Ethics of Credit Score Repair

Repairing and correcting your credit reports and increasing your credit score and the ethics involved are often approached by consumers with concern. "Credit Repair" is a murky term that describes an industry that has not always been kind to the consumer.

In fact, the phrase is considered by many to be synonymous with fraud. This is the stigma we face as we offer a membership wherein the client is offered an alternative to "debtor's prison."

Because the nasty reputation of credit repair sometimes washes over into our space, we are often called upon to defend the ethics of the information on credit-repair services and do-it-yourself methods.

With the increase of unethical collection attempts by Junk Debt Buyers , credit repair is more necessary now than ever.

So what exactly are the ethics of those who engage in credit repair? Despite the reputation associated with credit improvement, it is clearly similar to the service and ethics of a defense attorney. The credit report is no more than an allegation. Unfortunately, most citizens never challenge that allegation.

As a consumer, you have the right to take an affirmative defense--offer a reasonable alibi and leave it to the bureaus to substantiate their allegation. If the bureau claims to have investigated and affirmed the allegation, then you have the right to appeal the decision.

Eventually, many people find that most credit report allegations are at some point incorrect and are removed.

Removing record of a negative credit account, which did actually exist, is undoubtedly ethically sound. We belong to a fundamentally capitalistic civilization and the credit bureaus capitalize on consumer information.

Unlike our legal system, the bureaus do not exist for truth, equity and the common good. No American has the moral obligation to support any business venture or corporation, much less a corporation which may well destroy their financial life.

The credit bureaus would maintain every piece of credit information forever if it weren't for federal law which has directed them to remove most items after seven years.

In essence, the credit bureaus themselves practice credit repair, basically at the seven year mark.

If it is ethical to remove accurate credit accounts after seven years, why would it be wrong to do so in less time? In relationship to the consumer, the credit bureaus do not concern themselves with the impact of the information. This information often misrepresents the credit worthiness of the consumer.

By tagging good citizens as "deadbeats" and "debtors" the bureaus damage the creditors, the economy and, most importantly, the individual.

Several policies and techniques employed by the credit bureaus appear most abusive to the American consumer; these we cite as justification of our opposition to the present credit reporting system.

Seven years (10 years for bankruptcy and some court accounts) credit bondage punishes the debtor unfairly and unjustly. At no point have the credit bureaus ever conducted a study determining seven years to be the point of careless debtor or deadbeat rejuvenation.

The seven year mark is entirely arbitrarily. Seven years is simply too long to carry this type of information on your record. Within a year or two, most consumers completely recover from an economic crisis.

For the remaining five or six years, they are left hobbled---forced to rent homes, pay outrageous interest on high risk auto loans, forgo the convenience of credit cards and pay cash for most every expenditure.

By expelling the consumer from the credit loop, the economy suffers. Our clients come to us on the financial upswing. If they can afford our membership, they are most likely on the way back to financial abundance.

These are consumers fully recovered from crisis, re-engaged to financial responsibility and anxious to reenter the credit economy. Their ethics are fine. For them, we offer a deserved parole from the credit prison which they entered as their financial world fell apart.

The credit bureaus have not been able to maintain reasonable accuracy in their credit profiles. The bureaus claim an error ratio under one percent.

In reality, studies conducted by neutral third parties have determined the credit report error ratio to be closer to forty percent.

Unfortunately for the consumer, the credit bureaus choose to err on the side of negative information. One problem many have noticed is the high incidence of file mergers---the worst kind of file error.

In a file merger, the credit of another person with a similar name is spread onto the file of the innocent bystander. Oddly, the credit bureaus fiercely resist correction of these obvious errors.

We have found the only way to prompt them to revision is through a lawsuit. And with identity theft on the rise, wrong information on the credit bureaus is all too common.

Credit reporting makes up only a small portion of the revenue which the bureaus claim each year. The databases really pay off in the sales of information.

From generic target marketing lists to invasive personal investigative inquires, the bureaus cull a pool of information larger than any in the civilized world. The end loser is the consumer who values his privacy.

The horror stories keep coming about individuals whose jobs have been lost, insurance canceled, reputation ruined by sloppy collection and dissemination of personal information.

This does not include the mass irritation experienced by consumers forced to wade through the reams of junk mail. Privacy is a thing of the past---and the blame can be firmly placed on the credit bureaus.

America is not the only country in the world whose economy utilizes consumer credit. Other countries, such as Great Britain, extend credit based on the individual's present credit standing.

A grand-scale revision of the credit reporting system in the United States would not throw our economy into chaos and distress.

Until that day arrives, we should feel comfortable that the removal of negative credit accounts before the seven year mark isn't unpatriotic, it's not unfair and it's certainly not unethical.

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