Debt Consolidation Ratings

Protect Yourself from Debt Consolidation Scammers

Consumers seeking debt consolidation services need to be ever aware of the constant and deliberate presence of fraudulent companies and scammers. There are hundreds of different advertisements from false lending institutions that are presented in magazines, newspapers, online communities, forums, and websites. Understanding that someone that is in debt is often in dire need of debt relief services drives fraudulent companies to take advantage of such individuals in their desperation. These fraudulent companies are skilled at attracting consumers that are in dire need of financial assistance and are equally skilled in conning such individuals into agreeing to contractual agreements that would otherwise prove detrimental to the consumer. The end result for the individual that is in debt that is lured by these companies into any kind of contractual agreement is that they often end up in deeper and more serious debt than when they first started seeking debt relief options.

When an individual comes in contact with the fraudulent debt consolidation service in response to any kind of advertisement presented, that individual is actually calling a consultant that is a third-party who is soliciting applications as well as information regarding what Social Security number and financial status one has. Some of these fraudulent telephone transactions will offer a loan to the individual that is a loan that is automatically approved, pre-approved, or instantaneously approved. The company offering the loan to the individual in debt will transmit a package regarding the loan and a demand for personal banking information as well as one or more payments in advance for the loan. In every state in the United States it is absolutely illegal for any lending institution to demand upfront payments for a loan provided. In fact, the law states that you must maintain the funds derived from a loan in your hands for a period of a week before that lending institution can demand payment from you. This latter regulation also applies in instances of third-party loans and direct loans. However, a consumer that is desperate for monies to pay for pending debts or a consumer that has no loan experience can easily fall for the deceiving practices of companies that behave fraudulently.

Some fraudulent debt relief companies or lending institutions will make astounding promises of helping you rebuild your credit status or that they will help you in getting rid of information on your credit report or data that negatively reflects you in any way. The latter services are offered if you pay a substantial fee for such services. In truth, no company has the ability to improve or manipulate your personal credit reports since late payments and bankruptcies and other black marks on your report must remain on your report for a number of years. Only you can contact reporting agencies to let them know of any bill payment difficulties that you have had and you can make a note on your credit report with an explanation as to why bills were paid late or not at all. You can also have things removed from your credit report if they are on the report in error. All of the latter measures can be conducted by you for free.

Long before you begin working with any kind of debt relief service or debt counselor you must do some considerable research to assess the validity of the organization or firm. Pay attention to signs that alerts you to questionable activities on behalf of a company offering services; things that should alert you include requests for your driver’s license information, and requests for your banking information, requests for advanced payments, and false promises. If you are not careful you can become the subject of identity theft easily.

Fraudulent companies offer toll-free telephone numbers for you to contact them but many of these numbers are actually outsourced making them difficult to track when the company takes your money and runs. Any kind of advertisement placed by a fraudulent company is often placed with an illegitimate credit card and any other contact numbers produce are often connected to use cell phones that are also stolen. You will find that fraudulent debt relief companies are highly movable companies: they appear and disappear quickly and are hard to trace once they disappear. Be wary of companies that request you to wire money out of the country as this can be indicative of a company that is operating under fraudulent terms as well.

Just because a debt consolidation firm claims that it is a nonprofit operation does not mean that that company can be trusted or is trustworthy. Scammers know how to work the system and will not hesitate to don on a nonprofit guise in an effort to steal an unsuspecting consumer’s money. Be wary of companies that offer free debt consolidation presentations, but also know that it is okay for some companies to offer you a free assessment of your current financial status. When you finally do decide to work with a debt consolidation service, remain in close contact with the service and make sure that they are making all of the payments required to creditors and that they are doing so in a timely manner.

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