Credit Repair Companies

A lot of people are turning to what are called "Credit Repair Companies" you probably have seen advertisements for this credit repair service in the media. What they offer consumers is a credit sweep, which they say can remove negative information off of your credit report.

For this service they typically will charge a fee anywhere from $29.00 a month to over a thousand dollars up front.

Most of these services can be done by the consumers themselves. Some of the services that these credit repair companies claim, cannot be done legally. Accurate negative information can not be removed from a credit report.

Identity Theft

Identity theft is a crime that is growing. This crime occurs when people get a hold of someone's personal information such as, social security numbers, mothers maiden names, bank account numbers, credit card numbers or any other personal information.

With the right information people can set up new accounts, use current accounts to make purchases, pull money from bank accounts, even work a job under someone else's identity. 

One bad thing is that most consumers that are victims of identity theft don't even find out their victims until it's too late. In some cases people have gone years with out knowing they were victims of this.

A good thing is Congress passed the identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act of 1988. This makes it a federal crime to knowingly transfer or use another person's means of identification to commit any unlawful activity.

For more information on these subjects go to  http://www.ftc.gov