If their ads wern't so entertaining...

It's a shame, but at the same time, if you Google "freecreditreport.com", the second match is

"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.

Seriously. My bank recovered over $65 in unauthorized charges from freecreditreport.com. I want to kick that singing dork in the throat.

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.

How come they haven't been blasted for false advertising yet? It's obviously NOT free like the name says. Anyone have an explanation?

I feel like even though this company is called "free credit report," they're pretty clear in the TV advertising that the free reports come only with enrollment in their credit monitoring service, or something like that.

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?

@xkaluv: yea, if only.

I'm sorry, Jose, but it is pretty clear that they are going to charge you. I don't feel all that bad, and you should take the $19.90 as a hard lesson learned to read the mouse-print.

@OmniZero: Because it is free..

..

..

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

Jose, call one of the credit companies and say you are the victim of fraud. Then you get another set of credit reports free. I think that's your best bet. Either that or file a chargeback.

@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!!!!

I thought this was the annualcreditreport.com and later firgured out that this is only free for first 7 days but then I dont remember if I called them or emailed htem on the 7th day and they closed the account so I was not billed.

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

"Offer applies with enrollment in triple advantage" EVERY one of there ads says something like this. It's not a scam when they tell you in the advertisement, and give you a trial period in which you can cancel.

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

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!

@OmniZero: On that count, because the free credit report is 'free' with purchase of the monitoring or whatever.

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.

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

@NYGal81: I didn't notice the charges on my account for a while (my own fault, sure), but Compass Bank recovered over $65 in unwanted charges to my account.

America, land of the free*.

*Some restrictions apply.

@MaxSmart32: Not even mouseprint. They say it out loud on the commercial "Free credit report only with enrollment..."

@NYGal81: exactly...

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.

A little off topic- but for 2 days I've been trying to go to annualcreditreport.com and the site has been off-line. Anyone else having trouble?

@GTI2.0:

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.

My wife went through a similar situation with these asshats. She created an account and tried for four months to access it and could never get in. She called customer non-service to cancel the account and got a royal run around. After several minutes of verbal jousting, my wife asked to speak to a supervisor. Thirty seven minutes later, a supervisor finally spoke with her and it was more of the same "the information does not match" crap.

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, 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.

@Crabby Cakes: Just went there and it worked fine for me. 12:40 PM ET on Thursday 10/16.

@NYGal81: Yes, they do say that it is only free with the enrollment. BUT, they also know damn well that people aren't going to listen beyond the word "free." That's what they count on. And that's how they rope people into this stuff.

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).

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

@newfenoix:
*Lights his cigar>*

<.<
>.>

Bravo.

@NightSteel: Taking them at it's word is reading it's words other than the title. The site says it's not free.

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."

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.

@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.

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

@Sam Glover: *offer not valid in HI or AK, the 48 contiguous States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, US Virgin Islands, or other U.S. territories or possessions.

@waybaker: I think it's easy to believe that a credit card number is required to check one's credit report. If you're the type person who doesn't read the fine print (that you're going to be signed up for a service), then you're probably not the type who knows that isn't necessary.

@HRHKingFridayXX: I like the one where he laments marrying a girl with bad credit. "If only I'd known..."

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!

@OmniZero: Actually, all of the ads say "Offer implies enrollment in Triple Advantage" at the very end. They don't explicitly say that Triple Advantage implies payment, but it should alert the consumer that something is up.

@OP the moral of the story is... "How can you read consumerist and not understand that you're paying for their credit score and on top of that they provide you with a "free" credit report."

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?

@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->: DO NOT DO THIS. This clearly isn't fraud (it's deceiving and kinda scummy, but not fraud) and by claiming so, you're going to be putting yourself in a bad situation. I believe there's a box and click through accepting the terms of FreeCreditReport's site. That fact that he blindly clicked through doesn't excuse him.

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

@newfenoix: See, this is where is calling your credit card co. and asking for a charge back would be approrpiate. Jose's not nearly at that point yet. He accepted the (again, scummy) service, forgot about it, left it for a month, and got charged again. That's his bad.

@newfenoix: Well done.

I've used freecreditreport.com and they make it VERY clear that you will be enrolling in a credit monitoring program for which you will be charged should you not cancel within a given period of time (I think it's 10 days). You can cancel the day of if you want to, so it's really not that complicated.

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.

"Offer applies with enrollment in triple advantage"
"Offer applies with enrollment in triple advantage"
"Offer applies with enrollment in triple advantage"
"Offer applies with enrollment in triple advantage"

TANSTAAFL

Taken from the front page of www.freecreditreport.com

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?

@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.

@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.

@LindsayC: But free is in the name....and if I didn't see the commercial, or I'm deaf, then I go to the site and all that... I had no idea about any of it. Isn't there some sort of issue with that?