In March I saw an ad on the internet for a free credit report. I signed up for it and made sure I read all the small print. They asked for my credit card number to "validate my identity". It said my card would be charged $1.00 and credited right back.
I received an email welcoming me to myperfectcredit.com and it explained how the system works and referred to fees that would be charged.
I wrote right back and said I was not aware of any fees and would not agree to these terms. I did not hear back, I sent another email 10 days later asking for a respose. Another 3 days went by and they finally responded saying they had authorized my card for $1.00 to validate my identity and that I would not be billed until after the initial 5 day trial period. They also sent a cancellation form.
I immediately completed the cancellation form and sent it back. I also stated that I expect my account would not be charged. Five days went by and they sent an email confirming my cancellation and stated that "if" I cancelled during the 5 day trial period I would not be charged.
I responded stating that they did not have permission to charge me at all since I couldn't cancel within the 5 day trial period because they didn't answer my email for 13 days. I stated that if I am charged I would report them to the attorney general. They never responded.
Well, sure enough, they charged my card $30. The $1 charge was not there. I wrote to the credit card company to dispute the charge and sent a complaint to the attorney general as promised. The next month I was charged $35. I called the credit card company and informed them of the dispute and requested that they not accept any future charges from myperfectcredit. That was in May.
I didn't hear anything from anyone until 7/20. I received a call from First Credit of America, a collection agency, asking for $150. I explained what happened and they said I had to deal with myperfectcredit to get it cleared up and in the meantime their collection efforts would continue and the $150 collection would show on my credit report.
I have reported this to the Federal Trade Commission, the IFCC which is part of the FBI and the National Fraud Information Center. The attorney general had not yet looked at the file when I called them on 7/20.
Yesterday, 7/26, I sent a cease & desist letter to First Credit of America. They called again yesterday and today. They said that I agreed to charges in the small print when I signed up with myperfectcredit. I told them that was not true and asked if they have proof of that and they admitted that they do not.
I am strongly considering hiring an attorney at this point.
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