Credit Repair Scams
Late this afternoon, I got a call from a guy who had found my web content blog (see sig line). He was inquiring about whether I would be interested in redoing the content for his website. It was the middle of happy hour, so I asked him to email me the URL for the website and told him I'd check it out and get back to him. I'm always looking for new writing jobs.
After eating dinner, I went back to my computer, and found his email, so I clicked through to the site. I won't give the URL, but it was a "Credit Repair Company," promising to fix lousy credit reports and promising to "restore your credit." Right, I thought. I went through some of the pages of the site. All were in badly broken English, as I suspected they would be, based on the limited English abilities of the guy who called.
Next, I went to Google and did a search for "Credit Repair Scams." Lots and lots of hits for that. What was described in the many articles and accounts was exactly what the website I had just looked at was offering. So, I went back to the site, on a hunch, and started looking at more pages. Amazingly, some of them were reasonably well written, which sounded additional alarm bells. Why was the Home page written in exceedingly poor English, while other pages were OK? Hmm...
So, I copied the first sentence of one of those pages, and submitted it to Google, in quotes. Not surprisingly, the exact same passage appeared on dozens of other "Credit Repair" websites, including those of some people who professed to be attorneys. More research showed that the same attorneys' names also appeared on many of the websites in my searches.
Apparently, the man who called me is setting up another franchise of this scam, trying to get people to pay a two-digit fee up front, and the same two-digit fee every month to "fix their credit" and regain their rightful position in society.
Anyhow, I emailed the guy and told him politely, but quite firmly, that I wasn't interested in redoing his website, and that it did not meet my standards for websites I work for. I'm sure he'll find someone to turn his gibberish into English. I'm equally sure he'll attract some people who will pay him that two-digit monthly fee for work that is never done to fix an unfixable credit report. This will put the poor people who sign up with this website in an even worse position.
Very sad business. There is site after site that show individuals what is required to repair a bad credit report legitimately on your own. It's hard work, and takes a long time of working with creditors and paying down debts. It can be done, but it won't be done by these scammers. Ever. All the scams will do is relieve you of half a Franklin every month until you stop paying them.
Sometimes, I hate answering my telephone. I really do. I'd report this site, but there are hundreds of sites running the same scam, and probably they're staying a fraction of a millimeter on the right side of the law. Scammers suck!
= new reply since forum marked as read
