I'm on disability due to a spinal injury and advancing arthritis, and as such live on a meager fixed income. Medical bills have all but ruined my credit, and I requested a "free credit report" (after seeing it advertised on TV) last Spring in hopes of somehow trying to 'clean it up' and pay off some medical bills a little at a time.
NOWHERE during the 'free credit report' process did I see ANYTHING that stated I was 'signing up' for something (let alone a mention of $12.95 per month); I was even THOROUGH and CAREFUL ENOUGH that I recall de-selecting a box (so they wouldn't send me information or newsletters!).
Here's the best part: I wasn't even able to VIEW, let alone print, my 'free credit report' because apparently the result wasn't MAC-friendly. When I tried again, I was informed I could only get a 'free report' ONCE a year, but for a FEE they'd let me 'see' it again. I said 'cancel' and was out of there.
Over the next four months I was in the process of moving to a one-level house in another town (can;t do stairs anymore), and recall, several times, wondering how I could be overdrafting my bank account several times as I was always meticulous about recording all of my checks (and phoned-in electronic payments to utilities, etc.), yet there seemed to be something I was missing...
Around February this year, getting online and checking my account, I noticed a 12.95 amount, but at the time thought it was from my BANK (I had just ordered new checks recently).
Was hospitalized several times in March AND earlier this April (emergency surgery after an arterial bleed) so when I got back on my feet this month sat down to catch up on bills and such, when I noticed ANOTHER bank overdraft from March! I saw the 12.95 again, and decided to check my online statement — THIS MORNING the 12.95 was being taken from my acount AGAIN! This was RUINING my checking records, and killing me keeping up with the overdrafts and wondering why. (In case someone's wondering: when you live on a meager ssdi check, you tend to live hand to mouth, and frequently your checking account WILL be exhausted down to the last five or six dollars by the end of the month).
FINALLY I called the bank, angry that they were charging me for my checking account (I thought it was because I was below some minimum balance, even though I thought I had 'free checking'); they set me straight, and told me that fee was from somebody else. They gave me the phone number attached to the debit, I called, and...
Well, then my story is much like some others here. The woman I spoke with treated me as if I were STUPID, and kept repeating that I had an ACCOUNT with them that they billed me for at the end of every month. When I asked WHAT the account was for, and when had I 'signed up' for it, she simply repeated herself. I demanded to talk to someone else, and threatened legal action. That's when she said she would refund me for the past 3 months. But NOT the previous 6 or 7 (over 90 days)! I asked her how she felt if I demanded the OVERDRAFT FEES (at LEAST 34 per month, oftimes more!) they had been causing me the past half a year or so, and she LAUGHED and said "oh we can't do THAT". (I didn't expect them to, but to LAUGH at me?)
I AM FURIOUS.
The freecreditreport.com site is DIFFERENT today than it was when I went there last Spring; there were NO boxes of fine print and 'disclaimers' there then, as there are now.
Also, I see now that they mention that for a REAL 'free' report you need to go to a DIFFERENT site. That was NOT THERE last Spring either! It's obvious they are covering their butts now, but the damage has been done to my life (and my credit) in a BIG WAY by now and I DEMAND a FULL REFUND of EVERY PENNY THEIR FRAUDULENT SCAM has cost me — yes, including the HUNDREDS of DOLLARS their dipping into my account has cost me in unexpected overdrafts as well! — since I requested my 'free credit report' from them last Spring! I think EVERY ONE who has had this happen to them should demand no less! This is FRAUD and DECEPTION, plain and simple, and takes advantage of people. I am guessing (realistically!) that out of every 10 people who went there for a 'free credit report' at least HALF OF THEM had NO IDEA they were going to start seeing money leaving their checking account/charge card on a monthly basis. Some may have caught it right away (good for them); others, like myself, didn't catch it (and THEN, understand even what it was or who was doing it) until MUCH LATER.
WARN EVERYONE you know of this fraudulent, deceptive, thieving setup! Out of the seven friends and family that I know of now who had also signed up for a free credit report through them, FOUR still did not know they were being billed 12.95 a month for it (and they are as furious now as I am)...
Sincerely (and thoroughly ready to see this marched into court)...
Shea
Clinton, Illinois
U.S.A.
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