Alright, so your years of post-secondary education didn't pay off, all that travelling you did was fun, but unfulfilling, and now you're left with a boat-load of debt. It wouldn't be so bad if you hadn't missed payments and held more debt than you should've. Simply put, your credit score is now in the toilet.
You are desperate to get the situation worked out, since you and your partner are looking to get into a new home sometime this millennium. You're sweating over it and then one day, you see the answer to your problems. It's an online ad, simply stating: "Fix your Credit!". You contact the company and they say they know people at Equifax, Transunion or some other credit rating agency.
They tell you they can repair your credit for a fee. You fork over the money, usually around a thousand bucks if not more, thinking that your credit woes are solved. But unfortunately, you're just a thousand dollars further away from paying your bills. Your credit will not be fixed.
How to avoid: the only one who can fix your credit is you! So consolidate your debt or set up an automatic payment system - whatever it takes to get you to pay your bills on time! Never trust online offers for fixing your credit.