If There Are No Legitimate Credit Repair Companies, Then Someone Isn't Doing Their Job

Posted 3/6/2010 9:08:29 AM in Credit Repair Companies
A while back, Steve Baker, the director of the FTC's Midwest region who spearheaded a crackdown of fraudulent credit repair companies in 2006 called "Project Credit Despair" made the following statement:

"I remember the head of our consumer protection bureau saying a few years ago [that] she had never seen a legitimate credit repair company, and I don't think we have yet."

An interesting statement that certainly begs the question: if, according to the FTC's bureau tasked with protecting consumers, there are no legitimate credit repair companies, why are there so many companies out there today offering credit repair services. If every credit repair company out there is a scam, why isn't something being done about it? And as an extension of that, if after being around for two decades the credit repair industry has yet to produce a single legitimate company, why are there federal and state laws defining how a credit repair organization can act instead of laws stating that providing credit repair services is illegal?
Given a few minutes on the Internet, just about anyone could find 10 credit repair companies in operation today. They aren't exactly hiding. So why isn't the FTC doing something about it? Why isn't the FTC protecting you from these credit repair scams?

Baker goes on to say that the FTC usually doesn't go after a credit repair company unless it gets complaints - and it gets only a relatively small number of these.

So, how many complaints do you need before shutting down a credit repair scam? 1, 10, 100? The top credit repair companies tout having served tens and even hundreds of thousands of customers. Baker claims that only about 8% of consumers caught up in a fraud complain and that that number is much lower for credit repair. So let's assume that only 1% of people victimized by all the illegitimate credit repair companies complain. We're talking about mountains of complaints. Lexington Law alone must have generated over 5,000 complaints. Why haven't they been shut down?

At this point, the answer is pretty obvious. Despite the credit bureau propaganda that gets perpetuated by so many agencies including the FTC, there are legitimate credit repair companies that truly provide a valuable service to their customers. Sure, there are complaints and dissatisfied customers, as there are in any industry, and the fact that highly regarded officials falsely label an entire industry as a scam certainly doesn't help matters. But when you narrow your focus to those credit repair companies that are truly trying to help consumers, and exclude those that should rightfully be classified as a credit repair scam, you see an industry that has done wonderful things for a large number of Americans.

Comments on If There Are No Legitimate Credit Repair Companies, Then Someone Isn't Doing Their Job

arlethjones3/8/2010 11:47:40 AMHmmm. I beg to disagree with this that are no legitimate credit repair companies. There are legitimate firms that are offering good services. Don't hesitate to ask me about I could really help you and solve your problem about credit repair
Credit Repair BEST3/8/2010 12:42:51 PMWe agree with you, arlethjones. The point of the post is that there are legitimate credit repair companies despite what some people in very powerful positions tend to say.
6/20/2010 4:50:33 PMI don't know about other services to fix credit but I know that Credit Repair Services credit repair services sure helped me get back on my feet financially.