Recognizing Credit Counseling Scams

Written by Charlotte Wood (last updated February 21, 2009)

With anything in today's world, there is potential fraud and scam and you should always be on the look out for anything suspicious, especially when it comes to protecting your money and information. Protecting your credit is one of those tasks that may be a pain sometimes, but one that is always worth it because it preserves your financial reputation. With so many financial things in your life revolving around your credit score, there is a multiplicity of services available to you to help you achieve the best credit score possible. Unfortunately there are also many fraudulent services and scams that can succeed in devastating your credit and finances. However, avoiding these scams simply necessitates an awareness of what credit counseling services actually do and an awareness of your own finances.

When you look into credit counseling, don't just go for whatever offer you see on a flyer on the street or an unknown e-mail. Do your research; check out their website, their offices, and also look into their reputation with the city or state records. When it comes to dealing with your money, you need to make sure the establishments you're working with are legitimate.

Use your brains when investigating credit counseling. Know what they should be asking and if they're asking for information they shouldn't be, then obviously you shouldn't be doing business with them. Scams can easily look like legitimate operations so you need to know exactly what a legitimate establishment looks like so you can detect flaws. There's no quick way to recognize a credit counseling scam, so you should simply put in the time and research.

Especially with credit services, it's not too hard to get caught up in an alluring offer, but if it sounds too good to be true, then chances are it is. Stay realistic when researching counseling agencies. These agencies can be good for helping you figure out what to do with your money and how to best improve your credit score, but do use prudence and caution. While definitely prevalent in today's world, credit counseling scams can be avoided if you simply put in the time to verify and research.

Author Bio

Charlotte Wood

MORE FROM CHARLOTTE

Remove Mud and Soil Stains with a Potato

Mud and soil are gross and unfortunately just happen sometimes. Sometimes those stains seem impossible to remove and you ...

Discover More

What is a Bear Market?

In the financial section of the papers or in news magazines you can easily come across the phrases "bull market" and ...

Discover More

Reducing Capital Gains Taxes

Capital gains taxes are a pain to deal and unfortunately a tax necessity for many. There are ways though you can reduce ...

Discover More
More Money Tips

Re-establishing Credit After Bankruptcy

Credit scores change daily based on the information provided to credit bureaus. After a bankruptcy it is important to ...

Discover More

Maintaining Good Credit

Maintaining good credit is such an important topic that there have been entire sections of libraries written about it. ...

Discover More

Making Changes to Your Credit Report

Sometimes things can get on your credit report that you don't want and that aren't true. Fortunately there is a way to ...

Discover More
Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is two more than 7?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)