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Florida federal court cracks down on bogus credit repair company

On Behalf of | Dec 28, 2012 | Avoiding Bankruptcy

Negative information on credit reports can play havoc on a person’s life, as many millions of Americans have discovered during the protracted and still lingering economic recession that has plagued the country.

Adverse credit information often owes directly to the financial difficulties a person or family suffers when a family member loses a job or suffers a health setback, or when a family confronts an unexpected expense. Debts mount. Families often start to unduly tap their credit cards out of dire necessity.

Virtually all conscientious borrowers know what happens when the loans can’t be routinely and timely paid back. Credit scores suffer, interest rates on various products and services go up, creditors start becoming an unwanted presence and worries mount.

Fortunately for many persons concerned with issues like foreclosure and bankruptcy, consultation with an experienced and focused bankruptcy attorney can serve to educate, help put things into proper perspective and ultimately help secure an outcome that fully promotes the client’s best interests.

The value of that representation from a proven professional is underscored by stories of what can happen when bogus companies and financial predators enter a debtor’s picture to “help” with problems.

A federal judge has just come down hard on one such Florida-based company that has for several years operated umbrella entities that have guaranteed positive results from their credit repair services.

That assurance was flatly bogus, and the defendants running those companies were recently ordered to pay $6.4 million to the FTC and permanently close their fraudulent operations.

The judicial order was issued in the wake of a previous 2010 order that penalized the defendants for deceptive marketing practices.

In addition to the hefty fine, the defendants were held in civil contempt for charging customers an initial “enrollment fee.”

The story is far from singular, and in fact plays out regularly across the country with companies that loudly advertise credit repair claims and instead fleece their customers.

The adage, “If it seems too good to be true, then it’s probably not” has proven force when it comes to many debt relief and credit repair companies.

Luckily for the legions of people who have been legitimately assisted and had their financial lives improved through consultation with a knowledgeable and effective bankruptcy attorney, that maxim will never apply personally.

Source: Consumer Affairs, “Feds nail pushers of bogus credit repair services,” James Limbach, Dec. 3, 2012

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