Updated: Get Out of FreeCreditReport.com’s “Triple Advantage”.
This isn’t the first time, but now the State of Florida Office of the Attorney General is investigating FreeCreditReport.com. You’ll notice I don’t link to the site. This site, run by credit reporting agency Experian is taking advantage of the ruling that anyone can receive a free annual credit report from each of the three major agencies.
FreeCreditReport.com is not the website that offers free credit reports in conjunction with this directive. It’s misleading, and here’s the fine print on the site:
When you order your free report here, you will begin your free trial membership in Triple AdvantageSM Credit Monitoring. If you don’t cancel your membership within the 30-day trial period, you will be billed $12.95 for each month that you continue your membership. If you are not satisfied, you can cancel at any time to discontinue the membership and stop the monthly billing; however, you will not be eligible for a pro-rated refund of your current month’s paid membership fee.
FreeCreditReport.com has been investigated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and has been required to pay a significant penalty. However, they apparently have been allowed to keep operating.
The only way to get your free annual credit report is by going through AnnualCreditReport.com.
If you have already exhausted your free annual report, you can sign-up for a 7-day free trial at GoFreeCredit.com. You’ll receive three credit scores and well as three credit reports (with an easy option to cancel if you choose not to keep the trial membership), access to your scores each month and daily credit monitoring to help protect your Identity and Credit.
Hat tip to Red Tape Chronicles for the news about the Florida AG investigation.
Updated May 18, 2011 and originally published November 16, 2006. If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to the RSS feed or receive daily emails. Follow @flexo on Twitter and visit our Facebook page for more updates.
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I hate this co. with a passion and every time I hear their commercial I almost vomit in disgust. Not free in fact the enroll you in a monthly charge and also charged 29.95 for a free report that was supposed to cost $1.00.
This very thing happened to me. They goad you into thinking you get a free report but in fact you end up paying 30.95 to see what others give you free.
No wonder it’s run by Experian, the credit reporting slime ball company.
I had the same exact experience, they said they would refund my money, yet I haven’t received a refund and am disputing through my bank.
They are purposely charging people more and I hope someone files a class action against these scam artists.
Scam – Free Credit Report.
I just cancelled my membership after having paid $29.95 and $12.95 within the span of 11 days. The company web site is false and misleading. It is making bundles by scamming persons with the ten day “free” trial membership. Never, never use this company.
Now another one has come – easyfreecreditreport.com
They are stealing your money and identity. Will somebody ever kill those bastards?
THIS COMPANY IS TERRIBLE!!!
FREE REPORT, HAH! I DO NOT KNOW HOW THEY GET AWAY WITH THIS! I eventually had to cancel my card since they would not cancel and I kept getting billed
THE BASTARDS JUST GOT ME TOO.
I signed up for the free credit report and thought it was the $1. My wife also did the same and now we have over $60 in charges and they say we agreed to it while on their site and will not refund anything. Is there no way to do anything about this since they are doing it to so many people. It is a scam not only is it not free and not even the $1 they say but $30.
i got the best results from filing a complaint with the better business bureau. i got a refund for 3 months worth of charges, which is all that i wanted. after reading some of the other peoples comments i figured out which office to file with. it is somewhere in california.
you should also cancel your credit card.
Good job. I commend you. The more people who repeat your action, the faster these bungholes will be shut down. There have been multiple employees of them posting on this site, attempting to defend them, while at the same time admitting that it’s OK to mislead and deceive people since it’s in an effort to make a living.
Buttwheat, there is no deception going on. It’s the fact that the majority of the public see or hear the word free and jump all over it without a second glance. It’s just like Pavlov’s dog salivating when it hears that bell ring, the masses jump when they hear “free” because they are not bright enough to understand the old adage “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”. You’ve just got your panties in a wad, just like the rest of these “bungholes” (to use a term from your own book) because you didn’t read the Important Information.
fred lofton, you seem to have the same verbal style as george jetson. I did not see your asinine posting before this, or I would have responded. here are some points for you to consider:
1. I have not been victimized by freecreditreport.com, because i never signed up for their service. Thus, my panties are not in a wad, as you suggest. I comment on this forum because I detest dishonesty, and I hate to see naive people being victimized.
2. There is plenty of deception going on by the site, it has been admitted in this forum be their employees.
3. I believe you are affiliated with these scum in some way, else why would you be on here defending their practices? If it is just a normal business with ethical practices, why do you need to be on here belittling the people who have been victimized by them? Riddle me that.
4. Yes, some people do not read the fine print, I admit that some people are naive enough to believe that a website which advertises free credit reports on tv, etc, will actually give them a free credit report. Fancy that!!
5. Why don’t you be a good boy, and report on here what is your actual affiliation with these bungholes?
Good day sir.
I pretty much consider something a scam when they intentionally set up their webpage for upgrades that don’t actually read as an upgrade. I directly asked the representative how it is that I did not hit anything on the webpage that indicated and upgrade NOR approved a “31.82″ charge…she was describing the PICTURE on the exact page where I made my “upgrade”…..not telling me what it was I actually clicked on to put myself in this mess. Look up the definition of fraud, b/c you apparently don’t know it….deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence, perpetrated for profit. Might be worded differently elsewhere…but it all means the same thing.. Scamming companies are making a living these days…..and it’s b/c nobody is stepping up. You’re only posting this response b/c you haven’t had this experience yet. You’ll get yours….you should just hope its not a scammer taking advantage of you or family as they age. FYI….this company is outsourced….and handling US citizens personal info and credit info.
This is really deceptive practise. I thought I was getting a “free credit report” for a $1 :-) I should have caught it right then. Anyways signed up and started noticed two charges of 14.95 on top of $1 I had payed by giving my credit card.
Get this… called my Wells Fargo Credit Card customer service with whom I have banked for almost 20 years and got push back because I wanted to dispute the charges. She actually went to the website and tried to convince me freecreditreport had the proper fine print. I was wondering whose side is Wells Fargo.
I am going to call back and demand a refund. Keep away from freecreditreport.com
net_raj
Demand a refund for what? Your own lack of judgement? You saw free/$1 and started chomping at the bit without paying attention. Face it, you got what you agreed to when you signed up. Suck it up buttercup and get over yourself.
Seems like you work for those thugs. Can you help me get the refund? I will give a commission.
Fred,
People like you are the problem. Do you really think that people who go to a site called “Free Credit Report” are agreeing to buy a $15/month credit monitoring service?
FreeCreditReport.com is a scam. More than 5000 complaints have been filed with BBB in the last 3 years. The fact is they do not adequately disclose negative option enrollment, they have deceptive advertising, a misleading domain name, and fail to honor cancellations.
You Fred (fake name, supporting scammers) Lofton are an idiot.
People are not salivating over getting sometihng for nothing. Most consumers know you get a free report, they get duped into going to sites like freecreditreport.com because they think it’s the proper way to actually obtain a FREE report that they are entitled to yearly.
They are not signing up for some monthly service and are abmushed by scammers. Most could walk into their local bank or credit union and don’t realize it. Most would gladly pay a reasonable fee to have something pulled, formatted nicely and delivered to them. But nobody wants to be wacked for what these idiots do.
Freecreditreport.com is a scam… I dont mind paying for a service if it is true…. actual credit scores pulled by a bank is considerably lower than what Freecreditreport gives you.. I canceled my membership…..
Hey Bob, the whole credit score industry is a scam then. If you go to 15 different lenders, chances are you are going to get 15 different scores… Actually 45 different scores if they pull all three bureaus. No two creditors use the same scoring method. So if that’s your only problem you should have educated yourself before posting.
Fred…. I can see a few points difference but 30 to 40 points is ridiculous…
If you understood the system that these companies use to set your credit score you would understand the major points differences. One creditor may use a scale that runs from 250-700, the next may use a scale that runs from 350-850, another 300-700… That’s why there are 60-70 point differences.
Report them to the Better Business Bureau. They’ll respond real fast and give you at least most of your money back. They’ll also send you a confirmation email for a cancellation.
It is a sad day for humanity when so many people get so mad over a mistake that they themselves have caused. If you people would have taken time to read the terms and the conditions on the website you would have seen that it does state exactly what you are signing up for (a free trial that if you dont cxl it you get billed.) it doesn’t steal your money or your card info, you put the card number and the exp date in yourself. I used the website and it has two options a free credit report that you get in two days and a option that you pay a dollar to have a 7 day trial that if not cancelled within the 7 day trial you get billed for a continuing membership. Its clear and cut.
You sir are spot on with your assessment of these people complaining. Society has forgotten the concept of personal responsibility and people like Buckwheat only add to the problem. He/she/it coddles those who fail to take responsibility for their actions. IMHO, he’s more of a danger to these people than they are to themselves due to him being an enabler.
I see the employees of this RIP off company are sticking together like Felons.
ripoff got me for 32.00 and 16.95 misleading advertising Im going to report them to stte atty general
GET YOUR REFUND THIS WAY. I was charged 14.95 per month for 7 months and did not notice it until last month. Yes, I will always check my charges from now on. I ususally just send the check to pay the bill.
Too busy working to pay bills, that is how the Big corporations like it. That is why we are too busy to read the fine print. I dont recall ever seeing this fine print.
Anyways, they wanted to only give me a refund of 3 months. I told them that I was going to:
Better Business bureau
Federal Communications Commission and
The attorney General (FL) (they are currently under investigation.
Well guess what, they came back on the line and gave me the full refund. I am still going to send a letter to all 3 above. They think they saved themselfs a hassle, nope. I will try to help and warn others.
So if you signed up for car insurance and didn’t read the terms and conditions of the policy, then after 7 months decided you shouldn’t have been paying for those months because you didn’t pay attention to what your coverage was, would you demand a refund and write letters to those three entities? Basically you didn’t pay attention and decided you were “scammed”. You are refusing to take responsibilty for your own mistake. Grow up.
HEY IDIOT,
When you buy car insurance they usually tell you upfront what your premiums will be and exactly what you will be paying. Plus you are talking to a person and can have your questions answered, not relying on an automated system that you are told you can trust. You’re buying into your own BS because it’s sadly obvious that you’re probably too lazy, stupid, or ignorant to pursue/defend anything other than quick money scams as your line of work. Your arguments are shallow and devoid of substance. If you use the word “FREE” or “$1.00″ to push a service, and the result is the exact opposite then by virtue of common sense, said service IS NOT “FREE” OR “$1.00″. The hilarious irony here is you preaching to other people to take responsibility. I truly feel sorry for anyone who makes the mistake of calling you friend.
ACTUALLY every where I read when I signed up said I had 30 days before charges were done it has been SEVEN days and I was charged and now they say I only had seven days. I am not blind I purposefully read everything while getting my one report from them for $1.00 which I was happy to pay..but charging me the extra fee after only 7 days which was NOT stated anywhere unless it was in very tiny print is in fact a scam.
Well, you may not be blind but you must be illiterate. It clearly states in the important information, not once but twice, that you have a 7 day trial. Plus, if you read at the bottom it states that you have 9 days to cancel. I do not see anyplace on freedcreditreport.com where it states that you have 30 days to cancel. Nice try but ultimately a failure on your part.
you are right Cybele it is a scam. i got my money back by contacting the better business bureau and filing a complaint. Unfortunately the world is full of assholes like fred lofton. Hitler had a whole bunch of them following him. They belive they are superior to everyone else and no matter what you say they will still be ego-maniacs, so just ignore him.
Well said Cody!! thanks!
Fred, no response as your not worth the time.
Thanks again Cody! :)
On Monday June 20 2011 I went on line to check my Bank statements, I notice that creditedReort withdrew 14.95 on June 15. And on May 16 the same 14.95 out of my checking account.
1 I never signed up for these services.
2 I filed a dispute on these fraudulent charges.
3 Canceled my credit card, will get another by next week.
So if I did not asked for the report then who? And how did they get my credit card Number?
And when one goes to creditreport web site and click on contact us. you get there email Addy but when you send out the email, It comes back as email not found.
So no more free money for credidt report stinking company.
I just had a run another run in with FreeCreditReports.com. I should have known better since I dealt with these scam artists once before. On June 22nd, I checked my credit score to complete a housing application process. When I checked my bank account last night, I found a $29.95 dollar charge from Experian/FreeCreditReport.com. I had already planned to call them today to cancel the service before the end of the “free” trial period. The woman I spoke with said that they fees were clearly displayed on the screen 2 times before finalizing getting the report. I made it very clear to her that if I had seen that I was being charged $29.95 I would not have completed the transaction. She said she could only give me a refund of $15.00 because they were having a “sale” today. A sale on something that is supposed to be “free”. What a joke.
I called my bank and they faxed me the forms to dispute the charge. I am also going to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Beyond this, does anyone else have any suggestions.
filing a complaint with the BBB is the best way. I got all my money back after filing a complaint with the BBB
Freecreditscore charged my card 14.95 and I have never called, contacted, emailed or even been to their website. I have had this card for over 22 years, never have had a problem like this until now. This occured in the same billing period that I signed up for PAYPAL ,,, very suspicious. I no longer have the card or a PAYPAL account.
Bad Bus stay awawy from creditreport.com!!
I agree… with Fred. People are thinking it’s a scam, but are disregarding the fine print. They see free and immediately sign up. It’s not a scam if they are stating everything in the terms and conditions.
this is pretty funny.. this site bashes one place, and recommends 2 others.. one of which does the same thing! you sign up for something, and if you don’t cancel you pay for a subscription to something… it is free if you cancel right after your initial credit report.. that’s any place you go to..
i found one that is truly free. it is credit karma. they do not ask for a credit card or any type of payment. you get 1 score but that is enough to know where you stand. give it a try.
This website is a scam. Mint.com mislead me to give 7 days free trial but I got charged $24.99. Never ever subscribe to service like this even they give free for 7 days of a month. This is a money making business by showing something else and take more money by cheating. Most 99% will not get notice and read * small instructions hidden somewhere.
I request ppl not to signup with freecreditscore website. It is misleading.
Aman Patel
FYI I have been paying for Free Credit Report.com for months now, trying to buy a house, come to find out they reported my score being 90 points higher than what it really is. My financial advisor told me that this has happened to many people he has worked with. When I emailed FCR.com I got some generic reply not answering any of my questions, or even apologizing for charging me for an incorrect service.
Free credit report should be investigated by the federal government. They are a terrible scam and they are hard to cancel. You think you cancelled but you actually did not according to them
i have tried to get my senator to investigate them twice and both times he would not even answer my e-mail. i believe that since it is run by experian, which is one of the three credit bureaus, the politicians recieve campaign contributions from them, so they protect them. i got my money back by filing a complaint with the better business bureau.
I signed up with experian.com because I actually considered paying the monthly $15.00 which I read that I would be charged unless I cancel within 9 days of the say I signed up. It also clearly stated that I’d be charged $1 to view my report. Nowhere did I read that I’d be charged 29.95 extra!!! I signed up today and just checked my bank statement and there is that mysterious $30!! Now that I read your complaints and resolutions you better bet they’re gonna hear from me tomorrow morning!!! And rest assured they are NOT going to have my business like I originally planned.
I just signed up for their $1 service and it clearly stated the 7-day grace period and the automatic enrollment in their monthly service if not cancelled. Pretty legit, and pretty similar to free magazine subs.
Wow some of you people are so ignorant……you just can’t wait to blame somebody else for your stupidity!!! What they are doing is perfectly legal and in no way is immoral. LOL I love how you all act like the fine print is some mysterious thing that is not visible to the normal person. In all honesty the fine print is not that fine at all and can be seen plain as day on multiple pages. Oh and did I mention that it follows the word IMPORTANT in bold letters!! As far as Florida doing an investigation…..They would investigate a pile of pig shit if enough people complained…..they wanna be sure to get reelected!! So suck it up and take responsibility for you mistakes!!
Oh and before I get accused of it…….I am in no way affiliated with any company mentioned in these post or any company at all for that matter. I’m just a hard working normal guy who goes to school full time and works 60+ hours a week!!! So don’t start accusing me of working for the so called “scammers” cause I do not!!!
It’s a scam! Being the cynic I am I read between the lines. I do my homework, investigate company profiles and their m/o’s. I can without a shadow of doubt label Free Credit Report a scam! Their mentally challenged TV ads should be reason enough not to do business with a company like theirs.
I have 420 in my name and I can still safely say that most of the people complaining about this being a “scam” or “ripoff” are absolute IDIOTS. I can settle this whole issue with a SIMPLE ANALOGY: When you go into ice cream store or a supermarket and they offer free samples, you can take them without HAVING TO PAY ANYTHING. Therefore, they ARE IN FACT FREE. The representative will then offer the ice-cream or product itself FOR A PRICE.
IDIOTS PAY ATTENTION PLEASE HERE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART>>>
ITS IMPOSSIBLE for them to be charge you for the membership over the internet unless YOU GAVE BILLING INFORMATION. You probably TOOK THE FREE SAMPLE AND GAVE BILLING INFORMATION FOR THE MEMBERSHIP. Next time don’t be an idiot when you give out your billing information and then you won’t have to write articles about scams to justify a decision that was not thought out.
Shawn, I am an educated professional who makes six figures with degrees in media. Fact, intelligent people are being charged $29.95 after signing up for a one dollar trial period. Obviously you have to provide billing information to be charged. There is a detailed security and confirmation process for them to charge the $1 with the understanding that if not canceled within 7 days, you will be charged $16.95. However, after this process is complete, if you mistakenly click on “see my reports now” instead of “view my member benefits”, you are automatically charged $29.95, without any confirmation whatsoever. The key is in the word “reports” meaning three instead of one – something easily overlooked by a non-idiott. The only idiocy is in your ignorance.
I got taken as well. Was willing to pay for the credit scores as a one time deal, but little did I know they were enrolling me in a monthly billing. And I received no email saying the monthly bill had posted on my credit card. I only noticed that when looking at my credit card bill .
This company truly is the worst.
It cost me $45.90 for a “FREE” Credit Report.
$29.95 for I don’t even know what … they are taking advantage of the fact that they have your credit card number … It’s awful
I spoke to this group about being billed for something I don’t recall buying and even have a cancellation notice on another email account. If you don’t think it’s a scam, consider the following:
1 – They told me that they do not send monthly email invoices for billing (as every company does) since they have millions of customers and they cannot send out an email. I reminded them that numbers other companies do send out emails – same drivel. They obviously don’t send you a monthly invoice or notice you are being charged so you won’t suspect you’re being charged.
2 – I discovered that I had two accounts – I created one because the other email had become inaccessible and I couldn’t locate the user name. They knowingly allow you to sign up for the same name, social security number, date of birth and with two different email addresses. They don’t say “the same person is on file.” This is done so that you can buy or be billed for the same service on two accounts. It’s amazing how they can identify the same person when it’s convenient for them or would result in a problem for them.
They know what they are doing. They are using their status as a credit reporting company and making sure you have to be completely on top of every bit of fine print to not realize that there is virtually nothing “free” about signing up. They aren’t alone.
Wow. You forget your email password and that’s freecreditreport.com’s fault? So you couldn’t pick up the phone and call customer service and have them change the email addy for you? Nope. Instead, let’s sign up for ANOTHER membership, not read the BIG letters that say “IMPORTANT” and then place blame cause that’s easier. LOL. Sounds like your problem, not theirs. You’re the one who entered your CC info!
Hey guys. I actually have worked in the past before for them and was a rep that’d you talk to cancel. Yeah, I was affiliated with the. No, its not a scam. For one, to start, this site is a credit monitoring site. It’s designed to help ppl with id theft and the like. That’s what the monthly charge is for. It also clearly tells you that in important information to the left of the page or top of the page. Anyway, if you aren’t interested in that, please stay alway. The site is for that and they just offer the report as a complimentary item. The 29.95 charge is for a 3 bureau report and it states you will be charged for that as well. So if you aren’t interested straight up go to annualcreditreport.com for you reports. You just end up annoying the reps by complaing and being rude.
Fred, you do sound like you work for them…but in all honesty, if you do not….PROPS for reading the site. I have a membership at FreeCreditScore.com which is another monitoring service offered by Experian and I absolutely love it. I was in no way mis-lead…but of course, I’m not an idiot. I READ things when they ask for my CC info. It kind of makes you question people’s intelligence when they think something as complex as the sites’ services should be free…..who will build the site? who does the monitoring? who makes the interfaces? who issues emails for alerts? who takes your calls when you forget your username and passwords? Come on. NONE of those things are free….this company has employees to pay to even offer the services they provide. What they charge is minimal fee compared to what it SHOULD cost. Power to the smart people in these comments. Good job reading the extra large fine print in orange bold letters on the main page! ;)
I am an educated professional bringing in 6 figures and in no way an “idiot” as you so eloquently state. Your positive experience is based on the fact that you willingly signed up for the service. People who only want to see their credit scores are encouraged to sign up for the one dollar trial. Through trickery and bait/switch tactics, these people are being charged additional fees without their knowledge. The only idiocy is in the ignorance of people who believe that if it doesn’t happen to them, it doesn’t happen.
Freecreditreport.com, what a scam. Intially cost me $29.95, plus the $1 and now I have been hit with a $16.95 charge because I didn’t cancel within 7 days. So what is supposed to be “virtullay” free has cost me $48.
I signed up for a free trial, I never gotten anything free, but worst they charged my card twice 2 days apart! A SCAM IF I NEVER SEEN ONE!!!
I would never have touched freecreditreport.com if its link hadn’t come to me by a prospective employer who did not give me a choice about which credit reporting company I had to buy a report from. So, it was a genuine scam. The “Let the buyer beware” maxim does not apply to illegitimate offers linked to phony employment listings which don’t actually exist.
A recruiter made me choose freecreditreport.com and buy my own report and supply a subsequent customer number to be considered for a job.
I agree with the others that I hate freecreditreport.com with a passion. They are scam artists who literally got away with taking $60 from our checking account without our knowledge or consent. My husband and I wanted to see our credit scores so we each signed up for the one dollar free trial. The next day, we canceled (after much push-back from their CS reps). Upon looking at my bank statement, I noticed they charged each of us an additional $29.95. I called furious. I was told that when we were given the option to either “see my credit reports” or “go to my member benefits”, we chose to view reports. Apparently, this enabled them to charge us $30 each because they included all three reports, not just Experian. Neither my husband or I saw anything saying we would be charged this fee. We agreed to $1.00 to see our credit score only. I find it disgusting that you have to go through this whole security process to sign up for the free trial… But apparently one click after that allows them to charge you $29.95 without any confirmation. It’s financial molestation and they should not be allowed to get away with it. They are basically scamming the American public to pay for their outlandish commercials. Shame on freecreditreport.com!
The same thing that happened to Rockage, just happened to me yesterday. I agreed to pay the $1 fee to see my reports now, not knowing that I had unwittingly agreed to an additional fee of $29.95 to see all three credit bureaus reports now. Without signing up again, I cannot see the page where this charge is supposedly disclosed (according the the CSR at FCR.com I spoke to a little while ag). I called to cancel my “free” trial membership and they tried to sell me a 1/2 price membership; they also told me I agreed to the $29.95, and I did NOT anywhere see where that was going to be charged before I clicked to view my reports now. I am not an uneducated person and I do read things before I sign/agree to them, so to have missed this disclosure is not like me, so I have to believe it isn’t readily apparent. I feel scammed, but lesson learned and I will not use their services again.
IT IS A SCAMMMMM. Through mint.com I signed up for a free trial period- which I cancelled same day. I viewed my reports, mind you, NOWHERE did it say I was going to be charged 29.95 for viewing the reports. Now, I know some of the other comments say you should read what’s in the fine print. But as a professional company, you have to be forthright with what you are charging customers. I also think mint.com needs to research who they are doing business with, before referring all of their peopoe to such a scammy business. But truth be told, they are probably getting some back-end profits from freecreditscore.com .
Anyways, I threatened them that I would go to the better business bureau. After being “scolded” and told that for future purposes, I should read all fine (super fine, damn near invisible) print and disclosure agreements before buying anything, I ended up getting my 29.95. And you know what, thanks for the lesson Freecreditscore.com. I will… ’cause you can’t trust ANYONE with your money. Thanks alot!
i avoided all the buttons that will charge you money. (it is possible) i went through the process of telling them all my private personal and financial info. end result….”we are unable to provide your score at this time”…gee, so the site is “free”. the only problem is…they give you literally nothing. and don’t forget, most people wouldn’t consider wasting 20 minutes of your time and giving-up private info “free”. also, i didn’t forget to immediately call them and cancell the $15-a-month charge that i know they would-have charged. (wouldn’t that be great….to be charged $15 a month to be told “we’re sorry, we can not provide you with your score”/) scamola
I had an amount of $19-95 debited to my credit card which I had no idea what it was about. On phoning my card company they told me the name of the company and I googled it only to find it was Experian and there were other people being defrauded. I have never gone onto their site to order a credit report (and as I live in South Africa I certainly would not order a credit report from the USA). So, where did they get my credit card details from (as it is always in my possession) and whose report did they do? Big scam I say.
DO NOT use freecreditreport.com, I agreed to pay a fee of $1 for a 7 day trial. We cancelled our account within 4 days, I found 3 charges from my bank account in the amounts of 31.95. When I called, they explained that it was a mistake to charge 2 to one account and only refunded 50% of the charges!!! Tota BS… ScAM!!!!!!!l
The whole concept of three so-called credit bureaus covering a huge, complex nation like the US is ridiculous and needs to be entirely reformed as they are inefficient, incompetent, unforgiving (never taking into account human frailty or something happening in someone’s life which has hurt them already and these crooks just rub it in) and corrupt. You try to get any error -with which they are all riddled- fixed and you will end up in knots with little or no recourse. And yet their decisions are assumed by most people to be final and almost God-like, no questions asked (which we should, constantly). They can make or ruin a person or business. I think a national campaign for credit reporting reform is long overdue. And they are NOT government agencies by the way, with little oversight; they are totally privately funded, mostly by the “big brother” corporate banks and finance houses who use them most and whose side they always take.
OMG I had NO IDEA freecreditreport.com was a tricky rip off! I was horrified to see in my acccount that they charged me $31.95!!! I did NOT purchase anything! I’m gonna call them and I hope they will refund me my money. I can’t believe this! If they will not refund me my money I will report them to BBB. I should regardless! I just HATE freecreditreport.com AND Experian who was the ones that charged me. Dammit!
Cancel your credit card by reporting it stolen.. Your credit card company will send you a new credit card with a new account number….Problem solved
if creditreport.com said they cancelled your membership, but havent, does that mean they still have your SSN, mother’s maiden name, and all your information on file forever?
cancelling your credit card will stop the illegal transactions, but what about identity theft? the company can easily sell your personal information, no? this is so scary….. there’s truly not a way to know if your personal information is erased from their system.
that is not true. i was told by my credit card company that any “recurring charges” are automatically given the new number on your credit card. i guess you would have to get a new card from another conpany and cancel you current credit card to stop them.
Ok, first off these are not “illegal transactions” since you agreed to the terms and conditions on the site when you signed up. Just like everyone else did.
Secondly, these people are actually in the business of protecting your identity. Do you not understand what the actual service you signed up for covers? Alerts to key changes in your credit report so you can make sure no one is using you identity illegally. Fraud resolution if somehow your identity is stolen. A $1 million guarantee against identity theft that covers any out of pocket expenses. Unlimited access to your Experian credit report and score.
Seriously, do your homework before making incorrect assumptions about a company.
Fred Lofton I cannot even begin to imagine why your view is trolling this site to begin with. These people are among a very large percentage of FreeCreditReport.com users who were deceived by bait/switch techniques. Your concepts and comparisons are completely jaded. Name me an Insurance company that offers a free quote for service, then bills you for the policy they quoted you for pointing to the fine print of the free quote offered. If there is one they are probably already tied up in litigation. Like many bankers and brokers you also seem to assume that if their is legal room for an action, that that action is morally unobjectionable and all violated by ethics should quit their complaining. Avenues such as this site expose such companies for their practices and can evoke change in laws and/or restrictions. You also mock these people for wanting something for free, when that was the offer given to them from this company in the first place. As if expecting a free credit report in the first place was absurd when this service IS a free service via annualcreditreport, and acknowledged by the FTC. This company has long known about the large percentage of people that have “misinterpreted” their offer and have done nothing to change their process to correct this. But go ahead, defend these practices and belittle these consumers.
It is NOT a scam! I have to agree with Fred. This is the reason, I signed up. I get a notice when my score goes up or down, or if someone is looking at my score. It is all for my protection. It was all stated in the terms and conditions. I’m currious how many of you just scrolled down and clicked Yes, I agree with the terms? If you have to leave your credit card number, you need to read everything. I also get an monthly email and it shows up on my banking statement. I can’t even imagine how it could have gone unnoticed for 7 months as mentioned above, when I was notified two different ways. Your credit score is serious, you need to pay attentention to details.
Fred, I am a Director in a well-known advertising company in Manhattan. I promise you, if you knew how much they were spending on those commercials… you wouldn’t be so quick to defend them. I am an educated professional and I was tricked by their tactics. They are misleading at the least. See my story on this blog. We would never have knowingly paid $62 to see our credit reports. They very purposely use trickery and play with words to trick people into being charged. Then, they don’t even confirm the charge like they do with the one dollar trial. People don’t find out about the $29.95 charge until they see it on their bank statements. This is classic scamming, they just put in fine print to get around it. Eventually, the truth will come out… you will see.
So the fact that it clearly states on the website and commercials that you receive a report WITH enrollment in Triple Advantage, these people are completely unaccountable for signing up and not reading the terms and conditions? The majority of people on THIS site are the same people that sign up for the “free” iPad/laptop/Xbox360/etc…. websites because they are leeches. But you go ahead and defend their ignorance and failure to take responsibility for their actions.
you must be affiliated with this scam.
Agreed.
You are missing the point. Your positive experience is because you willingly signed up for the service. The trickery is in the bait & switch tactics used to get people who can not afford the service to sign up for the one dollar trial, go through the whole approval process, then click on “view my reports”. These people cancel within the 7 day trial period but are unknowingly charged an additional $29.95 for viewing their reports. There’s some fine print that most people miss, so they don’t have to refund the charge. It’s a win/win scenario for Experian and if nothing else, an immoral practice against the American people who are no doubt funding their outlandish advertising budget.
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