up’ your credit report and raise your credit score.
The truth is this. If there is negative information in your credit report and that information is accurate, there is nothing that you or anyone else can do to get that information out of your credit report. It really is just that simple. If you didn’t repay your student loan, make payments on your credit cards, or if you got evicted from your apartment for nonpayment of rent; and that information is in your credit report, then you are just going to have to live with that. Giving money to a credit repair company to get accurate information out of your credit report is a complete waste of money. You would do just as well spending your money on Alien Abduction Insurance.
UFO Abduction Insurance. There actually are a number of companies, mostly in England, that sell UFO Abduction Insurance. There is also a company in Florida that sells UFO Abduction Insurance, but in order to collect on their policy, you have to have the space creature that kidnapped you sign a notarized statement acknowledging the abduction. I think that could be hard to get. If you become pregnant as a result of your alien abduction, the insurance policy pays double. However – I digress.
If there is negative information in your credit report, and that information is incorrect, then that is a different kettle of fish. You can get that information out of your credit report, and you can do it yourself. It isn’t hard. Many years ago, my credit report showed that I owed a bank $200,000 on a mortgage on a house in Oakland and that I had not been making payments on the mortgage for over a year. The truth was that I had sold the property, and the bank failed to inform the credit bureau that the loan had been paid off. That happens all the time. Lenders frequently forget to tell credit bureaus when loans are paid off. I sent a letter to the credit bureau explaining what happened along with a xerox copy of my payoff letter from the bank. The credit bureau quickly took the erroneous information out of my credit report.
To get erroneous information out of your credit report, go to www.annualcreditreport.com and print out your credit report. This service is free. Be careful typing in the name of this web site. Other companies have similar names but charge for credit reports. Highlight any information that is wrong and e-mail or write to the credit bureau with your side of the story. Include copies of documents that back up your case. Credit bureaus will respond to letters like this and make corrections. They don’t want to get sued for giving out erroneous information, and credit bureaus have to compete with each other. If a credit bureau develops a reputation for having a lot of inaccurate information in their reports, they will lose business, so they do have an incentive to make sure that their reports are accurate.
Credit repair companies often claim to have special relationships with credit bureaus, but that isn’t true. They also claim to have secret methods for getting negative information out of credit reports, but that isn’t true either. None of the 3 major credit bureaus have any relationship with any credit repair company. As I said earlier, if there is negative information in your credit report, and it is accurate, then you are stuck. There is nothing that you or a credit repair company can do about it.
