The recession has had a negative effect on the credit score of homeowners and due to this, they have become extremely vulnerable to scams regarding credit scores. The scams out there usually promise consumers that they will be able to erase delinquencies, court judgments, foreclosures, and other negative items from their credit report.

A more recent example of such a scam is with the Federal Trade Commission settlement that took place in Florida. The Federal Trade Commission made a complaint against a credit repair company with the name Clean Credit Report Services that the company made promises to boost their customers' credit score significantly at a fast rate; they stated that they would be able to accomplish this even if the negative information found on their credit reports is correct and also current. The complaint also states that the company had advertisements on the radio, internet, and television promising to make negative items on your credit report completely disappear from the files. The Clean Credit Company supposedly used individuals within their advertisements that pretended to actually be customers of the company in order to attract individuals to use the services of the company. The complaint states that the company made statements that their clients' target credit score ranged from 650 to 700 by the time to process was over.

It is a law that any company or individual that makes claims that they can aid in fixing other individuals credit files cannot make any false statements regarding what they will be able to accomplish, they are also not allowed to ask for payment before they have completed performing their services. Companies usually advertise credit repair services to individuals who own homes through the internet, mail, or with the help of mortgage loan officers. Individuals with low scores are having trouble obtaining new or refinanced mortgages.

The Federal Trade Commission complaint resulted in Clean Credit having to pay $14.4 million which was divided among the clients that they cheated out of money. Clean Credit has not made any statements regarding the outcome of the settlement, but consumers should be aware that there are many other companies out there that are making false promises in regard to repairing their credit.

Individuals who have a low credit score should not be so quick to believe companies that are promising to repair their credit no matter how bad they want to obtain a mortgage. Anyone that claims to be able to perform miracles on your credit files should be avoided, scores cannot be increased overnight. The only way to improve a credit score is to try and reverse past credit behavior and start making more responsible decisions. If this is done over time your credit will show improvements.