If the Attorney
General, any attorney for the Commonwealth, or any attorney for a county, city or town has reason to believe that any credit services business, or any salesperson, agent, representative, or independent
contractor acting on
behalf of a credit services business, has violated any provision
of this chapter, the Attorney
General, the attorney for the Commonwealth, or attorney for the county, city or town may institute a proceeding under Chapter 17 (§ 59.1 - 196 et seq.)
of Title 59.1.
A credit repair business and its salespersons, agents, and representatives, and independent
contractors who sell or attempt to sell the services
of a credit repair business, shall not do any
of the following: (1) Charge or receive any money or other valuable consideration prior to full and complete performance
of the services that the credit repair business has agreed to perform for or on
behalf of the consumer; (2) Charge or receive any money or other valuable consideration solely for referral
of the consumer to a retail seller or to any other credit grantor who will or may extend credit to the consumer, if the credit that is or will be extended to the consumer is upon substantially the same terms as those available to the
general public; (3) Represent that it can directly or indirectly arrange for the removal
of derogatory credit information from the consumer's credit report or otherwise improve the consumer's credit report or credit standing, provided, this shall not prevent truthful, unexaggerated statements about the consumer's rights under existing law regarding his credit history or regarding access to his credit file; (4) Make, or counsel or advise any consumer to make, any statement that is untrue or misleading and which is known or which by the exercise
of reasonable care should be known, to be untrue or misleading, to a consumer reporting agency or to any person who has extended credit to a consumer or to whom a consumer is applying for an extension
of credit, with respect to a consumer's creditworthiness, credit standing, or credit capacity; or (5) Make or use any untrue or misleading representations in the offer or sale
of the services
of a credit repair business or engage, directly or indirectly, in any act, practice, or course
of business which operates or would operate as a fraud or deception upon any person in connection with the offer or sale
of the services
of a credit repair business.
Successfully negotiated a pre-litigation settlement on
behalf of a roofing company that was owed millions
of dollars in unpaid invoices by a
general contractor that had threatened the roofing company with tens
of millions
of dollars in liquidated damage claims.