That Warm Fuzzy Feeling: Fraud Center Helps Friend Avoid Credit Repair Scam – National Consumers League

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Turns out there are a few perks of working at a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization!

Just this week, a staffer at our Fraud Center was able to identify a scam that a friend of his was about to fall for and stop her from losing a bunch of money.

We track complaints on a number of scams: investment seminars, Fake Check Scams, and Phishing are just a few. Here’s what happened: “Rachel” saw an ad in a magazine from a company that claimed it would lower your credit score for only $500. She’s trying to remove some debt from her credit report, in order to buy a car, so this offer was especially appealing. “Rachel” called her friend, our colleague at the Fraud Center, to tell him about the offer. Good thing she did, because “Rachel” was able to save $500, and avoid further financial heartache.

Our staffer explained to Rachel that the only way to repair your credit is to get a copy of your report and review it for any errors. There are tons of scenarios in which mistakes can pop up on your credit report:

  • A creditor reports inaccurate information to the credit bureau
  • A case of mistaken identity leaves you paying for John C. Smith’s debt, when your name is John G. Smith.
  • A credit bureau employee accidentally types the wrong Social Security number when inputting data.

You get the picture.

Consumers are entitled to one free copy a year of their report through any major credit bureau. You can request your copy here. The moral is: as tempting as a company’s promise to “fix” your credit report may be, it’s not true!

You can report complaints of credit repair scams to NCL’s Fraud Center. Feel free to drop us a comment about how you avoided being scammed. Or, consider supporting our efforts in educating consumers on avoiding being scammed!