Credit repair firm fleecing people

So I went to the Home Show today (yesterday) for my first time as a homeowner! yay! This time all the little goodies were of interest--free cany, cookies, brochures, booklets, free trial etc.

I noticed with interest that there was a large number of financial companies in attendance: American Express Financial Advisers (they were peddling some kind of card product when you open a full asset management account), CitiFinancial, Wells Fargo & Wells Fargo Financial, and a few other no-name brokers/lenders. The message being put out is that if you have damaged credit, they could all help you out.

But then I ran into *her*! This woman popped in front of my face asking if I wanted to sign up for her credit repair service? "Uh, no thanks, I'm pretty much secure with my credit profiles." But, she begins to tell me, you can't just clean your own credit--everyone's credit file has some kind of errors and they have special sources that will get that all taken care of...YOU (meaning me, Joe Blow consumer) can't just call the credit bureaus and tell them to get rid of the item. Plus, they'll help you get copies of your report!

At that point, I had enough and told her I'm already a member of Experian's CE and Equifax's CW services and I know exactly what's on my reports since I pull them 3 times a week! ::BLINK:: "Are you telling me that the credit bureaus have a service to help you fix your reports? I've never heard of that." ::Now I'm enjoying myself:: "Oh yeah, I can pull my reports 24/7/365, initiate online disputes and in fact, I just successfully sued TransUnion for some errors and their failure to follow the FCRA." A small lie but seeing her expression of worry ("gee, people might not need us anymore") was priceless! At that point, she pounced on the next rube!

 

Oh man! He didn't do anything stupid like tell you that the reports you pull don't have the same information as he can get, did he? That would be too easy!!!