le ditto.

Luckily, I caught this charge 11 days after getting my credit report. (Unemployment has, ironically, lent me a lot of time to watch my financial accounts.)

Yes, I skimmed the fine print and missed the 9 day grace period. My bad. But I'm more disappointed that it was Mint.com that linked me to FreeCreditReport.com.

THEY ARE A SCAM, and the worst part is they are scamming the people in the most dire need. Who goes to a site like FCR except those of us who are desperately trying to get our heads above water?

If you know anything about disclosure, you know that fine print is not an ethical way to do it. thats why financial companies have strict rules about disclosure.

customers do have rights and they are NOT responsible for reading the fine print if they are misled. Thats why freecreditreport has been sued and lost, and they will refund your money if you know your rights.

I wrote to:
ConsumerInfo.com
Attn: Customer Care
PO Box 19729
Irvine, CA 92623-9729

they gave me a partial refund which really made me angry, so I wrote another letter telling them GIVE ME BACK THE MONEY YOU STOLE FROM ME!!!

I sent an email copy to:
i sent a copy via e-mail to support@FreeCreditReport.com

they replied almost instantly wow!

Dear Trevor Jordet:

Thank you for writing and we apologize for the inconvenience.

We have already initiated a refund of $44.85 to your account. This refund should appear on your next billing cycle.

Thank you for using FreeCreditReport.com.

Sincerely,

Beth G.
Customer Care Representative

As soon as I got my score, I wrote down the phone number I need to call to cancel. (I'll put that off till I'm in a good mood.)

even still, i think someone could still prosecute. after all, in prostitution cases, "i charge for the companionship, but the sex is free" doesn't generally fly.

@HeyBeav: Hmmm... I stand corrected yet again- but I'm sticking to the part of the narrative concerning his inability to speak fluent english- I'm certain I read that.

He's still a damned foreign mucky-footed flim-flam artist.

@sublicon: "You have to read the fine print. "

It's not even in fine print. It's right there, same print, same font!

Again, I'm not saying that they're correct in the way they market themselves, but it is the ultimate responsibility of the consumer to ensure that what's being presented isn't a scam.In this case, it's as easy as A) actually listening to the commercials, because they tell you it's not free, B) reading the paragraph on the freecreditreport homepage that tells you it's not free, or C) paying attention to the myriad of posts on Consumerist that talk about how it's not free.

IMO

It's incredible that people are even defending these misleading a-holes. Sure you have a responsibility as a consumer to know what you're getting yourself into, but how much more misleading does it need to get before it's considered illegal?

I haven't seen or heard the commercials, just know that supposedly reputable companies are giving referrals to freecreditreport.com, and that site goes NOT do a good job of honestly, plainly and most of all clearly stating that it will cost you money.

@courtarro: Not really, after all when you buy a car, a house, sign up for a credit card, do any of those require another credit card to check your credit? No, it's done by your SSN.

You use a credit card IRL only when purchasing things, same thing goes online. Why does common sense have to stop at the keyboard? And why do we have to excuse people who think that way?

Babies and my guildmates. The FCR songs became a bit of a sub-meme in-joke for about two or three months a while back. Hell, even reading this I'm trying desperately not to hear that "F-R-E-E, that spells free" one in my head.

A couple years ago I almost got tricked into signing up for this. Too bad when they asked for my credit card information, warning bells went off. Most people will realize that a company doesn't need your credit card information to run a credit report.

So do you still sign it then?

I've got to agree with HowardBomb. I went to the site once, read the fine print, saw that they wanted to charge me for my "free credit report", and promptly closed the tab.

That's hardly "small print". This isn't a scam at all.

The report and score is free as long as you cancel within their specified time window, so technically it isn't false advertising.

Come on people, have a little common sense. The people who feel they are getting scammed by freecreditreport are the same ones that bought a house taking out a 5 year ARM with a 7% teaser rate then not realizing that the rate may go up in 5 years when it resets and that your house may go down in value. Let me guess, you want John McCain to buy your mortgage at full price?

Everyone is quick to blame big corporations for their problems, but main street is just as much to blame as wall street.

A Googlebomb would work. Like how some ultraliberals made miserable failure like to G-Dub.

I happily used the service for over a year until my bank started offering it for free.

Try reading the things you agree to before entering CC info...

what you must do right after you get the report is call and cancel it. write it down on a notepad to call the next day if u wanna wait.

you can get a free report on freecreditreport.com it is free if you cancel it. you have to cancel it though.

there is no scam involved. she messed up and was complaciant so she got charged. its common. if you want it free, call and give a no bs attitude and cancel the damn thing. this was a waste of blog space consumerist. come on now. it was her mistake not the sites. they clearly state that you get charged if you dont cancel it. you can check it as many times as u want within a period but if you dont cancel it you get charged. stop wasting mine and the rest of the people reading this blog's time. cause we know this. she messed up not them.

All I want to know is, who's the guy in that pic and in all their commercials??? I swear I've seen him in something else!

@HowardBomb:

Howard, Howard, Howard. It is not a matter of being stupid because you don't read the small print. It is a matter of being a scammer for using the "small print" method. Whenever I have to sign something, I don't even finish reading it if there's small print. When a person, corporation or organization uses small print, they're not looking to save paper, if you catch my drift. And even if the person reads the whole contract it may not help. The way those contracts are redacted should be a crime punishable by jail time. The read exactly like the patriot act: In the case person is tried and found guilty of the commission of crimes as they're described in State of Michigan v. Johnson, the sentencing guidelines to be used and applied will be those that conmesurate with the Federal standard set fore by the November 1999 US Supreme Court decision on Vegas v. Atlantic Corporation." Get it now? a lot of wording that means nothing except when the suits want. And to understand the $#^%^%**& small print you have to bring who knows how many other books to find out what they're really talking about.

That said, any reminder to everyone about the FreeCreditReport.com scam is definitely welcome.

@LindsayC: Yeah, and I think they were actually ordered to add that voice-over notice at the end of their ads because a court found them misleading. I can't find the article where I read that, though, so I might be making it up in my feverish brain.

@lowercase: I knew someone who used to take back stuff (TVs, DVD players, stereos, etc)every 85 days and get in store credit to go get the newest replacements.

He was in the US from Nigeria attending college, and didn't see any reason that he should have anything to ship back when he left as he was going to sell brand-new-in-the-box stuff in the last week before he left.

THis article, though, prompted me to actually get my ACTUAL free credit report through the gov't's service. Equifax and Experion were pretty easy, but I couldn't get into TransUnions because you had to provide every account number for your cards/accounts... and one of them was for a card that I hadn't had in 2 years (closed in 2007, this confirmed by Exuifax) and so had no way of getting the account number other than to call them and sift through operators. That was just to confirm my identity, which on Equifax and Experion, you answered a few simple questions that most people know off hand if they're the right person.

Also, how do you actually get your credit score? These reports don't actually give me my score. I have good credit, and I have for a few years now, but I want to know exactly what my score is because I'm considering buying a new car.

@xkaluv: @courtarro: Yeah! I love this one too. The woman looks really bitchy as she does the laundry. I wonder if she is pissed because there is a drummer in her bathroom?

Do people actually check the credit of ptential fiancees?

So it's okay to lie as long as you tell the truth later? Sounds like bait and switch to me.

@spanky:

Have you seen the prices on some bikes?

Sure, the whole company is one huge scam -- but it is a scam that you have to intentionally *opt-in* to get scammed by. You can only protect the customer from his/her own bad decisions so far -- I kinda consider it like a financial Darwin test.

It isn't like they are putting it out there, knowing nobody will read it because of the way they designed their page, or anything. Right?

@swissdietcoke: I concur, there should be no problems...

I guess people should just read things when they see free.

The ads clearly state that you get a free credit report when you enroll for their credit monitoring thing-a-ma-jig. How is that different than any other time you're asked to pay for something in order to get something else free?

BTW...don't phone companies already do this? "Free phone when you sign a two year contract... Or how about this? I get used to get cards in the mail all the time from Bath and Body Works--FREE SOMETHING-OR-OTHER!!! (with any purchase). They certainly hype the FREE!!! part to get you in the door. Then you have to buy something else? Why should this situation be any different? Your credit report is free, as long as you sign up for their product.

Here's exactly what it says on their website:
"IMPORTANT INFORMATION
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 7-day trial period**, you will be billed $14.95 for each month that you continue your membership."

And that's on their MAIN PAGE. It's not even hidden in the fine print. Hell...they even give you the link to the website where you can actually get your really free credit report. So either this guy didn't look at the website carefully--and I didn't either...it took me less than 10 seconds--or he didn't cancel within 7 days. What part of that makes this situation deceptive?

Again, bad as I feel for the guy, being asked to pay for something to get something else free isn't exactly a novel concept. You know, like, "buy one, get one free?"

@trinidon2k: Yes, you are.

All I hear is "Lie lie lie, bad credit, lie lie lie"

lololol

offer applies with enrollment in triple advantage

@algal924:

DO NOT GIVE OUT YOUR CREDIT CARD INFORMATION UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE CHARGED!

how's that? :)

**Monitoring with Experian begins within 48 hours of enrollment in your free trial. Monitoring with Equifax and TransUnion takes approximately 4 days to begin, though in some cases cannot be initiated during your trial period. You may cancel your trial membership any time within 9 days of enrollment without charge.

What needs to be stressed, and I wish the Fed would use a little commercial time (the more you know, the more you grow) is that you can only get your free, once-per-year credit report in accordance with Federal law from each of the three main credit agencies through annualcreditreport.com and NOT from just any old "provider" of credit reporting information.

@FrankTheTank: If you are adversely affected by a credit report you can get a free report. This could happen if your car insurance renewal cost is upped due to the company using credit reports for scoring. I used this to get a free report even outside of the time limit the insurance company said you would have to receive one...

It was pretty disheartening :(

@stopNgoBeau: I DO think their wording should be:

"Free credit report when you pay for Triple Advantage enrollment."

That would slightly increase the level of understanding of these sad people...

@zentex: Fear the asterisk.

And you can see further legions of idiot consumers by going on ripoffreport, pissedconsumer, consumercomplaints, my3cents and query for freecredit report. It looks like some of these people just crawled out from under a rock as for understanding "fine" and "not so fine" print.

These are probably the same folks who complain about TSA taking their pocket knives when they are trying to fly on an airplane for the first time after the Sept. 2001...

@Moosehawk: The funniest part of the commercial campaign is that the pitch dude isn't even a citizen, but rather hails from one of those chocolate-loving windmill-building countries, and isn't even fluent in english. Bastards are using a foreigner pretending to be your slacker cousin to rip you off.

@xkaluv:
babies love the free credit report commercials ( my son dances like a nut everytime they come on, hes 1 ) maybe they are aiming to drill in the messege while they are still too young to realize its a scam.

I really don't see what Freecreditreport.com did wrong in this case. My Fiancee and I were going to buy a house a couple of months ago and I had already used my annual credit report about 8 months prior. So I signed up for Freecreditreport.com, got our history pulled called and canceled. Took no more than 15 minutes.

@swissdietcoke: When one goes to freecreditreport.com, they think, "Hey! I get a free credit report!" Do you honestly read all the End-User agreements and Terms of Service?

I know I don't!

It's like me having a website freeprostateexam.com. The prostate exam is free, but you still pay for the office visit.

@NYGal81: By your explaination, the phone and cable companies should start advertisments for free email accounts *with enrollment in your $50 a month internet access.

@courtarro: That's why I always tell my family, don't ever give out your credit card information unless you plan on getting charged for something. And that's why I'm saying it here. Don't give out your credit card information unless you want someone to charge it. I'm not saying it isn't easy to make the mistake.

MPORTANT INFORMATION

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 7-day trial period**, you will be billed $14.95 for each month that you continue your membership.
ConsumerInfo.com, Inc. and Freecreditreport.com are not affiliated with the annual free credit report program. Under a new Federal law, you have the right to receive a free copy of your credit report once every 12 months from each of the three nationwide consumer reporting companies. To request your free annual report under that law, you must go to www.annualcreditreport.com.

........so....they say they will charge you...and they do.. Where's the problem?

TANSTAAFL

Now, addressing the people who do not understand why one uses freecreditreport.com to check their credit over the 3 free agencies...the free reporting agencies provide a credit HISTORY (things that get reported). However, they do not report a credit score, so they are all but useless.

Claiming fraud and asking for a chargeback is not the solution to everything.

Credit Score = A number the big 3 use to simplify your credit report.
COSTS MONEY TO VIEW.

Credit Report = The actual information about you, from which your Credit Score is generated.
FREE ONCE EACH YEAR FROM EACH OF THE BIG 3.

I honestly don't understand how people don't understand this by now, can someone explain it to me?

The FTC should really look into this. The name is super deceiving. And so are the ads. The funny thing is that Experian owns this scam site. Bastards!

@lowercase: But Target doesn't let you pay after the 30 days are up, unless you have credit.

@waybaker: This. Even when they say some B.S. about needing your CC to verify something, don't listen, the only reason they want your CC information is so they can charge you.

Is there a way we can pay google for the keywords to direct to annualcreditreport.com? I'd be willing front some money toward this.

Their words, on their homepage in perfectly legible print in the middle of the page, state:

"IMPORTANT INFORMATION

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 7-day trial period**, you will be billed $14.95 for each month that you continue your membership."

<.<
>.>

Bravo.

@Farquar: Hmm... in that case, everything at Target is free so long as I bring it back in 30 days or so, right?

Am I the only one that likes the FreeCreditReport commercials? I actually get excited when a new one comes on. Plus, the French Canadian guy (the singer) is much better than Mark Swenson ("I'm thinking of a number" guy).

Personally, my favorite is the one where he claims that the bike store only had a beat up piece of junk for him after they saw his credit. Ok, if you need financing to buy a bike, you are in sorry shape. Also, I really resent that they're looking down on buying something with cash- also seen in one of their first commercials where he's driving a sub-compact instead of a new SUV.

Dicks.

Finally my wife exploded and told her that the account would be canceled NOW. The supervisor finally relented and after trying again to keep my wife as a customer she told her that it would take up to 90 days for the account to actually cancel in their system. As she was doing this, I called BOA and told them about the situation and they stopped the monthly debit to these fools. This is one time that BOA was very cooperative. They even put a fraud warning on this very debit.

Three weeks later, my wife got a very angry phone call from a very pissed off accounts manager wanted to know why they were being accused of fraud. My wife explained the situation and of course the asshole from Free Report stated that she never canceled the account. Now, my wife is not a fool. She had gotten the CSR's name and the supervisor's name and extension from when she called to cancel. After a few minutes of checking, the manager stated the same 90 day BS that the supervisor said. This is when my wife asked for his name and extension. He gave it and then asked why we needed it. She told him that it was going the Texas AG's office and that she was also filing criminal charges against him and the supervisor for fraud and turning the information over to our private attorney.

The fool was silent for a few moments and then said "alright, it's canceled." He then had the balls to ask her to remove the fraud warning, which she refused. He then began to act like a punished little kid and asked her if she knew what kind of trouble his company could get into because of this. All my wife said was "yep" and hung up.

Personally, I'd prefer that companies didn't lie and force consumers to check up on them.

We all already know it's a good practice to check up on people you're about to do business with. Your post doesn't amount to much but blaming the victim for taking freecreditreport.com at its word.

I know you can get your credit REPORT for free, but I think that you always have to pay someone a fee to get a credit SCORE.

*Some restrictions apply.

I have a feeling that with consumer decisions like this, Jose's credit score isn't that great :P

They should, however, be blasted for false advertising because they're lying about the legal ramifications of your credit report, and implying some kind of extortion.

And because the plot line for the one has the dumbass trying to get credit at a BICYCLE SHOP.

Did you read the article? He was charged $14.95...

Grand Pacific MarBrisa ResortAnyways this has been discussed all the time on this site. Yeah, the name is deceptive, but looking at the main page of the site you can clearly see the terms and conditions...it's not fine print and you don't have to hunt around looking for it. It's also an Experian company.

Oh hey btw, my first post! yippeee!

And you are getting something for that money - a score and monitoring service.

So try emailing them if you did your email before the 7th day and even if you dont get the response on the 7th day i dont think they are going to charge you so try first

@xkaluv: Forget the scam of charging you 14.95, the real scam is that the guy in the commercials is really French-Canadian and they dub in the vocals....SHENANIGANS!!!!

@OmniZero: Because it is free..

..

..

If you cancel the service within 7 days. (or is it 15 days...)

Further, wouldn't you question why you have to give your bank or credit card information to get something free? Or possibly click on something that you understand the terms & conditions?

I agree that their name is deceptive, but no more so than anything else that's "free* with purchase." I have a hard time seeing how BofA would feel compelled to reverse this charge. I totally feel bad for the guy that he got sucked in, but does that remove the responsibility he had to be aware of why he was giving his credit information and enrolling in a service?

Rule of thumb... if its free, you should not have to provide credit card information to gain access to it.

If a site asks for a credit card, I simply close the tab and go back to google to search for what I was looking for.

"FreeCreditReport.com Commercials Lying To You: Credit Reports Are ..."

[www.google.com]

Basic consumerism should be at play here - do research before you give someone access to your very private, very sensitive information.

If their ads wern't so entertaining...