Hargrave And Associates Big promise, no delivery... Ripoff Jacksonville Florida

I understand the FTC has shut this company down but I haven't heard anything about it in a while.  I'd like to know if the victims are going to be refunded.

Hargrave & Assoc. are not in the same state as me. I am in Texas and they're in Florida. Demanding answers in person is impossible. I've called several times asking exactly what they're doing with my file... and it's always the same excuses... "We've sent out the request... please allow time... the credit agencies must be delayed or backed up..."



In the now 9 months that I've been with this company, I've seen ONE TransUnion report come to me, which I immediately sent to Hargrave. ONE. That's insane. And I call them and call them and everytime, it's just another excuse. I paid $250 for ONE credit report where a $40 item was removed.



When I first signed up with this company, everyone was so nice and willing to answer questions, and now, I can't get a question answered straight. In their radio ad it says they promise a 620 or higher, AND they say the same thing when you call in to sign up. It's a bunch of empty promises. Look at their website! It says they will work to get your score that high, and 80% of the bad stuff will be removed... according to the website. It's in black and white. I've tried finding answers, and I've always been working with them as much as they've requested from me.



I have no credit cards, I don't want them! I just need cleaned up what few items that I actually do have on my credit that are bad. Which isn't alot... but I think for the money that I spent, I should see results.



I have a feeling my $250 was spent with nothing in return.

I am by *ALL* means not taking up for hargrave. In fact about 5% of our clientell are people who were with them and did not get anything done. I am just here to offer you some FREE advise on what you need to do.



I would first state go to Ken Amaro, he loves busting bad credit repair agencies and actually, he doesn't even require proof. There was one complaint about our company that went to him and they just bulldozed us right over even though the person complaining about nothing happening to her account even though her account was suspended with us due to non payment. They still aired it and even mentioned she did not pay. I wish the owner of the company would have sued the news station but that would be like taking down a lion with a toothpick.





As for you, you need to time things. When they say they send out a dispute ( I hope they give you exact dates on these kinds of things) , YOU should get those results back in the mail in 30 - 65 days. Did you get those back to Hargrave? I do not know how they run their office but usually for you to get a dispute filed the second third fourth and so on time , most companies require you give them all the results and reports so they can show you the deletions and make sure they aren't disputing something that has been deleted. If they don't require this, they are a rip off and they are taking your money.



Why is this? Well lets say I disputed a late pay on your credit card. If you get your results back and its deleted but you never give them to me and I re-dispute the same late pay again. Guess what, it is automatically verified and added to your credit report again. So its VERY VERY important you get those back to them.



However, if you have been doing this, I would go in the office ( when I know it is the busiest) and I would start demanding answers. This should usually work, if you do not get a refund within 30 days (that is if your refund ACTUALLY matches the refund policy that you signed with them) I would contact the BBB and the state attorneys office and turn them in for fraud.



But, ( and there is always a but) You need to go over your contract that you signed with them. What does the refund policy state. Ours is VERY descriptive but some are not so much and I don't know what Hargraves is. If you do not have your contract, they better. Once again, I do not know 100% if it is illegal but if you get in a legally binding contract with a company I think they still need to have you sign it and have it on file, and I think you are allowed to see your file anytime you please. If they do not give it to you, report that as well as an added bonus.



Also, no one can guarantee a certain amount of rise in a score of any given consumer EVER. I'm not 100% sure if its legal or not to even say such a thing. The reasoning for this is, if your credit report has nothing but negative items on it, and all of those are deleted you will have NO SCORE, and if you have ever heard the old adage, no credit it worse than bad credit, then you know this is NOT a good thing at all. So for them to put a generalized statement like that out there should be some form of fraud.



This also works in another sense, NO ONE knows how the scoring model works and it is constantly changing. I cannot tell you that if I remove your bankruptcy or late pay or collection account that your score will go up X amount of points. The reason being is the scoring model is based on way too many differential factors such as debt to income ratio, whether you are a co signer , authorized user or main user, the kind of payments or make ect.



Also the scores get mixed up all the time. For example, when you are the middle of a dispute the scores show lower. We have no reason for this except that you are in the middle of a dispute and we have deduced that the accounts we are trying to get deleted do not count for or against you, but for some reason when they are deleted the score does go up. Or I can point out a more recent thing that has just hit the media about the bureaus. If you are an authorized user on a credit card, that will no longer count tward your score. This is supposed to take effect Jan 1 but we have seen some peoples drop already. They implemented this because people were renting their credit cards out to other people.



Lets say I had a score of 500 and I needed a 650 to get a mortgage and I know this guy who has 10 perfect credit cards. Well he tells me if I pay him 500 dollars he will add me as an authorized user, ( not letting me use the card for real though) so that when my scores get updated in a month or two my score will jump to the 650 I needed to get my mortgage. And then when the broker part of the mortgage deal is complete the person can take me off as an authorized user and my score can go back where it was. The reason they are getting rid of this is the high amount of times it has happened compounded with the recent hike in foreclosure rates.



Now, since Hargrave was obviously no help at all to you, let me tell you some things that YOU can do for YOURSELF to get your score up.



First things first, got credit cards? NEVER PAY THEM LATE. Also, call them and ask them to hike your limit and lower your interest rate. Once they hike your limit do not and I repeat DO NOT spend more than HALF the limit. So lets say you have a card for 500 dollars with an interest rate of 10% DON'T spent 249.99 and have the interest pop on next month and take it over the 500 mark. This is called OVERSPENDING and it really starts to mess with your debt to income ratio. The safe thing to do is NEVER go over 1/3 of your limit, this gives you a buffer from the interest and also annual fees if you have them.



If you are an authorized user on a credit card, have that user call and ask that a NEW card get opened in YOUR name. Take precautionary measures stated above.



If your credit is so bad you cannot get a regular ( visa, master, American express) credit card. Go to a department store. They will usually give anyone a card as long as they have had some sort of good account open on their credit. Granted, the reason they do this is to make A LOT of money off of you, so expect to pay upwards of 18 - 25% interest on these cards, still stay with the rules above.



If you cannot even get a department store credit card, you need to talk to a rep. at your bank. Make them tell you about a secured credit card. What this is, is a card that has a limit of usually 250 dollars and upwards. The reason it is secured is because they will lock that amount of money up for you and you cannot touch it. However, you will still have to use the card like a regular revolving credit card, the money that is locked cannot be touched to pay the bill. Depending on the bank and the card they keep it secured for 6 months to a year and then they give you a real revolving card.



Do not just cancel services with a company and not pay them because you did not like the way they treated you. ( first try to get a district managers number of the company and speak to them, I have found they are much more helpful than the floor managers in the call centers) Most utility companies like Comcast are notorious for putting the same collection account on a credit report more than once. Same goes for Gyms if you have a family plan, sometimes they will break up the amount owed and put it on your credit multiple times with different account numbers.



If you do get a collection letter from an original creditor ( what this means is someone like JEA, not someone that JEA sold your debt to like MAF collections) PAY IT even if it takes a payment plan. Actual collection companies like MAF or Asset Acceptance have no integrity. What I mean by this is they will set up a payment plan with you, you will stick to it, and in the middle they will sell this debt and you will have made no headway. Also, when things get sold to a collection company they will add their own collection fees and interest on top of what you already owed. Collection agencies can sell a debt to a new agency at anytime. What this means for you is, sure MAF has been on your report for 6 years and 11 months and you know that they are not legally allowed to report it for more than 7 years. All MAF will do is sell it to a NEW collection agency who will add their OWN fees on top of it. I have seen a little 60 dollar medical bill go to a full blown 2,000 dollar debt with a collection agency because it has been bought and sold so much.



I hope this helps you out, if you need more help feel free to respond to this with a way to get in contact with you.