V.I.P. Trust Deed Company
The original heading I was going to suggest for this column was: “Let’s Be Careful Out There,” however; credit scams are so prevalent that I will devote a whole article to it.
Many industries have a HIGH PERCENTAGE of bad apples as opposed to small numbers. A few of these “let’s be careful” industries would be: “make money at home” (envelope stuffing or similar), “cheap loans” (overseas money), “become a model,” (we market your invention) and credit repair.
I could, and perhaps will, devote more time on these subjects in future articles. Note that these particular businesses prey on people with no money, bad credit, and/or star-struck model hopefuls, or unwary inventors. Let’s be careful: I am not-not-not saying that anybody operating one of these businesses is a crook. I am saying that the percentage of crooks in these businesses is far too high and a few words will sum up this article – DO YOUR HOMEWORK.
Let’s discuss credit repair in this article since I am in the loan business. It is common for our company to make loans for people who have good equity but poor or horrible credit. Many of these people tried to clean up their credit with a credit counselor, or similar name, only to find that the “non-profit organization” took money from them to fix their credit and then did NOTHING other than skip town. As an example, one of these organizations collected $810.00 (in cash) from a debtor and sent us their company check. Well, the check bounced! The poor customer was out $810.00 and Nick, the president of the company, skipped town. Though I would not normally use Nick’s actual name – I don’t mind because it wasn’t his real name anyway: he has several others. Obviously credit repair agencies deal with people who have “dinged,” poor or horrible credit. A credit “ding” is usually easy to repair and can be handled easily by a legitimate agency. Unfortunately, there are people with terrible credit who believe that they can (miraculously) FIX their terrible credit by just paying someone money. It doesn’t work like that. Yes, there are some clever, unethical companies that manipulate and abuse the system in such a way as to clean legitimate bad debts. It is usually this type of unethical – abuse the system – type of company that often defrauds the person that was looking for a “quick fix.”
Have you seen an ad in the PennySaver or Recycler? Have you seen flyers tacked up on telephone poles? Check them out carefully. How long has this company been in business? How long has this company been at the same address? Check with the Better Business Bureau and then do more checking before giving this company any money.
In summation, there are many legitimate credit repair agencies in California; unfortunately it is the type of business that attracts a much higher percentage of crooks than normal. Get my drift? Check them out.
Have you seen an ad in the PennySaver or Recycler? Have you seen flyers tacked up on telephone poles? Check them out carefully. How long has this company been in business? How long has this company been at the same address? Check with the Better Business Bureau and then do more checking before giving this company any money.
In summation, there are many legitimate credit repair agencies in California; unfortunately it is the type of business that attracts a much higher percentage of crooks than normal. Get my drift? Check them out.
Peter Rosenthal
VIP Trust Deed Company