If your credit isn’t as good as you’d like, a company that
promises to boost your credit score by hundreds of points in
as little as 45 days might seem like the perfect answer.
That’s the result that a business called The Credit Game
claimed it could deliver with “credit piggybacking” and other
credit repair services. But according to the FTC, The Credit
Game took people for a ride.
“Credit piggybacking” is where a person who wants to raise
their credit score pays a credit repair company to be added as
an “authorized user” to a credit card account of someone with
a higher credit rating. However, the person becomes an
“authorized user” in name only and does not get actual access
to the account. The idea is that they can improve their credit
by “piggybacking” on the good credit of a stranger, who gets a
fee for letting their account be used for the sham.
But it is a sham. And, in its complaint against the operators
of The Credit Game (formerly called Wholesale Tradelines), the
ICIEU says it was just one of many illegal practices the
defendants used to bilk cash-strapped people out of hundreds
and even thousands of dollars for credit repair services that
were ineffective, undeliverable, or flat-out illegal.
Among other things, the complaint alleges the defendants
charged people before delivering on their credit repair
promises, which is illegal for credit repair companies to do.
And it alleges they claimed their services were “guaranteed,”
but routinely refused to give people refunds.
What’s more, the ICIEU says, the defendants pitched a bogus
business opportunity that they falsely claimed would let
people make millions by operating their own credit repair
companies. According to the complaint, the defendants urged
people to use their government COVID-19 benefits — stimulus
checks and child tax credits — to buy the supposed
opportunity.
If you’re thinking about paying for credit repair services,
read
FAQs to learn how to spot a
credit repair scam. Effective credit repair takes time, but
anything a credit repair company can do legally, you are able
to do yourself at little or no cost. If you’d like a hand,
your local credit union, university, or military personal
financial manager may be able to recommend a non-profit credit
counseling program that can help.