Federal Government Wins Injunction Against Credit Repair Company

Federal Government Wins Injunction Against Houston-based Credit Repair Company to Protect Consumers from Being Scammed

By Clarence Walker Jr.
Fraudulent Credit repair companies are on the rise in Houston, Texas, and in the surrounding areas of the Bayou City. But the Federal Government is clamping down on shady credit operators to halt their schemes of making bogus promises to clients that they're able to remove each negative item off a client's credit report. However, it's been proven time and time again that if a negative entry is listed on the debt of a person's credit report, it cannot be removed from a credit report unless it's false or the statute of limitations expired.

In a federal civil complaint filed March 1, 2022, and unsealed on March 14, in the Southern District of Texas in downtown Houston the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department won a permanent injunction barring Turbo Solutions Credit Repair Company and its CEO Alexander V. Miller, 42, of Missouri City from representing that the company can repair or improve credit scores for their customers.

A Justice Department press release was distributed to news media out lets on Monday, March 21, 2022.

The court also included a preliminary injunction prohibiting the defendants from making large or non-essential expenditures to preserve assets for consumer redress.

"The Department of Justice will use all tools at its disposal to stop credit repair agencies from engaging in unlawful conduct targeting financially vulnerable consumers," said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton in a Justice Department press release. Boynton is the head of the Justice Department's Civil Division.

The FTC and Justice Department representatives said Alexander Miller and his company Turbo Solutions Inc. also violated the following laws:

. Credit Repair Organizations Act
. Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud/ Abuse Prevention Act
. The FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule in connections with defendants' marketing and sales of credit repair services.

On March 4, the court issued a temporary restraining order imposing financial restrictions on defendants throughout the resolution of the preliminary injunction hearing.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleged that Turbo Solutions Inc. bilked consumers out of millions of dollars by falsely claiming they would remove negative information from credit reports. Turbo Solutions executed another scheme by persuading filing fake identity theft reports to explain why negative entries were listed on their credit reports.

Back Story
Since around 2018, the federal government alleged, Alex V. Miller and Turbo Solutions associates operated an unlawful credit repair scam that harmed vulnerable consumers nationwide. Through internet websites, social media, and telemarketing, Turbo Solutions falsely claim that the company could quickly improve credit scores for a fee ranging from several hundred dollars to more than $1,500.

As mentioned earlier, Turbo Solutions Associates went a step farther to clean up their customer's adverse credit reports by filing false identity theft reports on the FTC's identitytheft.gov website that proved ineffective or unlawful.

"IdentityTheft.gov is a resource for consumers, not scammers," said Director Samuel Levine of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. "Those who abuse this resource by filing fake reports can expect to hear from us."
In addition, Turbo Solutions routinely solicited and accepted prohibited advanced fees for their credit repair services, and they failed to make required disclosures regarding those services.

The principal address for Turbo Solutions Inc. is located at 440 Louisiana Street, Suite 575, Houston, Texas. Turbo Solutions has also used mailing addresses of 77 Sugar Creek Center Boulevard, Suite#611 in Sugar Land, Texas, including 7890 Kemper Circle, in Beaumont, Texas.
The complaint further alleges that Miller and his company claimed in advertisement messages through the company's website and Instagram account, "We Delete Inaccurate and Negative Accounts, promising these results in 40 days!

However, several Consumers told FTC investigators that their credit score remained low and that none of the negative debt entries had been removed as promised by Turbo Solutions.

"Credit repair scams affect consumers already suffering from low credit scores," said Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton.

Potential customers who called the phone number listed on the company's website and Instagram account reached company representatives. These trained customer sales individuals often made the same false claims, including the lie that consumers' credit scores would increase by 50–200 points, which violates the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA) and the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR).

How To Avoid Credit Repair Scams in 2022

The FTC recommends the following information for consumers to determine if they're dealing with a legit credit repair/debt counseling service or a fake one.

Here's how:

• Credit repair or debt counseling service insists you pay them upfront before they do any work.
• A credit repair representative tells you to dispute information in your credit report even if you know it isn't accurate.
• A representative tells you not to contact the credit reporting bureaus directly.
• You are told to give false information on your credit or a loan application.
• A representative doesn't explain your legal rights when they tell you what they can do for you.

The government is represented in the civil matter by Trial Attorneys Marcus Smith and Amy Kaplan, Senior Trial Counsel Stephen Tosini, Senior Litigation Counsel Claude Scott, Assistant Director Lisa Hsiao of the Civil Division's Consumer Protection Branch, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Kincheloe of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas. In addition, the FTC is represented by Gregory A. Ashe.

For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts, visit its website at https://www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. For more information about the FTC, visit its website at https://www.FTC.gov.