Clients report credit-fix swindle

The Better Business Bureau warned consumers Monday that it had received complaints that a Hickory-based grant-writing and credit-repair company was taking customers' money without providing any services.

The company, Accucredit Inc., guaranteed customers that it would fix bad and poor credit ratings if they paid fees of up to $1,000 in advance, said Janet Hart, a spokeswoman for the Southern Piedmont BBB.

Accucredit has also done business as Grant Writing Plus Inc., promising customers thousands of dollars in governmental grants in exchange for initial fees as high as $4,000, Hart said.

Accucredit's Web site was not working Monday morning, and the company's phone had been disconnected.

The complaints allege that the company took thousands of dollars from consumers and has not provided them with improved credit ratings or grant money.

In both cases, Hart said, the company guaranteed a full refund if a grant wasn't received or credit wasn't improved. But the company did not pay any refunds, she said.

Last month, Attorney General Roy Cooper also ordered Accucredit and Grant Writing Plus to stop charging upfront fees, said Department of Justice spokeswoman Noelle Talley.

Cooper's office, Talley said, has received 28 complaints this year from Accucredit and Grant Writing Plus customers who have lost a total of $73,000.

Federal law prohibits companies from charging fees in advance for fixing bad credit, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

Hart said the BBB has received 19 complaints about the company, owned and operated by Ken Yang and Pao Yang, during the past three years.

The Yangs, she said, have also been linked to two other credit service companies, National Credit Solutions and Carolina Credit Repair of Hickory.

Though most of the complaints are from the Southeast, Hart said, the bureau has also received complaints from customers in Utah, Colorado, Illinois, New Mexico, Wisconsin and Oklahoma.

Some customers, like Jessica McFarling of Huntersville, paid thousands of dollars in hopes of starting small businesses. McFarling, 38, and her husband were planning to open a freight trucking business, and Accucredit guaranteed them $199,000 in government grants, she said.

They signed a contract with the company, saying they would pay $9,000 in monthly payments of $750, which was automatically taken from the couple's checking account, McFarling said.

"We never got any money, we just paid them money," she said. "It sounded so legitimate when they were talking about getting governmental money and grants."

They had paid $3,000 when her husband decided to check out the company on the Better Business Bureau's Web site and noticed numerous complaints.

McFarling immediately closed the checking account, she said, and plans to sue the company to recoup the money they lost.

"I live in a two-bedroom apartment," she said. "I can't afford to lose $3,000."

Protect Yourself

The federal Credit Repair Organizations Act helps protect consumers from companies that promise to fix bad credit in exchange for upfront fees. North Carolina and South Carolina have also incorporated laws saying how much companies can charge after services have been completed.