There seems to be a lot of people making claims about the credit repair industry lately. Various government bodies such as the Australian Securities and Investment Commission are looking very closely at credit repair companies and it would seem only a matter of time until the industry becomes regulated.
Personally I feel this would be a good thing as it may help to remove some of more questionable players from the market however we need to look at why credit repair has become such a hot topic. Unfortunately this is largely due to the behavior of some within the industry who are in my opinion talking advantage of people in vulnerable situations; this behaviour needs to stop however this may be easier said than done.
Some credit repair companies are telling people they guarantee they can repair their credit file when in really no such guarantee can be given. There is even one company that pretends to contact the offending credit provider while they put the person on hold and then tell them they can definitely have the listing removed if they pay them a significant amount of money, the reality is no call to the credit provider was ever made.
There is even a credit repair company that tells people they can definitely restore their credit file on the basis they pay him a large amount of money immediately. Once this money is paid all they do is mail them a very questionable self-help manual that isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.
With this sort of behavior taking place on a daily basis is it any wonder the credit repair industry is under the microscope.
When administered correctly credit repair involves conducting detailed investigations with the listing party in order to determine if the correct process was followed prior to the listing being made. The reality is only faulty or contestable credit listings can be removed from a credit file so unless a credit repair company has been able to review all the associated documentation that relates to the credit listing there is no way they are in a position comment on if it can be removed. From our experience most investigations take between 30 to 60 days.
This being the case when someone calls a credit repair company and are told they are able to guarantee they are able to repair their credit file they are being misled, generally due to the fact the credit repair company wanting to extract money from them.
As the director of a reputable and well respected credit repair company, Clean Credit Pty Ltd I can state with confidence that when correctly administered the process of credit restoration can quite literally change people’s lives and is of great value to the general public.
I can only hope that the actions of a few within the industry doesn’t put an entire industry under threat as should future regulation prove overly onerous it may put an end to an entire industry and the only real losers would be the general public, given regulation is designed to protect the public this would be a great shame indeed.