An
article on MSNBC's the Red Tape Chronicles recently addressed the issue about "free credit reports".
In the US, one year ago this month, Congress passed a law granting consumers the right to view their credit report for free, annually. The article posts the URL of a website,
www.annualcreditreport.com, which is the collaborative effort of the 3 larger credit bureaus as a means to comply.
At the same time, the article shows, the FTC apparently slapped the wrist of "FreeCreditReport Dot Com" for its misleading marketing. It's advertisements and website were leading many consumers to believe that signing up simply meant getting a free credit report from Experian (who owns said website), while a paid membership grants you access to all three bureaus.
Instead, what is really happening is by signing up, the consumer -- aware or not -- is in a trial period for a free report, and is then charged afterward. Since then the website in question took steps to clarify the terms on their website, with even a link to annualcreditreport.com in their FAQ section. Some say it's not enough, and the site is still misleading in terms of how often a consumer is charged, and how much, after the trial period ends.
As it turns out, yours truly suddenly came to a horrific realization after reading this article. I recall a time 6 months ago when I had signed up for MY free credit report, from said website. Since then, it has become a distant memory. Quickly, I scrambled through their sitemap to find any link I could that would lead me to instructions on how to cancel my membership. Only a phone number was listed. So I called it.
At first I thought I had misdialed and called AOL. I must have said it more times than I can count on one hand, "I just want to cancel my membership". Which each time I could get a word in edgewise to insert that phrase, her next sentence began with "I understand. But..."
But nothing, cancel the @$%&! account already. Keeping my cool, I figured the best defense was a good offense. I had to catch her off guard, because each pause that was meant to prompt a response from me was actually only a cue to what she was supposed to read next from a scripted talk-diagram. So, I waited for her to begin, then interupted her to break the rythym.
"Look, I'm sorry, I don't want to waste your time or mine, I just want to cancel the account. And I'm in a hurry."
"Alright, I am now cancelling your account. Official termination date will be the 14th. Anything else I can..."
"No thank you, have a great day. Bye"
Cancelling the not-so-free Free Credit Report
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