Did you try Experian’s FreeCreditReport.com only to find out it wasn’t free after all? Lots of folks are complaining. The NY Times has more.
“It’s what I call a protection racket; the companies are charging you a fee and they’re making a promise that it’s going to improve your credit, and protect against identity theft, but in fact it does neither,” said Edmund Mierzwinski, consumer program director for the United States Public Interest Research Group. “The sites are designed to trick people into taking on overpriced, useless credit monitoring, and they do so by attempting to make it appear as if you’re going to get something for free.”
To cancel the $14.95 monthly billing for Triple Advantage that you probably didn’t know you signed up for, call 888-829-6560. Be prepared for lots of evasion and stalling on the other end as they try to stop you from canceling.
I emailed their customer service area and got canceled the next day and they refunded my $ that same day. So instead of dealing with them over the phone – do the email route
I posted about this back in March (http://asymptoticlife.com/2008/03/06/experian-deceptive-advertising.aspx)… but don’t forget there’s a truly free site (which Experian appears to be intentionally confusing):
http://www.AnnualCreditReport.com
This site was set up to apease government regulators, and it allows you to get one free credit report per year from each of the three reporting agencies. I use it each November, and it works pretty well. And yeah, the companies’ sites offer credit protection programs and such, but they’re optional and the credit reports are truly free.