Should I start a credit repair service?
I have been aswering questions for people on and off of the Internet and I have gotten at least twelve people asking me to help them with their finances. I am thinking it might be worth it to start a credit repair company. Most people are willing to pay $50 -$70 a month for my services. What should I do?
Public Comments
- Someone used my Social Security number to get credit about six years ago, and I hired an attorney to handle it for me. It cost me $50.00 a month, and my credit rating was restored in a matter of months. You absolutely cannot provide comparable service, and anything you would provide would be something that the consumer can do on their own. You can't repair anyone's credit, and you could get yourself into a lot of trouble for scamming people. What should you do? Forget about it.
- Ideally everyone could do this on their own for free....Apparently some people need to be taken by the hand to file disputes with the credit bureaus or to send debt validation requests. If you can money from doing this....good for you. Just don't mislead people into thinking that you can delete all negative notations from their credit files. Your clients would have to give you their SS#, birth date, address info, etc. for you to start a process of repairing credit...I think a lot of people would be wary of giving out this info over the Internet.
- Don't take credit for one thing. These people are in trouble and for you to do this and stick by your goals at helping these people, have them pay with cash. It is a good idea, but behavior needs to change when it comes to these people so you know, just having you help them get off the hook with their lendors will not fix their longterm problem.
- I agree with the first two posters You would need to follow the FTC and your states laws concerning CRO's. The laws (and penalties) are stiff due to so many fly-by-night CRO's. Some states have not revised their laws concerning CRO's as yet, but they will be so you need to keep on top of that. If you do work for someone in another state, you will also have to abide by the CRO laws in that state. Having a little knowledge about the laws won't cut it. You should know every aspect of debtor/creditor laws for the FTC, your state and every other state you do business in. (having a little knowledge could very well place the person you are helping in a worse position AND could put you in a bad position with not only that person but with the state and the FTC as well - as I stated above, the penalties are stiff) Starting a CRO business is not only costly, but also time consuming if you are not up to speed on the laws.
- Go to a good website to find the nearest SCORE chapter. Contact them to arrange for a free one on one meeting with a SCORE counselor about how to start a credit repair service. Also, a good resource is... http://debt.knowledged.info/credit_card.html Hope that helps.
* Some answers may have been provided by Yahoo! Answers.