Part 7 of my review of Kevin Trudeau’s book, “Debt Cures “They” Don’t Want You to Know” examines Chapter 12: Two Magic Words x 3. The purpose of the review is to examine whether Trudeau, who has had extensive involvement with credit card fraud and the Federal Trade Commission for some of his previous books, makes any sense in this latest self-help promotion or is he making money selling empty promises.
Trudeau speaks about the hassles faced by some consumers when trying to correct errors on their credit report. He discusses three sets of words to use when dealing with the credit reporting agencies: discharged debt, identity theft, and limitations statute.
Discharged debt: Trudeau is correct that following a bankruptcy your credit report should reflect that the unsecured debt is now discharged–with a “zero” balance. The November 2007 issue of BusinessWeek article, “Prisoners of Debt” which Trudeau uses to explain the problem–features ankruptcy clients with a creditor attempted to collect a discharged debt. More often than not, however, it is not the credit report that is the problem–but rather a debt collector attempting to collect the debt. Why? Because it is profitable and folks will pay.
Trudeau mentions that it is possible to go back to bankruptcy court and hold the creditor reporting a balance after a bankruptcy in contempt. At this time, that procedure may or may not be possible, depending on which judicial district the consumer lives in. If not bankruptcy court, there is always the option of federal district court (which Trudeau doesn’t mention).
Identity theft: Trudeau explains that it is important to monitor one’s credit report carefully and check for unknown accounts which suddenly show up. He explains that there are many ways for criminals to steal a consumer’s identity and it is important that the consumer dispute the debt using those words.
Limitations statute: Trudeau refers the reader back to an earlier chapter (which was reviewed in Part __ at Debt Law Network. My concern with the earlier chapter was that the statute of limitations for each state varies and changes with each particular kind of transaction, for example, open account, charge card, contract, utilities, or a Uniform Commercial Code transaction.
- Part 1 of my review examines the first three chapters of Kevin Trudeau’s book, “Debt Cures “They” Don’t Want You to Know. (gets an “okay” rating)
- Part 2 of my review dissects Chapter 4 of the book (gets a warning of “Get legal advice from a lawyer in your own state”).
- Part 3 of my review deals with Chapter 5 of the book (gets a warning of “Get legal advice before following Trudeau’s advice”)
- Part 4 of my review examines Chapter 6 over at our sister site, Credit Law Network, as Trudeau discusses how to “cut” your credit card rate. (gets a “doesn’t hurt to try it; don’t expect it”).
- Part 5 of my review examines Chapter 7: Fighting Back. (gets an okay rating).
