Credit Repair Scams: We have an in with the credit bureaus, speak their language or know some super-secret regulation or handshake that will make them delete the unflattering citations from your file. What you should know is there is no such thing as “an in with the credit bureaus”.

The bureau may list the debt as disputed while it investigates. Debts may disappear during the short investigation (after which they will return), and the company will show this temporary “clean” report to collect its fee, she says.

Some companies take the money and run. Others will deluge the credit bureaus with frivolous disputes of the debts in your file, says Linda Sherry, director of national priorities for Consumer Action.

Or, if the bureau realizes what the company is doing, it may simply ignore what it recognizes as bogus requests, says Joe Ridout, of Consumer Action. Credit Repair.

In addition, the Credit Repair Organizations Act prohibits any company from taking money until after it does what it promised. So if anyone is trying to bypass that federal law (or banking on the fact that you don’t know about it) by getting you to send, charge or wire money, that’s a bad sign. “The crooks always ask for money upfront.” Credit Repair.