The director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, Lydia Parnes, said the agency found that credit repair agencies often promise more than they can deliver and collect upfront fees for the empty promises.
When a company "claims that bad credit and no credit are no problems, they're just not telling you the truth," Parnes said.
Actual mistakes on credit reports can often be successfully challenged by the consumer without the intervention of a company.
But legitimate dings -- whether late payments, nonpayments or bankruptcies -- are likely to remain on credit reports until they time out after several years.
"We would like to remind consumers there is no magic bullet to raise the credit scores," Parnes said.
Also Thursday, the FTC declined to confirm a report in the Wall Street Journal that the agency was investigating allegations of price fixing in the musical instrument business.
But the largest trade association in the field, NAMM, said it was contacted last year by the FTC on the topic. NAMM representatives would not comment further.
The article named Guitar Center Inc., which has stores across the country and is headquartered in Westlake Village, as one of the companies that was subpoenaed in the investigation. Guitar Center executives didn't return phone calls requesting comment.
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david.colker@latimes.com
