Loren McCray's Advice on Selecting a Law Firm to Assist with Credit Repair
Loren McCray
August 06, 2008
The credit reporting agencies are required by federal law to remove inaccurate information from your credit reports free of charge.
However, nowhere in the law does it say they have to make it easy for you.
Because the credit reporting agencies can't charge you to remove inaccurate information from your credit reports, they make you jump through hoops...climb over walls...and inconvenience you in any way possible to accomplish this.
They will try to make it too frustrating and time consuming for you to do something that is supposed to be your right under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
They want you to give up...surrender...waive the white flag...cry, "Uncle."
Life is too short to waste your free time jumping through hoops to appease the credit reporting agencies.
You need a lawyer. But not just any lawyer. You need to choose a law firm that specializes in credit repair.
Don't use a bankruptcy attorney to help you with errors on your personal credit reports. Lots of people assume that since the bankruptcy attorney helped with the bankruptcy, the attorney would know all about the credit reporting agencies. This is rarely the case.
Bankruptcy attorneys are good at helping you file bankruptcy, but pretty much useless in helping you remove inaccurate negative information from your credit reports.
Here are the expectations you should have for a law firm:
1.) They have to live and breathe the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The FCRA basically tells us our rights regarding our credit reports. If you have a few hours to spare, you can go here to read it.
2.) Former employees of the credit reporting agencies should be on their board of directors, within their company rank and file, or at least as consultants. Having an insider's perspective on how the credit reporting agencies work was essential for success and is what separates the real thing from the scumbag credit repair clinics that advertise on telephone poles.
3.) They had to abide by the legal guidelines Congress created for this type of service. These guidelines are known as the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA).
4.) Make sure they have many years in business with a clean record with the Federal Trade Commission.
A pretty tall order, but considering the FTC makes a regular sweep of credit repair clinics and shuts down the crappy ones...finding the right law firm is easier than you think.
Is the Term "Credit Repair" Naughty or Nice?
Law firms that specialize in helping you remove inaccuracies from your personal credit reports are often grouped in with other credit repair services that are not law firms. But there are major differences between the two.
The companies that give this service a bad name are the credit repair clinics with no real experience in the credit reporting industry. Maybe the people who started these clinics got lucky getting inaccurate information removed from their own credit reports and decided to make a business out of it?
One of the biggest myths surrounding credit repair is that people think it's illegal. Nope, it's not illegal. If done properly...and if they follow the federal guidelines...then it's as legal as voting at 18 or driving a car at 16.
They just have to follow the rules. And the rules are clearly spelled out in CROA.
Surprised that credit repair is 100% legal?
The credit reporting agencies work very hard to convince you that ALL of these companies are scams and
they can't do anything more than you can do on your own. That's so untrue.
There are legitimate companies that provide this service.
It's no different than hiring a tax pro to prepare your taxes for you...or a lawyer to represent you in court if you are sued...or anything else that you can afford to pay someone else to do for you so you can keep yourself focused on your unique ability.
Sure, you can do those things yourself for free. But is it really free if you get audited or lose the lawsuit?
Bottom line: As long as the company follows the rules set forth in CROA...the credit restoration service they provide to you is ethical, legal, responsible, valuable, and time saving.
So again, credit restoration is not illegal. It's only illegal if the company that is offering the service is not following the guidelines that Congress has set up.
The credit reporting agencies will try to make you think differently. They do a good job convincing the public, lenders, their business partners, and many others that all credit repair organizations are illegal.
Law firms vs. Credit Repair Clinics
While the credit repair clinics are all about scamming you with no regard to what's right or wrong...a legitimate law firm abides by CROA.
You can fiddle around and try to remove inaccurate information from your personal credit reports yourself...or you can hire someone to do this for you so you can do more enjoyable things with your free time.
The only reason the legitimate companies exist is because most of the credit reporting agencies make it impossible to easily talk to someone over the telephone to dispute incorrect information on your credit reports.
If the credit reporting agencies made it easy to correct errors on your reports, then law firms wouldn't have to deal with representing people who have been run through the credit reporting agency ringer.
However, nowhere in the law does it say they have to make it easy for you.
Because the credit reporting agencies can't charge you to remove inaccurate information from your credit reports, they make you jump through hoops...climb over walls...and inconvenience you in any way possible to accomplish this.
They will try to make it too frustrating and time consuming for you to do something that is supposed to be your right under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
They want you to give up...surrender...waive the white flag...cry, "Uncle."
Life is too short to waste your free time jumping through hoops to appease the credit reporting agencies.
You need a lawyer. But not just any lawyer. You need to choose a law firm that specializes in credit repair.
Don't use a bankruptcy attorney to help you with errors on your personal credit reports. Lots of people assume that since the bankruptcy attorney helped with the bankruptcy, the attorney would know all about the credit reporting agencies. This is rarely the case.
Bankruptcy attorneys are good at helping you file bankruptcy, but pretty much useless in helping you remove inaccurate negative information from your credit reports.
Here are the expectations you should have for a law firm:
1.) They have to live and breathe the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The FCRA basically tells us our rights regarding our credit reports. If you have a few hours to spare, you can go here to read it.
2.) Former employees of the credit reporting agencies should be on their board of directors, within their company rank and file, or at least as consultants. Having an insider's perspective on how the credit reporting agencies work was essential for success and is what separates the real thing from the scumbag credit repair clinics that advertise on telephone poles.
3.) They had to abide by the legal guidelines Congress created for this type of service. These guidelines are known as the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA).
4.) Make sure they have many years in business with a clean record with the Federal Trade Commission.
A pretty tall order, but considering the FTC makes a regular sweep of credit repair clinics and shuts down the crappy ones...finding the right law firm is easier than you think.
Is the Term "Credit Repair" Naughty or Nice?
Law firms that specialize in helping you remove inaccuracies from your personal credit reports are often grouped in with other credit repair services that are not law firms. But there are major differences between the two.
The companies that give this service a bad name are the credit repair clinics with no real experience in the credit reporting industry. Maybe the people who started these clinics got lucky getting inaccurate information removed from their own credit reports and decided to make a business out of it?
One of the biggest myths surrounding credit repair is that people think it's illegal. Nope, it's not illegal. If done properly...and if they follow the federal guidelines...then it's as legal as voting at 18 or driving a car at 16.
They just have to follow the rules. And the rules are clearly spelled out in CROA.
Surprised that credit repair is 100% legal?
The credit reporting agencies work very hard to convince you that ALL of these companies are scams and
they can't do anything more than you can do on your own. That's so untrue.
There are legitimate companies that provide this service.
It's no different than hiring a tax pro to prepare your taxes for you...or a lawyer to represent you in court if you are sued...or anything else that you can afford to pay someone else to do for you so you can keep yourself focused on your unique ability.
Sure, you can do those things yourself for free. But is it really free if you get audited or lose the lawsuit?
Bottom line: As long as the company follows the rules set forth in CROA...the credit restoration service they provide to you is ethical, legal, responsible, valuable, and time saving.
So again, credit restoration is not illegal. It's only illegal if the company that is offering the service is not following the guidelines that Congress has set up.
The credit reporting agencies will try to make you think differently. They do a good job convincing the public, lenders, their business partners, and many others that all credit repair organizations are illegal.
Law firms vs. Credit Repair Clinics
While the credit repair clinics are all about scamming you with no regard to what's right or wrong...a legitimate law firm abides by CROA.
You can fiddle around and try to remove inaccurate information from your personal credit reports yourself...or you can hire someone to do this for you so you can do more enjoyable things with your free time.
The only reason the legitimate companies exist is because most of the credit reporting agencies make it impossible to easily talk to someone over the telephone to dispute incorrect information on your credit reports.
If the credit reporting agencies made it easy to correct errors on your reports, then law firms wouldn't have to deal with representing people who have been run through the credit reporting agency ringer.
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