Coakley
BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has filed a lawsuit against two men and their businesses for allegedly violating state and federal law through fraudulent credit repair services.
Reilly Silvia and Bonnie Souza, operating under the business names Credit Score Rebuilders and Integrity Credit Restoration, are charged with falsely claiming that they could improve credit scores by removing negative data.
The suit also claims the men charged illegal up-front fees and failed to disclose information to their clients.
"It is becoming an all too common practice for individuals and businesses to try and profit off of consumers in economically vulnerable situations," Coakley said.
"In many instances, consumers turn to these businesses to try to save their homes and their credit, and instead they end up in even worse financial straits by paying for services that are not delivered."
The two men also allegedly failed to include written requirements on their contracts and made inaccurate statements to the credit bureaus about their clients' histories.
Coakley is seeking a preliminary injunction against the pair to prohibit them from continuing the alleged practices and to bar them from destroying any records or transferring assets they may have gained. An injunction hearing has been scheduled for July 28.
As part of a continuing effort to end abuses of credit repair services, Coakley also settled a similar suit this summer with Trinity Credit Services and its owner, Angela Reston. Under that agreement, Reston and her companies are prohibited from offering credit repair services in the state and must pay a $25,000 fine.