Repairing Your Credit After A Military Scam
In the long term, joining the military is a wise financial investment. When you retire from a military career, you have access to a pension, but you are also young and healthy enough to look forward to a long professional career as a civilian, and your experiences in the Armed Forces will have enabled you to gain many skills and build an extensive professional network. Being active-duty military isn’t easy, though, and one of the sacrifices you make is that you will need to relocate frequently, which may involve being away from your family or moving them with you on short notice. You will be in many situations where you must pay for housing and other essentials quickly, and you will not have much time to research your options. Although the Military Lending Act protects military personnel from predatory loans, scammers are adept at detecting people for whom time and money are scarce, and this often includes military personnel and their families. If you are still struggling financially because you were the target of a scam while hastily preparing for a move or getting settled in Florida or one of your previous locations, do not blame yourself. Instead, contact a Boca Raton credit repair lawyer.
Common Scams That Target Military Personnel
These are some of the most common types of scams that target members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families:
- DFAS phishing scams – Military personnel are used to dealing with the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), so getting an email or phone call from DFAS does not set off a red flag. In DFAS phishing scams, the scammer pretends that they are contacting the victim through DFAS and tries to persuade the victim to reveal identifying information, such as Social Security numbers and bank account numbers.
- Housing rental scams – Scammers know that military personnel often need to find housing quickly and, like most young adults, do not have a lot of money in savings or a long credit history. Therefore, they ask you to pay a small deposit to rent an apartment and promise to approve you with no credit check or regardless of your credit score. Then they disappear with your money without actually getting you an apartment lease.
- Fake military charities – Scammers pretend to represent a charity that benefits veterans or military families, but instead they just take your money, or worse, your identifying information.
If you have lost money because of these scams, it is not too soon to start repairing your credit, and a South Florida credit repair lawyer can help.
Contact a South Florida Debt Lawyer About Rebuilding Your Finances After a Scam
Getting scammed out of even a modest amount of money can adversely affect your credit score for years. A South Florida debt lawyer can help you if the constant changes of plans involved with serving in the military have taken a toll on your finances, whether or not you have been the target of a scam. Contact Nowack & Olson, PLLC in Boca Raton, Florida to discuss your case.
Source:
floridadaily.com/nikki-fried-fdacs-launch-military-consumer-protection-online-resource-page/