they are charging me 14.95 a month and i call the number and can't ever get through
Comments
0
Crystal
Yeah I tried that last night, but at the very bottom of the page, before you click "continue to order" there is some fine print where it says where you can legally get your free credit report. The law now is you can get a free credit report a year. Pretty nice if you ask me. The link is in the blue side bar to the right of the screen on the same page.
ALWAYS search the page for fine print either on the side or to the bottom. Most people forget to look because they think they're getting something free. Then when they get charged, they try to dispute and and end up not winning.
You can cancel the charges, but they may charge you again for trying to end the subscription as most places like this do.
We're humans, we make mistakes, but those mistakes can cost us a good chunk of change too.
0
tj
"We're humans, we make mistakes, but those mistakes can cost us a good chunk of change too."
This scam has nothing to do with "making mistakes". It's just about predators hunting consumers to take their money. These scams deliberately construct their websites to take advantage of people who might miss disclosure of their terms, doing their best to see that they will miss the terms.
The non-free credit report sites use deceptively named and constructed websites to entice consumers into giving their credit cards.
They play up the "free" report or score, in big font, and use a name that sounds similar the "annualcreditreport.com" site that processes the real free annual credit reports, but they hide their monthly billing terms in small print, often hidden behind an obscure link.
The construction of their websites is often similar to entirely fraudulent sites, like those selling "teeth whiteners", "vitamins", or other shady or scam "health products".
The intent is to deceive consumers, by hiding the actual terms under which they are billing, depending on many consumers not seeing the real terms. FTC and several state Attorneys General have sued a number of these scams, including several of the well-known "free credit report" sites, some several times.
Deceptive or hidden "disclosure" of terms makes the charges unauthorized and therefore fraudulent. Dispute fraudulent charges through your bank, which can reverse charges under FRB Reg. E or FCBA if they are disputed within 60 days of the statement date of the statement showing the disputed charges.
As many of these scams will keep charging your account even if you try to cancel, whenever you are dealing with unauthorized charges, you must have your bank close the account or block the card number due to fraud to prevent on-going fraudulent charges. Even when the charges stop, they often start up months later when they think you are no longer looking, so the only sure way to stop them is to file a fraud dispute and close or block the account.
0
tj
The legitimate free annual credit report site, required by federal law to give consumers a free credit report annually from each of the three credit reporting agencies, is: annualcreditreport.com
All others are generally pay sites.
0
tj
Some history, no longer visible in their BBB report.
Allegedly, they are selling "PLUS" scores (whatever those are), not the FICO scores usually used by creditors.
"... FreeCreditScore.com and FreeCreditReport.com are websites owned by Experian Consumer Direct, a subsidiary of the credit bureau Experian. The sites offer users their personal credit reports from Experian on the condition that they sign up for Experian's Triple Advantage credit monitoring program for a fee. The credit report also comes with the user's PLUS credit score. The membership may be canceled with no charge within 7 days of signup.
The sites, their benefactors, and related business entities have received multiple federal injunctions on deceptive marketing and business practices.[1]
Abusive practices
FreeCreditReport.com has been the subject of two major lawsuits. In 2005, the site's owner, Experian Consumer Direct, was sued by the Federal Trade Commission for deceptive marketing tactics. They settled for $950,000 in the form of free credit monitoring for those affected and agreed not to use deceptive and misleading claims about free offers and to offer full disclosure of terms and conditions of any free offers.[2][3] The penalty was largely seen as ineffective since it amounted to a small fraction of the $72 million dollar annual advertising budget for free credit report. They were further subjected to a 2006 inquiry by the Florida Attorney General for violating Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.[4] An MSNBC.com investigation of the website called it "misleading", "deceptive" and a "scam".[5] The program has also been identified as a scam by ConsumerFraudReporting.org.[6][7]
The advertising practices of FreeCreditReport.com were specifically addressed in the Credit CARD Act of 2009. Now any company who advertises a 'free credit report' on TV or radio must include the statement: "This is not the free credit report provided for by Federal law." [8][9][10] The law also calls for the Federal Trade Commission to issue new rules that will force free credit report advertisers to inform consumers that the only place for a free credit report is AnnualCreditReport.com.[10] ..."
Comments
ALWAYS search the page for fine print either on the side or to the bottom. Most people forget to look because they think they're getting something free. Then when they get charged, they try to dispute and and end up not winning.
You can cancel the charges, but they may charge you again for trying to end the subscription as most places like this do.
We're humans, we make mistakes, but those mistakes can cost us a good chunk of change too.
This scam has nothing to do with "making mistakes". It's just about predators hunting consumers to take their money. These scams deliberately construct their websites to take advantage of people who might miss disclosure of their terms, doing their best to see that they will miss the terms.
The non-free credit report sites use deceptively named and constructed websites to entice consumers into giving their credit cards.
They play up the "free" report or score, in big font, and use a name that sounds similar the "annualcreditreport.com" site that processes the real free annual credit reports, but they hide their monthly billing terms in small print, often hidden behind an obscure link.
The construction of their websites is often similar to entirely fraudulent sites, like those selling "teeth whiteners", "vitamins", or other shady or scam "health products".
The intent is to deceive consumers, by hiding the actual terms under which they are billing, depending on many consumers not seeing the real terms. FTC and several state Attorneys General have sued a number of these scams, including several of the well-known "free credit report" sites, some several times.
Deceptive or hidden "disclosure" of terms makes the charges unauthorized and therefore fraudulent. Dispute fraudulent charges through your bank, which can reverse charges under FRB Reg. E or FCBA if they are disputed within 60 days of the statement date of the statement showing the disputed charges.
As many of these scams will keep charging your account even if you try to cancel, whenever you are dealing with unauthorized charges, you must have your bank close the account or block the card number due to fraud to prevent on-going fraudulent charges. Even when the charges stop, they often start up months later when they think you are no longer looking, so the only sure way to stop them is to file a fraud dispute and close or block the account.
All others are generally pay sites.
Allegedly, they are selling "PLUS" scores (whatever those are), not the FICO scores usually used by creditors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeCreditScore.com
"...
FreeCreditScore.com and FreeCreditReport.com are websites owned by Experian Consumer Direct, a subsidiary of the credit bureau Experian. The sites offer users their personal credit reports from Experian on the condition that they sign up for Experian's Triple Advantage credit monitoring program for a fee. The credit report also comes with the user's PLUS credit score. The membership may be canceled with no charge within 7 days of signup.
The sites, their benefactors, and related business entities have received multiple federal injunctions on deceptive marketing and business practices.[1]
Abusive practices
FreeCreditReport.com has been the subject of two major lawsuits. In 2005, the site's owner, Experian Consumer Direct, was sued by the Federal Trade Commission for deceptive marketing tactics. They settled for $950,000 in the form of free credit monitoring for those affected and agreed not to use deceptive and misleading claims about free offers and to offer full disclosure of terms and conditions of any free offers.[2][3] The penalty was largely seen as ineffective since it amounted to a small fraction of the $72 million dollar annual advertising budget for free credit report. They were further subjected to a 2006 inquiry by the Florida Attorney General for violating Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.[4] An MSNBC.com investigation of the website called it "misleading", "deceptive" and a "scam".[5] The program has also been identified as a scam by ConsumerFraudReporting.org.[6][7]
The advertising practices of FreeCreditReport.com were specifically addressed in the Credit CARD Act of 2009. Now any company who advertises a 'free credit report' on TV or radio must include the statement: "This is not the free credit report provided for by Federal law." [8][9][10] The law also calls for the Federal Trade Commission to issue new rules that will force free credit report advertisers to inform consumers that the only place for a free credit report is AnnualCreditReport.com.[10]
..."