CREDIT REPAIR COMPANY SETTLES FALSE CLAIMS ALLEGATIONS WITH FTC
A credit repair operation, Clean Credit Report Services, Inc., has agreed to stop making false claims and stop charging consumers up-front fees pursuant to the terms of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. The settlement is part of an ongoing crackdown on scams that target financially strapped consumers. Clean Credit Report Services allegedly took hundreds of dollars in fees from consumers to purportedly remove negative information from consumers’ credit reports. The FTC filed the action in “Operation Clean Sweep” in October 2008.
The settlement agreement requires that Clean Credit Report Services, Inc., Ricardo A. Miranda, Ruthy Villabona, and their son, Daniel R. Miranda give up two cars, three houses, and six commercial properties in Broward and Miami-Dade counties in Florida, and in Bogota, Colombia. According to the FTC, they told consumers they would help remove all the negative remarks from their credit reports, as well as current debt. Clean Credit often debited $400 from consumers’ bank accounts before receiving a signed contract, and then did little, if anything, to fulfill its promises. See http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/10/opcleansweep.shtm.
The settlement order bars Clean Credit and its owners from making misrepresentations about any good or service, such as the ability to improve a consumer’s creditworthiness or remove negative information from a consumer’s credit report. The order also prohibits Clean Credit from charging money up-front for credit repair services, and from collecting payments from consumers who purchased its services before October 22, 2008, when the court froze the defendants’ assets, including their bank accounts. The order further bars the defendants from disclosing, benefitting from, or failing to properly dispose of customer information.
In addition, the settlement order imposes a $14.4 million judgment that will be suspended, contingent upon the defendants surrendering their assets, including frozen funds totaling about $165,000 and any proceeds received from selling their six commercial and three residential properties under foreclosure in Florida; commercial property in Bogota, Colombia; a 1992 Mercedes S300; and a 1997 Chevrolet Venture. The full judgment will become due immediately if the defendants are found to have misrepresented their financial condition.
The Commission vote to file the stipulated final order was 5-0. The order was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) protects consumers’ rights for inaccurate or incomplete credit reports. When Equifax, Experian or Trans Union receive consumer disputes and fail to perform a reinvestigation or remove inaccurate information from your credit report, consumers have the right to sue the credit reporting agencies for money damages. Contact FCRA attorney Micah Adkins for a free credit report review.