Credit Repair Scams: How Can You Tell If a Credit Repair Company is Legitimate?

Credit card debt often results in desperate circumstances. Unfortunately, desperate people are often vulnerable to scams, and there are definitely credit repair scams out there. They may actually harm rather than help your credit.

Scams range from companies that overcharge for what they do, all the way to involving unknowing clients in illegal activity.

A sure sign of a credit card scam is if the company directs you to falsify information on the application. You will be liable for your own fraudulent actions, even if a so-called expert directed you to do something, so go with your gut and never do something you know is wrong, no matter how much the advisor prompts you.

In addition to putting false information on forms, the next worse thing you can do is to pay money upfront, because fraudulent companies have been known to run off with their client's money, leaving them in a much worse financial situation than where they started.

It's also important to read the fine print and make sure that you are not making any agreements that you are not comfortable with, including paying fees that are unreasonable.

Whatever you do, don't allow the company to handle your money for you. Always keep control of your own money, because once you hand it over to the credit repair company, it is out of your hands and you have no control over what happens with it. If you hand the money over to someone else, the money may not make it to the people you owe it to, and you'll end up in even deeper debt than when you started.

Reputable credit repair companies will not put you under a lot of pressure, nor will they back you into a corner, so if you find yourself under a lot of pressure, it is better get up and walk away rather than give in to the pressure.

Credit repair takes time, no matter who is handling it, so if you are promised instant results, know that those promises - and the company making them - cannot be trusted.