By the way, be sure to check out the article for an awesome "zombie debt" illustration by Michael Meister.

"Dealing With Debt That Refuses to Die" [WSJ.com]

AnnualCreditReport.com is the website set up by the credit bureaus in order to comply with a federal law that entitles you to one free credit report each year — hence the name "annual credit report."

Don't been fooled by other sites. They want to sell you a trial subscription to some credit monitoring service that you probably don't need.

[Annual Credit Report.com]

1) free credit report monitoring for six months, plus cash if there's any money left over in settlement fund and you still get to sue them if you want
2) all the benefits of option one but you can't sue them any further.
3) 9 months of credit monitoring, access to some free credit scores, and free use of TransUnion's mortgage simulator service - but no cash payment. For more information, visit the settlement site at ListAction.com or call 1-866-416-3470.

ListClassAction [Official Settlement Site] (Thanks to Scott!)
PREVIOUSLY: Massive TransUnion Settlement To Reveal Credit Scores (Photo: dbdbrobot)

I have been battling with a silly preconception the federal government has concerning my status as a deceased person, that causes them to routinely shut down credit cards that I am using, and stresses my ability to build credit. (All this despite being actively enlisted in the US Navy)...

I have managed to track this anomaly down to TranUnion, Equifax, and Experian having records of my death, and that these originated from Best Buy of all places, with whom I held an account with, and subsequently canceled. (Who knew the penalty was doom?) I do not know which exactly of the three I should contact, or all three, and more importantly I was wondering if you knew of the proper format, or a template I could fill out and mass/mail to these three companies, before the damage to my credit keeps me from getting a home?

Hi John,

You need to contact all three of them. You can do this online for free by going through annualcreditreport.com. There's links at each of the bureaus for disputing items on your credit report. Follow them and the instructions and let them know that reports of your death are greatly exaggerated.

TransUnion
P.O. Box 6790
Fullerton, CA 92834

Experian
P.O. Box 9530
Allen, TX 70513

Equifax
P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA 30374

(Photo: Getty)

Credit Karma [Official Site]

• CreditKarma.com: Gives you your TransUnion score. Advertising-supported.
• E-Loan: Experian score. Scroll down to "One-Time Credit Snapshots" and "Free Credit Score (Credit Score Only)"
• Prosper: Experian score. Information on how to do it here.
• LendingClub: Gives you a letter grade score, which you can use this chart to translate to a numerical score.
• Washington Mutual Credit Cards: Get your Transunion score when you log in.

• Another way these are useful is that if you check in periodically and keep track of the results, you can see how your score fluctuates and try to correlate its delta with any credit-related actions you took during that time. But, if you're shopping for a loan or a mortgage, you will definitely want to pony up the cash and get your real FICO score.

  [via MyMoneyBlog]

Violated cardholders can select from two options:

(1) Basic relief. Free credit monitoring for six months, which gives you daily access to your credit report and credit score and 24-hour credit-monitoring service. This normally costs $59.75. Those who elect this option may get a cash payment if there’s money left from the $75 million settlement fund.

(2) Enhanced relief. An alternative enhanced set of services” in exchange for a full release of claims. This options includes nine months credit monitoring, a suite of insurance scores and TransUnion’s mortgage simulator service. This option normally would cost $115.50. You won’t be entitled to any cash payment under this option.

Option 1 could generate cash, but option 2 might provide your actual credit score, depending on which news outlet you believe. Option 2 has the potential to be worth significantly more to the average consumer.

Even better: "Under the settlement, a credit card number would not be required to sign up for either service. After the free service ends, TransUnion could not charge for an extension unless it was requested by the consumer."

The settlement still needs to be approved, but if it is, it'll be a huge win for consumers.

Ken McEldowney, executive director of Consumer Action, a national advocacy group based in San Francisco, called the settlement mind-boggling.

"It's everything we tell consumers that they need to find out if they have problems with their credit," he said. "They are getting information on how to improve it and information about whether they are creditworthy. This is astonishing."

You can start filing claims on June 16 at the settlement website, or by calling (866) 416-3470.

Consumers will soon know the (credit) score [L.A. Times]
TransUnion Free Credit Score Settlement [Blueprint For Financial Prosperity]
(Photo: RobotSkirts)

TransUnion:

"TransUnion still has me living in Maryland. It's only been 8 years since I've done so. Nevermind the mortgage for a home in Arizona or anything contextual that'd lead them to believe their data is wrong. Ironically, they informed me that I indeed still resided in Maryland — even after I told them I didn't. Wonderful conversation that was, lots of "um, I think I know where I live", countered with "you'd be surprised!""

"For the past three years I've been unable to get my free credit report online from them because they keep thinking I have an account with them, and the "forgot my password" page tells me it will not send a password because I've had too many login attempts in the past. Assholes. It's not ID theft here, it's just a really awful website that won't let me have what I am legally entitled to."

"TransUnion mixed up my credit report with my dad's because we have the same name. Some of my loans and lines of credit are on his credit report and vice versa."

"TransUnion makes it nearly impossible to purchase ONE single credit report. They tell you left right and center how to purchase the $45 dollar trilogy or the expensive monitoring service or any of their other products. But go try to order one credit report. Its not intuitive at all."

Diebold:

"Diebold steals our votes & therefore our country. Diebold is the worst!"

"Hmm... I'm going with the company that hires executives convicted of federal crimes of fraud, insider trading, etc. and makes machines that determine the future of our county yet have virtually no security."

"When the CEO says he is, "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year" during the 2004 election and the senior executives Diebold were active fundraisers for Bush, that's a bad sign. I understand the executives as a person v. as representative of a company distinction. But at a certain point, it raises questions related to impartiality."

"Diebold has been very closed towards any 3rd party review of their voting software. Just this alone makes the company dangerous as sin."

"The issue isn't crackpot theories since those always exist. The real problem is not if something happend, but how ridiculously easy it could happen. Not to mention their going after professors researching the voting machines for the public good."

"Voting machines made by a biased company. Talk about a bad idea."

This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2008 series. The companies nominated for this honor were chosen by you, the readers. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america

STILL OPEN FOR VOTING: Best Buy vs CompUSA, DeBeers vs Verizon, Exxon vs United Airlines, Sony vs Ticketmaster, Comcast vs The American Arbitration Association

Two days before the transplant, the hospital called Drew to tell him that his half brother, Michael, had mononucleosis and that it would be months before he could be up to the surgery required for his donation. Devastated, Drew dialed Alexa to tell her the news. She didn't skip a beat. "I'll be your donor, Eric," she said. Two days before Christmas, Drew received Alexa's stem cells through a catheter in his chest. It would be three months before he would know if the stem cells had grafted, and he knew the odds were low. But he had no idea how low he could get.
 
During his treatment in Seattle, he began getting strange calls from credit card companies thanking him for his application. Drew shrugged it off as best he could until the collection agents started arriving at his door. There were a half dozen accounts opened in his name, with almost $10,000 in charges. "Please stop this!" Drew told one of the banks on the phone. "I'm in a hospital dying!"
 
But there was no stopping this thief. Here Drew was, on the verge of death, and someone was stripping away his last shred of humanity. He felt that his identity was being taken on every level. The disease was robbing him of his life. Some criminal was stealing his identity.

Even when Drew called the companies that had issued him cards he had never applied for, the companies still sent him huge bills for items he never bought. And despite the fact that Richard Gibson, the hospital employee who stole his card, was convicted - the first in the nation under the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act - Drew's bad credit lingered for another two years.
 
Litigation is still pending with Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, Equifax and Experian.

MTV .... To be honest, we've never required any "customer service" from MTV, so we're not really sure why they are nominated. It seems some people are still upset that video killed the radio star.

TransUnion is a credit rating service that holds in its hands your financial destiny. Hope that it doesn't misplace it...

This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2008 series. The companies nominated for this honor were chosen by you, the readers. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america/

TransUnion
2 Baldwin Place
P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19022

Experian
P.O. Box 2104
Allen, TX 75013-2104

Equifax
P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA 30374-0241

REFERENCE
Protect Your Children's Credit with a Freeze! [Ask Marian]
(Photo: Getty)

• Debix: For just $99 per year, whenever someone tries to open a line of credit, Debix will call and play your own pre-recorded approval message. Credit will be denied unless you enter the super-secret PIN.
• LifeLock: Maybe not the best of the bunch, LifeLock offers to place and preserve fraud alerts on credit files. CEO Todd Davis promoted his company's services by bandying his social security number about the internet, challenging anyone to defeat his company's software; a scammer successfully pried $500 from a check-cashing firm using his identity.
• TrustedID: For $12.95 per month, TrustedID places alerts and freezes on credit files. The credit reporting agencies recently began allowing consumers to request credit freezes for free - but they only last 90 days.

If the three privately-owned, for-profit credit reporting agencies want to keep the exclusive high honor of determining each American's credit worthiness, they should offer these defenses to every consumer, free of charge.

In ID Theft, Some Victims See Opportunity [NYT]
(Photo: jyesko)

Starting November 1, Experian will allow victims of identity theft to freeze and thaw their accounts for free. Others will have access to the same services, though the charge will vary by state.

Under a law that took effect in July, District residents can place, lift or remove a freeze for $10. Maryland's law will require consumers to pay just $5, but it does not go into effect until January. Virginia has no credit freeze law.

At least 39 states and the District have laws that allow or will allow consumers to freeze their credit files, but many do not take effect until 2008 or 2009.

The credit reporting agencies' newfound willingness to offer credit freezes is a boon to consumers, one made all the more potent by regularly checking your credit report for free.

Agency to Offer Credit Freezes [Washington Post]
(Photo: eva101)

Of course, TransUnion isn't simply doing this to be nice. Unless you can prove you're already a victim of identity theft, the freeze will cost you $10. No word on whether that's a one-time or annual fee, but we'll be realists and assume it's annual. You receive a pin code that you can use to unfreeze the report for legitimate uses.

A spokesman for Consumers Union points out that the offering is good, but not really effective unless the other big players participate:

We think it's a major development... but you really need to be able to freeze all three of your credit files. Otherwise, it's like locking your front door but leaving your window and back door open.

"TransUnion gives consumers authority to block use of credit reports" [The Kansas City Star]
(Photo: Getty)

Try this number first:
Cindy Hennessey, assistant to David Wolff
(312) 985-2000, press 2, dial extension 3802

David Wolff, VP of Consumer Services
Call 312-985-2000, press 3 to reach the names directory, dial Wolff David
Fax: (312) 347-5770

— BEN POPKEN

What burg does our newchamp hail from? Reader Glines A.http://transuranic.blogspot.com/ discovered him while navigating the wilds of free credit reports. Read about his discovery of consumerism's next Ivan Drago after the jump!

http://www.annualcreditreport.com is where you start.

If you work in the medieval dungeon of Fed Gov web access, you use Internet Assplower, and not the wholesome Brokeback spittle-in-the-palm kind. So if you're not ridin' the F.Fox you'll have to re-write your address each time you visit.

Oh, also? Each site gives an Extra Option to only have the last four digits of my social security number displayed. Wow, free will in the deterministic hell of administriviana? So if I just skip over it I can have the financial/privacy equivalent of my genitalia spread all over the internet? Awesome, thanks! *seething* Opt*-/in/...*

TransUnion: Yeah [barely glancing at my ID], that looks like you. Report, though? No dice, you've already gotten one this year.
Me: [Didn't get Transunion report] When was that? Tell me when so I can come back one year from that date and get my next one!
TU: Calls TransUnion at normal number.
Me: [Calls both numbers. Dialing maze. Enter SSN, DOB, LGBTBBQ] TU: We're sorry... cannot be accessed with the info you provided... to receive... you must purchase...
Me: [G. Jetson] UNIBLAB!

Equifax: Please verify your identity. Here are some sample questions which will help us verify your account. [questions which all make sense to me, are past addresses and loans that I recognize.]
Me: [answer questions calmly and correctly]
Equifax: Sorry, you last received your report on October 11, 2005. See you next year! [or pay us $5.95.]
Me: ^_^

Experian: Please verify your identity. Here are some sample questions which will help us verify your account [questions about accounts I do not recognize and that I've never taken out (auto loan?) Given that there are "none of the above" choices, I figure they're questions designed to throw off a faker.]
Me: [answer questions correctly but cautiously]
Experian: We're sorry. We are unable to process your request online. We understand that the privacy and security of your information is important to you; therefore we cannot provide a specific reason as to why we cannot deliver your report online.
Me: Fuhh the whuh? Does this mean I answered the questions incorrectly, does it mean I've answered them correctly but I've already received a free credit report in the last year, or does it mean... DOES IT MEAN that someone's opened accounts you described above in my name but that I have never heard of them before today??
Experian: You may still receive account information, but you'll have to send us your information by MAIL instead; please photocopy your driver's license, attach a utility bill, etc...
Me: [fearing the worst] KHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNN
(Exeunt.)

Me: Calls Experian ("make sure to log onto Experian.com!") Recordings prompt me to type in my SSN DOB BBQ & numeric portion of my address; then I get a confirm code, then I am told I'll receive my report in ten business days, then I'm hung up on.

Yeah, I have COMPLETE confidence in these companies.

Us too, Glines! We appreciate your concerns. Thanks for writing in!

Would you like us to appreciate your concerns? Write us at tips@consumerist.com.

Check out more at Glines's blog, Transuranic.