You know that paying off your credit card debt is a journey that doesn't come easy. You have to be tough and really have a "sick and tired" of your situation attitude to keep going. You really do not need to worry about scams and there are a lot of scams out there. Here are 3 very dangerous scams that you NEED to know about...
1. "We will fix your credit report... for $250!"
This is one that you need to watch for because it is truly ridiculous. Credit repair organizations will charge you $200 to upwards of $1000 to comb through you credit report and fix the errors. If there are errors. Why is this a scam?
Because you can do it for free and in about an hour... if that. What you need to know is that you can request one free credit report a year from one of the big three credit bureaus. These are TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. Just look at your credit report and if you seem suspicious loan activity or back payments then call them and make a claim! They will work with you to verify these errors and remove them. In fact, if they take longer than 30 days to say anything about the claim, they will just remove it from your report either way.
2. "You have bad credit... No Problem, for small fee I will get you a loan..."
This is another one that you cannot fall prey to because it hits you with 2 deadly punches. First, these lenders are charging you upwards of hundreds of dollars for a loan that you cannot qualify for. So you are immediately using money that you should be using towards your credit card debt, but not you are taking out a bogus loan. You should never have to pay upfront for a legit loan. That is red flag number one.
Second, this bogus loan is never even a loan because you never get the money. These lenders will hide their identity so you cannot find them again and never provide you with the loan. They will ask you to pay the "fee" to a personal name and not a company. Look out for advertisements in newspapers and local magazines because that is where they are looking to get you. Be wary of toll free numbers in these ads.
To make things worse, these scammers can use the personal information you gave them to commit identity theft and then really hurt your finances.
3. Knock Knock... "You are under arrest for creating a false identity..."
This one is just crazy but one that could end you in prison. It is called File Segregation. It works like this... You are deal with a credit repair company that tells you how to apply and get an employee identification number. This is a substitute for a social security number. Once you obtain this number from the IRS you will open credit and keep it current so the credit score becomes high. You would then continue to use this as your new credit identity.
This is highly illegal because you are creating a false identity. In order to get this will have to use friends of family's address and phone information to receive the credit. Anything that requires you use other people information is a huge red flag for a scam. The real sad fact is they advertise saying this is legal. Any time the word legal comes into an advertisement should tip you off to the fact that they are walking a fine line if not crossing it.
These are 3 dangerous scams that you need to watch out for. When it comes to serious journeys like destroying your debt, you need to know that good things don't come easy.
