Credit Repair Companies

The industry that charges low-income Americans to fix credit errors they can fix themselves for free, By Chico Harlan, February 6, 2015, Washington Post: “By the time she made it to the American Bill Pay Web site, with its testimonials and its guarantee to solve credit woes, Kimberly Cox couldn’t afford another problem. She was squeaking by on $720 per month in disability checks. Her credit score was a measly 530. She lived with her son, Logan, who moonlighted on weekends as a bullrider at amateur rodeos in western Arkansas. Neither had health insurance, and one rodeo night, a 2,000-pound bull bucked hard, knocking Logan to the ground. There was a knee surgery, a long hospital stay, a $40,000 medical debt. And then a seeming helping hand. ‘REGISTER NOW,’ the American Bill Pay site said, and it offered an enticing possibility: that Cox, for a fee, could ease her debts and improve her credit score with just a few easy steps. Cox borrowed $900 from her mother-in-law to pay for the service…”