No Matter What Swindler Phil Mulkins says Credit Repair is Legal and Ethical

Tulsa World reporter Phil Mulkins recently swindled consumers with a pack of lies about credit repair. Mulkins wrote a misleading piece in the Business section of Tulsa World claiming all credit repair companies were "scam operators".

This irresponsible journalist then went on to make the outrageous claim that "credit repair has never been possible". Such a statement is laughable of course but when added to the decades long anti credit repair smear campaign perpetuated by the three major credit bureaus and their confederates, it only serves to harm innocent consumers victimized by an unjust, unfair and fractured credit reporting system.

Mulkins seemed to base his argument on the ridiculous premise that all consumer credit reports are accurate. This is absurd because most credit reports are riddled with inaccuracies, errors, false data and misleading, incomplete information. In my 23 years helping victims of the credit reporting system, I have never seen an accurate initial credit report. Credit repair professionals help consumers deal with these credit reports errors.

The credit reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax and Trans Union make money by controlling the reporting of negative information. They do not want consumers to have effective control over their own credit histories. Therefore they use a variety of tactics to frustrate, delay and obstruct consumers from correcting their credit reports. A knowledgeable credit repair expert can assist consumers in overcoming these stalling and delaying tactics. It's often the only option that works.

However, let's explore Mulkins' false premise.  He cites the FTC fact sheet that claims "no one can remove accurate negative information from your credit report". While the FTC has made claims along these lines in the past, we know it's a red herring, because credit repair companies help consumers deal with inaccurate, misleading, obsolete, outdated, incomplete and unverifiable information.

It is extremely rare for a (pre-credit repair) consumer to have a completely accurate negative trade line or public record published on his credit report. But for the sake of argument let's assume one exists. Phil Mulkins wrote that the removal of accurate negative data from a credit report is illegal. Once again he cites a misleading FTC comment that "only the passage of time can assure it will be removed".

The fact is it is completely legal and ethical to remove even an accurate negative item from a credit report. Here are some examples:

1. If the creditor or public record repository can no longer verify the accurate negative data, it must, by law, be deleted when challenged. For example, a bankruptcy court does not report anything to a credit bureau. The bureaus pay stringers to gather public record data. Does anyone really believe one of these low paid stringers will diligently report the complete bankruptcy history to a credit bureau? I assure you, they never do.

2. If a creditor agrees to remove an accurate negative item from a customer's credit history, it is completely legal to do so.There is no law requiring anything be reported on a credit report except delinquent child support payments over $1000 and certain student loan information (however even these items may be removed if they are not reported correctly).

3. Certain accurate, negative student loan payment histories are routinely deleted from credit reports. This is required by specific federal laws regulating amnesty and student loan default cures.

4. Some state laws require accurate negative data be deleted from consumer credit reports. For example, in Massachusetts it is illegal for a collection agency to report accurate negative data on a Massachusetts resident's credit report.

5. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act it is perfectly legal, in fact a requirement, for a collection agency or collection lawyer to delete an accurate, negative item from a consumer's credit report when that consumer has disputed the validity of a debt, in writing, with the collection agency.

How can a consumer reporter like Phil Mulkins be so ignorant about legal, ethical credit repair? His article is so glaringly inaccurate, it appears he's just a shill for the three major credit reporting agencies. Mulkins seems hell bent on harming consumers. He should resign as the Tulsa World consumer reporter. His actions are disgraceful and shameful. With this grossly inaccurate and completely misleading article on credit repair, Phil Mulkins has done a great disservice to readers of Tulsa World.

His article is a swindle. It gives readers the false impression that credit repair is impossible! That is a lie. Credit repair is a completely legal and ethical activity. Companies that engage in credit repair do so under the federal law, CROA. Although there are bad apples in all industies, men and women who offer credit repair help to victims of an unjust, unfair credit reporting system are honest, ethical folks.