Debt Management Answers For You…

Most people never consider their rights in the process of credit repair — they think they don’t have any.

But they do. And knowing your credit repair rights is important.Here is a site with helpful information regarding your rights:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre18.shtm

Don’t confuse creditor, debt collector and credit repair. A creditor is the person or organization you owe the money to. A debt collector is a person or organization that purchases, at a discount, the right to collet the debt you owe to a creditor. They make their money off the difference. A credit repair company is one that offers to help you deal directly with your creditors, usually for a fee, For the purpose of this article, the three terms may be used interchangebly.

What if your creditors/debt collector is trying to scare you into paying them? What if you need to dispute items in your credit report? Or how about if you’ve been scammed by a credit counselling company? In all these instances, knowing what you are entitled to is critical.

#1) Scare tactics

Are you being harassed by those you owe money to? Then you will be relieved to hear this isn’t legal. There are certain procedures creditors have to follow when dealing with you. But most folks don’t know what those procedures are, so they just put up with the barrage of phone calls, letters, etc. In some instances creditors have been less than truthful in order to get you to pay them.

How can you tell if it’s a lie?

If they say they are going to call the company you work for, rest assured they are not telling the truth. This is against the law, and you should notify the authorities.

Sometimes they will tell you they will take your income. Again, this is totally illegal unless they’ve been told they can do so by a court – In which case you would have plenty of advanced warning.

And obviously they can’t touch your checking or savings account. All these are common threats that are not actually legal.

#2) Credit score

You are legally entitled to get a no cost copy of the report each year. You can do so from all of the major bureaus. This helps you verify that there are no mistakes on any of them.

But isn’t one enough?

No! Remember, the bureaus all get their information from different companies, because very few of the merchants you work with report to all them. Therefore, even if one of the reports is mistake free, another one might not be.

What if you find an error?

Then you have a legal right to see that it’s fixed. And the bureaus have a legal obligation to check with the company you have issue with and let you know within thirty days of their decision. If you aren’t proactive, the mistakes on your report will never get fixed. Be persistent in getting those errors off your report.

#3) Credit counseling scams

Thiese are very popular.. A lot of “credit counseling” firms are nothing more than scammers out to take your money.

Before going any further, let me say I would never pay any ‘credit repair’ agency money up front. If they have a positive evvect on your credit, go for it. Also remember there are usually local agencies that might assist you, often for free.

Is there anything you can do if you’ve been taken?

Maybe. If the company told you to file disputes with items in your credit report, that you know are correct, this is illegal. You get your money back because they were advising you to do something illegal. And if they don’t fulfill the service you agreed to when you first paid them, they are lawfully required to do so. If they haven’t, you again have legal recourse against them. But if they are scammers your chances of recovery are not good.

How do you know your rights when dealing with a scammer?

Read the ‘Credit Repair Organization Act’:

http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/croa/croa.shtm. A guide to your rights in this situation.

The bottom line: don’t allow yourself to be taken.

Even if you owe others money, you have more rights than you think. While this article can’t give you every single one of them, hopefully it’s alerted you to the fact that you have legal courses of action.

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