I was a stranger, and they took me...

[flyboy]

Sooo, I saw the web site advertised, FREE credit report and credit score. I went to the site, annualcreditreport.com, and started to order the report from Equifax, But suddenly, the credit score cost an additional $7.95.  O.k. , sez I, it's worth it for a one-shot deal.

Filled out the info, sent it in, and got a message that they couldn't send my report to me over the internet. Maybe I was a terorist? No further instructions, no info. when the info I had purchased would arrive.

Finally got Equifax's Customer Assault Center, where, after innumerable guesses as to which of the buttons would get me to where I wanted to go, and two calls, I found out that the amount advertised was not the amount of the service. If I wanted it, I'd have to pay twice as much!  I cancelled the transaction.

That is the slickest bait and switch ploy I have ever experienced.

Now, I am not certain whether I will receive my payment back. It's only $8, but it just chaps me.   

Buyer beware, indeed!

[Graybeard]

You are allowed one free credit report per year or one any time you are turned down for credit or insurance and a few other things. But getting that credit score is a scam at best. If you want it the best way to get it is to ask your banker to pull it for you. They can do it for free and give it to you if you have a decent relationship with a bank.

[DalesCarpentry]

About 8 years ago when I first got on the Internet I fell for a pretty good scam. It said you could get a free credit report. So I signed up. The thing is you had to give them your debit card number so that they could verify you were over 18 years old or some crap. It's been awhile so not positive of the circumstances. I never read the fine print. If I had I would have noticed that they are going to deduct $30.00 a month from my bank account until I cancel my membership. Things were going good as far as work went and I never had to watch my account balance to closely because I was doing good. It took me 3 months to realize they had been taking money from my account. I canceled my membership that day. I believe that is fraud and I wonder how many thousands of people out there don't realize they are taking their money every month. Dale

[Oldtimer]

I tried getting my credit report on annualcreditreport.com the other day and went to the Transunion.  The website redirected me to the Transunion website and they listed some of my accounts.  I gave the information requested on the first screen, as it said it was needed to verify that I was who I said I was.  Another screen came up asking for the information for another account, and I put that in.  When it asked for the information for a third account, I got spooked and quit the effort.    I can understand the need to verify who is accessing the date, but three is too much for me to be comfortable,  especially since I have heard of hackers who have managed to phish with spoof sites. 

The credit score is not a very important consideration, unless there are some irregularities in what is on the account, in which case what Bill said comes into play.  Annualcreditreport.come has no real control over what the credit reporting agencies do on their own sites.  I did get the credit score one time, when one of my daughters got messed up with credit cards, when she was in college.  We used it to convince her to go to credit counseling.  It seems to me that the price was lower than was quoted to you, but it has been several years. 

The other scam is credit protection.  Unfortunately, banks can and will sell you down the river to one of these companies.  The other daughter had a charge appear on her credit card bill for $12.95 a month, and she had not authorized it.  It pays to read the bill  in full every month.

[corbanzo]

I've tried that online free credit crap too.  I've tried it a couple of times.  And all the online ones say that they cannot retrieve my credit information because of some - hell I don't know why.  And that if i used whatever service (which they would probably charge me for) then I could probably get it.  A bunch of BS if you ask me. 

[Shooter973]

I haven't tried to get a credit report in over 10 years. I just pay my bills on time and got myself 100% out of debt, so I don't give a crap about my credit report.  If I ever needed more credit that I can get from my credit union they can run a credit check on me.  I have a credit line with them and I'll never need more money than that.  Stay out of debt as much as you can and pay what monthly bills you have and you'll never have to worry about this sort of crap.

[hillbill]

dittos shooter973!but yull find not many people believe in the same philosophy we do anymore. everybody says oh yu need credit to buy a house, i say bull-poop. if you have paid all your bills on time for 3-4 years, have the down payment saved and a good work history you should be able to find a lender that does manual underwriting, which is basically checking the items i just mentioned.of course yu may not be eligible for a ripoff sub prime variable interest  type loan.im lucky, i know how to build houses, of course i didnt before i built mine, but i do now. happy huntin!!!