As important your credit report and credit scores are to get a mortgage, insurance policy or even a new job, it seems one should be able to get that information without being ripped off.
But all too often people like William from Madison, Ct., end up getting sucked into Internet businesses that claim to provide you with free information and end up with $19.95 or more in monthly charges.
“How does one get their credit rating score free,” William wrote me.
” I contacted “Free Score” on line (it also advertises on TV.) The three day ‘trial’ did not provide me with any scores. Thereafter they slapped on a $19.95 charge per month, for each of two accounts. Even then I got no scores. My bank removed the charges from my credit cards and told me to contact the Madison police who told me it ‘was not a crime but a civil matter and that I should pursue it in court.’”
Actually William was asking for two different pieces of information, something he and many others are confused about.
First is your credit report, which lists all the banks and credit cards you have or had relationships with and what your record of payments have been. You have the right under federal law annually to receive a FREE copy of your credit report from EACH of the three major credit reporting services.
You can obtain your free copy by going to www.AnnualCreditReport.com or calling (877) 322-8228.
Bill Hardekopf, ceo of www.lowcards.com, recommends that instead of ordering all three (TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax)reports at once, stagger them every few months. That way you will get up-to-date data about your credit situation three times a year.
Also, if you apply for credit and do not receive it or receive less than you requested, you again have the right to receive, for free, the credit reports that the lender relied on to make the decision.
Thousands of people like William have gotten burned by signing up for supposedly free service only to have to fight with their credit card companies or banks when they discovered they were being billed for something they did not want. We will discuss credit scores next after you see what the Better Business Bureau has to say about www.freescore.com, which is owned by Vertrue, which has an F rating.
“Complaints reported to the Bureau primarily involve claims of unauthorized charges by the Company’s affiliates. In such cases, customers reported no recollection of having agreed to the programs that were billed to their credit card, debit card or bank account.”
“Additional consumer complaints allege that when clicking on the website freescore.com, the consumer will receive a “free trial (which) includes credit scores and monitoring from all 3 credit bureaus. Consumers use a credit card to pay $1 for a “free trial.”
“Some complainants allege that after cancelling their membership in freescore.com, they receive a membership with another Vertrue sponsored program and receive one or more $19.95/month charge(s) on their credit card. Vertrue, Inc. responds by stating that the consumer signed up for one or both programs, and failed to cancel the memberships. Vertrue does provide the requested refund, but often complainants remain dissatisfied because the advertisement led them to believe that they would receive a credit score and the consumer does not receive their credit score. Instead, the consumer has additional monthly charges on their credit card enrolling them in programs that they were unaware of through the Freescore.com website. Complaints received are affiliated with Freescore.com, Credit Score Express and Credit Score Complete.”
To get your actual credit scores, the most recommended site I am aware of is www.myfico.com, which has an A rating from the Better Business Bureau.
But before you get all excited, many lenders don’t use credit scores from myfico and the ones they use, we can’t access.
Despite all that, it is important to see your credit report every few months to make sure there are no inaccuracies and to make sure you are not a victim of ID theft.
And I know this may come as a huge surprise, but politicians and other “important people” are given the VIP treatment by the credit reporting companies.
The New York Times reported recently that the three major agencies keep a VIP list of sorts, according to consumer lawyers and legal documents, consisting of celebrities, politicians, judges and other influential people. Those on the list–and they may not even realize they are on it–get special help from workers in the United States in fixing mistakes on their credit reports. Any errors are usually corrected immediately, one lawyer said.
For the rest of us, disputes are herded into a largely automated system. Their complaints are often electronically ferried to a subcontractor overseas.
For an outstanding article that gives the basic information about your credit, check out the following story from USA Today: www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/credit/2011-04-27-answers-from-credit-experts_n.htm
Similar Posts:
- Imporant Credit Card Information You Need To Know
- Consumers To Soon Receive Free Credit Score Data When Denied Loan
- Credit Scores Of Millions Sinking To New Lows
- Credit Scores: Why The Latest Fixes Fall Short
- Consumer Complaint: Many Consumers Have Serious Errors In Their Credit Reports
- Hartford Area Residents Have High Credit Scores, National Study Shows
Years ago they used to say- READING IS FUNDAMENTAL! It STILL hold true today. In this day and age of “crooked” companies and “sleazy”, edge of the law CEOs, the CONSUMER has to be AWARE and EDUCATED!
If people educated themselves, they wouldn’t get into these predicaments. By CT law, you are allowed ONE FREE credit report a year from each of the three companies-TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax! The LEGITIMATE company is annualcreditreport.com as stated in the article. The other company with the singing waiter is the “sleazy, edge of the law” company that HOOKS you, especially when you DON’T read the SMALL PRINT! Come to think of it, I have not seen those commercials lately. MAYBE someone finally cracked down on them?
As suggested above also, request one free report every 4 months from each company and you should be all set. That said, if you find any errors on your report…well, that a whole other story!
[...] he and many others ar…………… continues on Connecticut Watchdog … Read the full article [...]
Thanks for your helpful column. I went to AnnualCreditReport.com and indeed was able to print out a full report, which did include one negative report…which did not belong to me, but rather to my oldest son. On the other hand, obtaining my credit score from the site “myfico.com” had a clever “hitch” to it. It’s not a freebie. After I laboriously entered all of the data requested, the next page comes up where one must check one of two boxes: (1) I want a free report, or (2) I want a special offer for a 10-day “watch-report” for a special price of $17.95, which I can ultimately cancel if I’m not satisfied. Multiple times, I checked the ‘free’ report box and immediately I was connected to the next page which asked for my credit card information. I thought, Gee,maybe I checked the wrong box…however when I clicked back to the previous page, lo and behold, the ‘special box’ was checked. No matter how many times I checked the ‘free report’ box, what went forth was the request for the special offer. How clever was that? There was no way that I was going to get a free credit score w/o first committing to the “special offer.”
I think you should alert your readers to yet one more “gotcha” scam!
Regards,
Mike McManus
after reading your article on credit reports (three scores .com) and then on to the second article from USA Today I received conformation order from Equafax
thanking me for my credit report and credit score for $7.95.
I never went on their site, although I do order their report, mine is not due until December of this year. It was also sent to my old computer that I do not use that often but they still have it listed as my main email address even though I use a different address when using Equafax`s web site the last two years.
So some how your article initiated this conformation order.
FYI
Thanks
Frank
I don’t think that I can agree with one of your article’s (www.lowcard.com) suggestion of obtaining staggered credit reports three months at a time. This is because each credit reporting agency does not give the same report and score for the same individual even at the same time. Of the three, Transunion is the worst.
I have obtained my credit report/score each year in January (just prior to tax season so that I can make all of my general money decisions with a thorough knowledge of where I stand). However, the three agencies generally report the same list of creditors n different formats, but yet all have widely varying scores. (last year, for example, my scores varied from a low of 723–Experian–to a high of 777–TransUnion. Equifax was in the middle at 743).
So, do I average all three (748) or do I take that score used by most banks and finance companies (Experian)? I went with the lowest, more conservative score. doing this over several months as suggested will give a false positive. You may think Transunion is a great score, but if you never find out what Experian gives at the same moment may not get you that loan…
This year I was a little delayed. At annualcreditscore.com, I chose TU first–what a nightmare that I am still living!! I ordered my credit report, and was able to view it online, and disputed three entries (a quick process, so far so good). I then ordered my credit SCORE for $9.95 (this takes you to a sub-website–truecredit.com). The order went through, saw my order page (success), and then went to view my score, which was not available.
Figuring I needed to glance at a potential email that granted me verified access to their website contents, I checked my email–nothing. Going back to TU and TC, was able to log out and log in okay…but each and everytime I tried to get my SCORE (and even my REPORT) I was unable to, and was offered instead poage after page of ads to BUY the score. (i.e.,”get the report, and get the score at the same time for just $5.95,” –or– “just get the score for $11.95″).
Their help function page is non-existent…all they offer are three FAQ’s ONLY–questions that THEY think most consumers ask. One cannot ask a specific question to one’s dilemma–for example, “I paid for the report, why can’t I see it?” Simple right??
There is no email link to contact them for “consumer issues,” just phone numbers…so I called one of them, and there was a recording for –guess what??–obtaining your credit report, but this time, for just $7.95!! I stayed on the line for over 20 minutes–no response.
I emailed their fruad department to report a fraud on their website (the varying costs of obtaining a score) and received a response within a day, telling me to call one of two numbers. I called the first one, and heard the familiar voice from India, telling me to call the second number–she only handled complainsty for TU, not TC. I called the second number provided by the fraud department, was on hold yet again for about 9 minutes, when a “do you want to chat “pop-up” screen appeared.
I specifically asked this operator if she could handle an error in obtaining a credit score when it was already paid for, as I kept getting webpage after webpage of ads to purchase one…she said yes she could, and I hung up the call to customer service.
As you can imagine, she was of no help–just directed me to the tabs across the top of my profile page, which did not work–she suggested that I had not paid (luckily I had printed out my order page showing the $9.95 charge). I said I had, and she said she could not access my profile page–only customer service could get at those details!!! I had to re-telephone the same number that had kept me on hold!!
TU is a frustrating process. Going around in circles is not the kind of experience I want for a simple reqjuest, only to be bombarded by ads showing different prices for the same item I alrwady purchased!!
I still don’t know what I am going to do now…
My advice to your readers is, get all three scores at once, and print your order page as soon as you see it for verification.
Please be advised that, once you are on the particular credit reporting agency’s website to view (and pay for your score),
BE SURE YOU PRINT THE REPORT IN ITS ENTIRETY “BEFORE” YOU NAVIGATE AWAY FROM THER REPORT PAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
because you only get to view that report ONCE! (and BEFORE you navigate away from that report page to either dispute an entry, or pay for the score…).
This was told to me by a customer service supervisor (after 15 calls to their help line, see blog entry above by me) that this was the new procedure…so they’ll give you a FREE report, yes, but, unless you’re savvy enough and not “blind” to small lettering notice (so-called) on the website, you will never see your report again except after 12 months!
And because I navigated away from my “report page” to dispute an item and thereafter pay for a credit SCORE, I could never return to my credit report page, nor even see my score…I had to pay for all of it upfront first, and only then could I retrieve both report and score as often as I liked…(that woiuld have cost me almost $20 ($11.00 for the report’s continuous availability, and $9.95 for the score).
I told the rep that this was almost fraudulent, inept, and disingenious on the part of credit reporting agencies. She reimbursded my $9 fee for the trouble I experienced…but DAMN!
A better idea would be to call the reporting company’s help line, and order the free report on the phone, whcih they will mail to you for free….so you can retain a copy for your files…that is, if you DON”T want the SCORE.
Thanks for finally publishing my complaint about “Free Score.” I hope that many will now avoid the pitfall that I encountered… and go to sites that WILL give you your credit score. William H. Walling – Madison, CT
I agree with William, “Free Score” credit reporting is not always acurate at all.