I mistook FreeCreditReport.com for AnnualCreditReport.com–and now, when my “free trial” expires, they’re going to start charging my credit card. I emailed their customer support, asking that my account please be terminated, and three business days later they haven’t responded. They have a customer support number, too, with area code 877–does that mean it’s free? I can’t tell anymore.
What do I do to stop them from getting any of my money? I am feeling pretty irate.
Yes, 877 is a toll free service…I would call them and make sure that gets taken care of as soon as possible. Also, you might want to call your credit card company and let them know you are cancelling that charge just to cover yourself.
I just called their customer support, and they say that my account was cancelled as of two days ago.
Nobody told me that it had been cancelled. No confirmation email.
At no point during the registration process was anything about ever being charged brought up. The name of the website is freecreditreport.com! Except it isn’t free.
BTW–my credit is indeed stellar, since I stopped using my CapitalOne card. So now there are two companies on my shit list–CapitalOne, and FreeCreditReport.
Yeah, I recently got my free reports, too, and the funny thing is, if you watch a commercial for FreeCreditReport.com. they have fine print saying that the free report you get is not one of the actual free reports you are entitled to annually, for that, you need to go to annualcreditreport.com…so I did.
My Equifax report was fine, I couldn’t get my Esperian one (for some reason the online process faild and I have to submit for one by mail…argh) and my TransUnion one has a couple things on it that are NOT me, and I know exactly why they are on there. All growing up, everytime I went to the doctor, I had to make SURE that he double-check my file, since there was another kid the same age as me with the same first and last name, and same middle initial. So same name, born in the same year, he lived about thirty minutes from me, and according to these two bad things on my report, he hasn’t moved since we were 17. SO I can kind of see why it mgiht get on my report…but there are these things called social securioty numbers. Ours are nothing alike, AFAIK.
How easy is it to get false information removed from a credit report? I was actually a little pissed about this, because the credit union i went through to get my car loan checked my credit using TransUnion. If they had gone Equifax I probably could have gotten a better rate, or something.
You can have a ‘consumer statement’ put on your credit reports for free. In this statement, you can put something like, 'Do not confuse with persons of similar name. Require additional identification before extending credit.'
To dispute an item, write to the reporting agency w/ the incorrect information and explain to them what you wrote here and find out exactly what their process is, as not all credit reporting agencies do things identically. They may require a copy of your social security card, signed, and a copy of your driver’s licence, at the least. This is a great opportunity to make sure everything on your report is spelled and reported correctly as well, this could save you an enormous amount of hassle years down the road. (I could tell you a long, dull anecdote to illustrate this, but I won’t.)
It is now possible to put an alert on your credit requiring a password to release your credit info to anyone; this will cost you a yearly fee.
Is it possible to now refinance your car loan w/ this or another credit union? It will cost you nothing to call them and ask how you can get your interest rate lowered.
To the OP, did you get a confirmation number from them for the cancellation?
Wait wait, you found that phone number? SHARE THE WEALTH! (I’m serious).
We were had by those bastards, too. Didn’t realize it until a year later and 80 bucks charged to our account. Fortunately we never used their “service” so we got a full refund.
You might also call your credit card company and explain that you feel you may have been tricked into an ongoing subscription to a service and request a new card. There is no charge for replacing a card that is lost or stolen; so your card may be replaced with a new one (with different numbers) free of charge as a courtesy.
I also signed up at freecreditreport.com However when I saw the the notice that I would be charged after the first month, and I gave them my credit card info it seemed fairly obvious to me that not everything is well you know free.
So if you gave them your CC info, how can you claim yoiu did not know there would be a charge?
If you honestly did not understand that there would be a charge, then perhaps you could help me get this $30 million dollars out of Nigeria. I’ll just need your credit card info for, you know, indentification. 
Rick: FU 
It seemed like a reasonable thing for a credit reporting bureau to ask. I also had a pounding headache at the time and, three minutes earlier, had poured water into my canister of rice instead of into the saucepan with rice.