American Credit Experts and Legal Credit Repair Center Settles With FTC Over Credit Repair Infractions
A federal court has ordered a credit repair operation and its principals to stop making false claims and requiring advance payment for credit repair services. See the court order here . The agreed-upon court orders are a result of a settlement between the Federal Trade Commission and the “credit repair” defendants. The Commission sued the defendants in October 2008 as part of “Operation Clean Sweep,” a crackdown on credit repair operations. The defendants represented that they could remove negative but accurate information from consumers’ credit reports, including bankruptcies and late fees. According to the FTC, the defendants charged consumers up to $59.95 initially, then $59.95 per month, to send letters to credit reporting agencies disputing information on the consumers’ credit reports. Contrary to the defendants’ representations to consumers, those dispute letters failed to remove accurate negative information from the consumers’ credit reports. The orders bar the defendants from violating the Credit Repair Organizations Act by charging clients fees in advance and claiming that a credit repair organization can permanently remove negative information from credit reports, even when the information is accurate. They also bar the defendants from making deceptive claims when marketing any product or service, including credit repair services. The orders further prohibit the defendants from collecting money from consumers who purchased their services before December 3, 2008, when the court halted their unlawful practices, and from disclosing or benefitting from customers’ personally identifiable or financial information. The orders require them to take reasonable measures to protect consumers’ personally identifiable information during its disposal. The order against Ace Group, Inc., doing business as American Credit Experts, Inc., The Ace Group, Inc., The Ace Group, and ACE; Legal Credit Repair Center, Inc.; Michael Singer, and Gerald Roth, imposes a $20,645,754 judgment that will be suspended if Singer and Roth pay $5,000 each because of their inability to pay the full judgment. The order against Melvin Kessler also imposes a $20,645,754 judgment, which is suspended based on his inability to pay. If the defendants are found to have misrepresented their financial condition, the full judgments will become due immediately. The orders also contain record-keeping and reporting provisions to allow the FTC to monitor compliance with the orders. The FTC advises that only time, effort, and a personal debt repayment plan can improve your credit report . The first step is to learn what information is in your credit report . Federal law requires that the nationwide consumer reporting companies – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – provide you with a free copy of your credit report once every 12 months, if you ask for it. Steve @GetOutOfDebtGuy Source: American Credit Experts and Legal Credit Repair Center Settles With FTC Over Credit Repair Infractions Other Related Articles to Read I’m Being Chased For a Repo From Six Years Ago. – Steve Florida Credit Repair Firm, U.S. Credit Find, Reaches Settlement With Illinois Attorney General We Are Looking Forward to Buying Our First Home But Our Credit Sucks. – Casey How Do I Go About Getting My Credit Score Back Up? – CH I Am a City of Houston, Texas Employee and Need to Repair My Credit so I can Build a House. – Jocelyn Tweet This! Email this to a friend? Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon Share this on Facebook Share this on Linkedin Seed this on Newsvine Share this on Technorati Share this on Tipd
We Got 100% Financing On Our Home But Once the Loan Adjusts We Won’t Be Able to Afford it. – KC
KC wrote to me through the GetOutOfDebt.org site and asked the following question. If you have a credit or debt question you’d like to ask just use the online form . I’m happy to help you totally for free. Income from the GetOutOfDebt.org site advertising is used to help alleviate poverty . If you would like to help me to help others, there are easy and free things you can do, click here to learn how you can help . “Dear Steve, My husband and I have a 5/1 Adjustable Interest Only loan, as well as a HELOC loan because we did 100% financing. I’m no longer working (staying at home with new son), and my husband’s salary was recently cut 10%. We’ve given up a few luxuries (cable tv, saving for retirement, etc) in order to stay current on our mortgages, but once our rate adjusts in January I’m quite certain we’ll no longer be able to. Another factor is our home value is now nearly half of what we owe on it ($246,000 down from $455,000) Now that we have a child, our 2 bedroom home is getting to be too small. We’d like to move on from our starter home, especially to a better school district, but I think we’d be willing to stay in this home for 3 or 4 more years if we can get a modification that makes sense and saves our credit. So far, BofA doesn’t want to talk to us unless we’re delinquent. I’ve been considering going with MMI’s free counseling to help. Any thoughts on this? Are we so underwater now that we should look at walking away and going into foreclosure and possible bankruptcy ? Some friends in the same situation are doing this and I wonder what the consequences (besides poor credit for 10 years) would be. I don’t take this lightly. I understand we have an obligation to pay our loans, it’s just that as of January, we won’t be able to without sacrificing necessities. Your advice is appreciated! KC” Dear KC, You are so underwater on the loan that I doubt that Bank of America is going to come up with a loan modification plan. Unfortunately you are just part of the next wave of mortgages that are going to default. These option ARM loans are toxic and bad news. If housing values had doubled instead of dropped by half, you’d feel like a genius. But as it is you feel like a failure. Bankruptcy can be recovered from. The irony is that only by going bankrupt do you even have a shot at saving up money for a new home in the future. The shock to your credit report can be repaired. Unfortunately Congress never passed legislation that would have given bankruptcy judges the authority to drive down the mortgage balance to current values. If this had been your second or vacation home, they can do that already, just not on your primary residence. Crazy. You can certainly go and talk to any HUD approved housing counselor but at the same time you need to find a local bankruptcy attorney and make an appointment for a free bankruptcy consultation . You need to hear both sides of the story to understand which path is best for you. If I was to bet, I think you’ll decide that walking away from the home and starting over is the most logical path to follow. Big hug. Steve @GetOutOfDebtGuy Source: We Got 100% Financing On Our Home But Once the Loan Adjusts We Won’t Be Able to Afford it. – KC Other Related Articles to Read Mortgage Company Won’t Modify Loan Because it is an FHA. – Debora We Can’t Afford Our Mortgage and Bank of America Said They Can’t Help. – Anne I’m a Disabled Construction Worker in Oklahoma That is Being Chased by Bank of America. – Butch I Can’t Make the Mortgage and Feed the Kids. – Lill I’m Not Sure if Ocwen Will Modify My Mortgage. They Won’t Respond. – Rush Tweet This! Email this to a friend? Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon Share this on Facebook Share this on Linkedin Seed this on Newsvine Share this on Technorati Share this on Tipd
We Are About to Lose Our Home and My Husband Won’t Talk to Me About It. – Jeanette
Jeanette wrote to me through the GetOutOfDebt.org site and asked the following question. If you have a credit or debt question you’d like to ask just use the online form . I’m happy to help you totally for free. Income from the GetOutOfDebt.org site advertising is used to help alleviate poverty . If you would like to help me to help others, there are easy and free things you can do, click here to learn how you can help . “Dear Steve, We are about to lose our home $10,000 in the hole my husband has not talked to me i just found out in the mail he takes care of the bills he lost his self employment is now working for someone else I know this is a big change for him a big pay cut I know things are on his mind bad he don’t talk just says there is alot on his mind my husband has done things for our family for 32 years I would like for him to know there is help how do we hold on. Jeanette” Dear Jeanette, These are difficult times for proud people. I suspect that your husband is stuck in the first stage of debt, denial. He sounds like he is working hard to try to make ends meet, probably so he does not disappoint you and let you down. There are two courses of action you could take. The first would be to sit down with him and let him know you are aware of what is going on. You would like to help to be part of the solution and you are willing to do whatever you can to work to find a solution for the problem. The second approach would be for you to get a copy of your consolidated credit report . The link is for the one I use myself and love. You could then uncover what the true condition of your financial situation is and sit down with that information and tell him you’ve got the facts and you are going to take over dealing with the creditors. I prefer the first approach. A solution based on communication and understanding works better than one based in confrontation. Once you do that, come back and give me an update in the comments section . I’ll help you from there but we need him onboard first before we explore solutions. Big hug. Steve @GetOutOfDebtGuy Source: We Are About to Lose Our Home and My Husband Won’t Talk to Me About It. – Jeanette Other Related Articles to Read I Can’t Make the Mortgage and Feed the Kids. – Lill I Cosigned for a Car Loan and that Person Went to Jail. Now I Have to Pay it. – Noname I’m Not Sure if Ocwen Will Modify My Mortgage. They Won’t Respond. – Rush My Fiance Left Me With His Bills. I Am Struggling to Get By. – Angela Will I Ever Be Able to Buy a House After My Bankruptcy and Foreclosure? – Michael Tweet This! Email this to a friend? Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon Share this on Facebook Share this on Linkedin Seed this on Newsvine Share this on Technorati Share this on Tipd
