Credit Card Consolidation Debt Counseling Scams
By: Tiffany Walker
Not every credit card consolidation debt counseling service is a legitimate one. Unfortunately there are a lot of different type of scammers out there advertising themselves as this service. However what they really are is identity thieves looking for a way to learn as much about your finances as possible. Offering to get someone out of debt is a great way to get their Social Security numbers, their credit card numbers, their bank account numbers and information that you would normally use for secure transactions (such as passwords and mother's maiden names.)
Less serious but very annoying are the credit card consolidation debt counseling experts that offer to settle your debt for pennies on the dollar. Usually this type of company offers to procure your credit report for you for a fee and then disappears forever without repairing your credit as promised.
To avoid this type of scam be wary of any credit card consolidation debt counseling organization or company that tries to obtain your credit report for a fee. First of all anyone who is not you causes a black mark on your credit if they make an inquiry into your credit which of course lowers your overall credit rating. Second of all you don't need to pay for a credit report. It is federal law in the United States that you are entitled to one free credit report a year from the three main agencies - Transunion, Experian or Equifax.
You should also avoid firms offer to teach you how to talk your way out of debt with a lender or how to use ancient laws to convince a credit bureau to remove negative things from your report. Needless to say anything like this is useless when it comes to convincing creditors, lenders and credit bureaus that you shouldn't have to pay!
Tiffany Walker is an author who works for various financial publications online. Read her most recent articles here: Credit Card Consolidation Debt Counseling.
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