Reminder: There's only one truly "free," no-strings credit report

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  Posted by NoneYa Wed Nov 4, 2009 11:18am PST

  Beware of Free Credit Report (dot) com. I signed up and then cancelled the monthly monitoring service a few days later to avoid the charges. The rep I spoke to told me he did, but it turns out he did not. I made a few mistakes hereafter: 1) I did not get the name of the person I spoke with 2) I didn't receive or look for a confirmation email of my cancellation after I placed the call 3) I was terribly lazy about my bank statements at the time and didn't notice I was being charged (which is 100% my fault...but you live and learn!). Three months later, I finally realized I was being charged when I signed up for online banking. I retrieved my past statements and [finally] realized that yes, I WAS being charged for the monitoring service which I specifically called and CANCELLED. I called them back and explained my situation but...you guessed it - they had no record of my cancellation. And since I had no name, no cancellation number because I never received an email, no record at all.. so I had to eat the charges. Worse yet, when I called back to explain what had happened, the representative I spoke to was extremely rude, saying things such as "how do we know you are not making this up?" when I began to get adament about NOT paying the charges. It was very irritating. I do realize that I was careless on my end, but there was 100% unprofessionalism on this guys part and that is unacceptable. In the end, they would not budge on the charges and I paid the $40 or whatever the heck it was. It could have been worse. All I know is when I see those commercials with that dorky guy singing, I want to punch him in his dorky face. Especially the one when he's driving in his "used subcompact". LOL

  It goes without saying, but just make sure if you sign up for these things that they TRULY cancel!!!

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  Posted by Kikki Wed Nov 4, 2009 2:32pm PST

  What this article doesn't tell you is that the federal government gave everyone the right to a free credit report from each of the three major reporting agencies. You don't have to get all three reports at the same time. I spread mine out so I get one every four months. If you use the Annualcreditreport.com website they do not ask you for a credit card, however, popups and extra screens may pop up and ask if you want to sign on for a credit service, simply scroll to the bottom of the screen and say no thanks and you will get to a screen that has the three company names pick one and you will go to their site, which again will test you to verify your identity and then ask if you want to sign up for this or that, say no thanks. The only thing I would pay for is my credit score, if I am going to make a major purchase, refinance or take out a loan, otherwise don't buy anything. Check through every single item and verify it, even closed accounts in good standing and challenge any inaccuracies. If you lose the challenge, don't give up. I won my challenge after calling the offending company a few dozen times and then personally contacting the reporting agencies, all three, and it came off. You do not have to give a credit card number on any of these three companies sites, but be careful they will try to add on services by having them pre-selected. You have to unclick them to get just a free report. If you have an elderly relative offer to help them through it, they are often victims. My late grandmother was being charged with a credit protection service because they called her and when they asked her name she gave it to them, they made some kind of fake tape and used her voice saying her name to say she had consented. We contacted the attorney general in our state and reported them the charges were all reversed.

  AlmaR-don't give up getting your money back. Call, call and call ask for a manager and raise all holy hell. Tell them you will take it to the attorney general and call your credit card company and report unauthorized charges. Visa and mastercard usually side with the customer unless their is a signed cc slip.

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  Posted by DanielleF Wed Nov 4, 2009 9:31pm PST

  I'm fortunate. With a Capital One credit card, I get a quarterly credit report.

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  Posted by jane123 Thu Nov 5, 2009 12:26pm PST

  Same thing happened to me that happened to Alma !! I called to cancel and they didn't cancel it. You have to go through hoops to just get it cancelled.

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  Posted by Annette Cardwell, Shine staff Thu Nov 5, 2009 4:10pm PST

  NoneYa, this happened to me, too! Now we're watching our credit card statements like a hawk, expecting to see charges from them again. Lesson learned.

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  Posted by Dory Devlin, Shine staff Fri Nov 6, 2009 6:18am PST

  Kikki -- Great tips. Thanks for the reminder that you don't have to get all three reports from the three top agencies right away, so you can get a truly free credit report every four months. But, as Kikki says, be vigilant and make sure you are not checking boxes or giving away credit-card info so you sign up for the unnecessary service--especially when you are on the Experian website.

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