Non-profit credit counseling organizations, creditors trying to restructure a consumer’s debt to it, and banks and credit unions are not CRO’s.

The Federal Credit Repair Organizations Act provides for very specific disclosure requirements before a CRO can provide services, including the need for a written contract, and a three-day right to cancel the agreement.

The following articles discuss the risks associated with CRO’s:

Credit Repair:  Beware of Predators!

Credit Repair:  What They Don’t Tell You

Credit Repair - Watch Out!

This is the finding of PolicyLink, a California based research group that analyzed data from various government-funded rebuilding subsidy programs targeted at assisting New Orleans residents in their rebuilding efforts following Hurricane Katrina.  In a recent study entitled: “A Long Way Home:  The State of Housing Recovery in Louisiana 2008,” PolicyLink found that the tightening national credit market is making it increasingly difficult for homeowners and landlords to secure loans needed to rebuild.

In a recent interview, Annie Clark, a PolicyLink research associate and a co-author of the report, told New Orleans City Business newspaper: “The standards for traditional loans have risen because of the credit crisis.”

The City Business article notes that New Orleans is a particular issue because for 80% of those who received government funded financial assistance the funds alone are insufficient to complete repairs, leaving many houses boarded up and unoccupied.

The study recommends that New Orleans, along with federal and state governments and work to create new grant and loan programs to assist those that will no longer qualify for a home loan.

In an article entitled “Fraud-prevention pitchman becomes ID theft victim“, CNN reports that Lifelock CEO Todd Davis is being sued by customers because his service didn’t work and he knew it wouldn’t because Mr. Davis has been a victim of identity theft.  The article cites that Mr. Davis acknowledges that in 87 instances in which people have tried to steal his identity…one succeeded:  a guy in Texas duped an online payday loan operation into giving him $500 using Davis’ Social Security number.  The article goes on to say that Mr. Davis said it is possible that driver’s licenses have been issued to other people in his name.

As Carmen Dellutri said in a post Fraud Alerts Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act Create Lawsuit, “we are going to keep our eyes on this one and see where it goes.”

The key to reading these reports is to see what we are buying. The dollar amounts and volumes for purchases of automobiles and retail goods are down. Meanwhile, defaults on mortgages and home equity loans are rising at record rates. The cost of consumables such as engery, food and transportation continue to increase.

These should be warning signs for any consumer. You know it when you use your credit card to pay for groceries. Does it make sense to pay interest on a debt for food you’ve already eaten? You know the answer. Lay off the credit for basics before you become a statistic.

An individual should look at their credit report at least once a year to check if an authorized person has looked at their credit report.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) defines the term “Debt Collector”  to include ”…any person who uses any instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business the principal purpose of which is the collection of any debts, or who regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another…” 

Debt Collectors are prohibited from the following actions:

(1) The use or threat of use of violence or other criminal means to harm the physical person, reputation, or property of any person.

(2) The use of obscene or profane language or language the natural consequence of which is to abuse the hearer or reader.

(3) The publication of a list of consumers who allegedly refuse to pay debts.  This does not include a Credit Reporting Agency.

(4) The advertisement for sale of any debt to coerce payment of the debt.

(5) Causing a telephone to ring or engaging any person in telephone conversation repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy, abuse, or harass any person at the called number.

(6) Failing to “meaningful disclose” the caller’s identity.

This access flows from settlement of multiple class action suits against TransUnion for selling consumer’s personal data in violation of federal law.

Details and sign up are available on line.

• 32% say it was a family member or relative
• 24% say it was a complete stranger outside the workplace
• 18% say it was a neighbor or in-home employee
• 13% say it was someone at a company with access to their personal information
• 8% say it was someone else, and
• 4% say it was someone at the workplace   (Source, Javelin Strategy & Resource, 2004/MSN Money)

The article goes on to list the eight signs in people you may know:

1. The addict.
2. The rationalization king.
3. The high-living deadbeat.
4. The “gotta have it” guy.
5. The nosy friend.
6. The grudge guy.
7. The repeat offender.
8. The stranger with access.

I encourage you to check out MSN Money for more details.

AARP reports that beginning in September, Arizonans will be able to bar credit-reporting agencies from releasing their personal financial information to a bank or retail store, for a fee of $5 per credit reporting agency. That is supposed to prevent identity thieves from opening new accounts in the consumer’s name.

Why should that information be available in the first place and why does one have to pay to try to prevent misuse of the information?  What am I missing here?

A consumer report can be transmitted by oral, written or other means of communication.

Information contained in a consumer’s file with a credit reporting agency is not a consumer report until it is communicated to a third party.

Because of the broad definition of a consumer report, virtually any information about a consumer released by a credit reporting agency to a third party qualifies as a consumer report.