This is a letter to the “Biz Brain” about a legitimate item on a credit report - a civil judgment - that is repeated in triplicate. Lenders don’t often look at anything but the FICO score so aren’t apt to notice what should be an obvious error. He’s tried and tried to get it removed to no avail.

The Federal Trade Commission produces a guide to “self help” credit repair, but it’s a bit like “do it your self IRS forms”. Taken individually, each form may be “doable”. Taken in mass, they become a nightmare and getting things wrong could get the IRS breathing down your neck.

Fortunately, credit report repair can involve only a small monthly fee if using a reputable credit report repair firm.

Read more at The New Jersey Star-Ledger.

Also see this post on “Do It Yourself Credit Repair”… often the factors are time and complexity.

This is basically humorous.

On May 10th, 2007 the Boston Globe actually said that the credit repair industry is responsible for the sub prime mortgage problem sweeping the nation.

Why?

Supposedly the credit repair industry did such a good job, too many people were able to get mortgages.

I suppose this is a “back handed complement” of sorts that proves that to get a fair shake at a reasonable mortgage rate these days, ordinary consumers need professional credit repair help!

In reality the issue was not the credit score alone but the fact that the lenders did not document the customers’ ability to repay based on verifiable income.

FICO scores should be seen as a guide to the consumers propensity to repay and do not either verify or indicate the consumer’s income.

And - by the way - part of the issue has been the mortgages issued with no down payment whatsoever and therefore no potential loss to the borrower… it’s no worse in some ways emotionally to walk away from a rental property than a 100% mortgage because there’s no 10% or 20% downpayment to be lost.

But since we’re looking for scapegoats, why not blame the credit repair industry?

Malware is software that invades your computer without your knowledge, steals passwords and personal information and then sends the information to the malware creator so they can steal your identity.

Once the identity theft has taken place, they use the information to either steal directly or take your personal information to open completely new accounts that can be used to finance their lifestyles while ruining your credit so that it requires professional attention to restore.

To protect yourself fully,

1. Any computer you operate should have completely installed antivirus software like Norton. It should be updated frequently and your computer should be regularly scanned to identify and neutralize malware threats.

2. You should have a personal identity theft protection plan in place that offers ongoing monitoring and up to $1 million in liability protections for you.

3. You should begin a process of credit report repair now to identify and repair any identity theft damage that may have occurred without your knowledge.

As home owners fall behind on their mortgages, see their monthly payments sky rocket, and are helpless to stop their credit rating from being destroyed thanks to situations beyond their control, the federal government is stepping in it seems.

Fox news reports the following (link below):

Offering federal aid for strapped mortgage holders, the White House outlined proposals Friday to help borrowers hard hit by credit problems and the housing slump.

The initiatives, to be formally unveiled by President Bush, were intended to help homeowners with risky mortgages keep their homes. Bush also was to discuss efforts to prevent these kinds of problems from arising in the future.

It was the administration’s first efforts to deal with an expected wave of mortgage defaults fueled by the subprime-mortgage crisis.

The FHA is one of the agencies stepping to refinance some loans other news outlets report.

While this bail out of the mortgage industry will help people keep their homes, it will likely leave thousands with permanent scars on their credit report unless steps are taken by the individuals to delete information that is generated by this crisis but is beyond their control.

Read Bush Proposes Subprime Mortgage Reforms

Part of the network identity thieves use to profit from the theft of your personal data is a network of “Money Mules” - unsuspecting people who respond to adds promising that they can “work at home” a few hours per week, use their home to receive and send packages and use their bank account to cash checks for people who for some unexplained reason want to use some stranger in the US to cash a check because a bank won’t?

These people cash the check, keep a 10% processing fee, send the balance to another address and think they’re making fast, easy money.

Then the check bounces and they’ve lost not only their “fee” but the whole amount.

They will end up needing credit repair themselves, but in the mean time they are facilitating the enterprise of Identity Theft.

More posts on Identity Theft.

Read the article that inspired this post at “Money Mules” A Cog In Cybercrime Underground and Identity Theft