Alex01tib

Ok, before i go into this, yes i know you're legally entitled to a free credit report once a year but at the time i didn't know this.

Back in april i was convinced by my friend (who was straightening out his credit to buy a car) to check my credit online, i told him i didn't want to bother with it since i have good credit.

He said there's no reason not to since its free and all you have to do is sign up, get your credit report, and then call and cancel, which i did, told them i wanted no additional offers or charges, just cancel.

And life went on, until i noticed a charge even tho i haven't used my card in 2 months and i have no auto-debits.

So i look at my account, $11.99 debited on 11/13 with the description Master Money Purchase TLG*GREATFN XXXXXX

im thinking, what the hell is that?

then i look deeper, and there is another in october, another in august, and so on.

i call my bank to file an affidavit of fraud and they asked if i wanted to call the company responsible for it first and i said sure, i call them and it turns out this is a retail discout club company that True credit signed me up for even though i insisted i didnt want any part in it.

The guy tried to convince me to the benefits of being a member and i tell him, "benefits!?? your company has leeched money off me for god knows how long and i never got a discount card or a statement or anything, i want this cancelled and ALL my money returned"

He did, and now i looked and truecredit had charged me 16 bucks back in may that i didn't notice, so i call them and b**** them out and they said they see where i called and the deposit just hadnt been finalized (conveniently) so he then refunded me. I told him his company is a bunch of scam artists.

So it had gone on from may till now, leeched over a hundred dollars off my account and if i hadnt noticed they could have taken much more without me noticing

Just a warning for you guys, just go to annualcreditreport.com if you really want it but NEVER sign up for anything through any other ones.

Scam artists

Ericy321

I just have my bank girl look it up for me. fing02.gif

That sucks though dude. Gotta be careful with that online signup stuff. your info can go all over the place real fast

Alex01tib

Whenever you have a business do a credit report pull for you it brings your credit report down a few points, unless you do it more than a few times a year it wont matter much

my friend (the one who convinced me to pull my credit) had a dealership pull his credit 17 times in one day, it lowered his credit drastically.

He asked them why the hell they pulled it 17 times, they said they were trying to find a bank to give him the loan. Instead of pulling it once (or just using the one that he had printed off earlier that day) and faxing it to each bank, they just authorized each bank to pull it themselves.

As a result, he couldn't finance a car for about 6 months.

majik

I check mine fairly often. I like Experian's web layout the best (freecreditreport.com).

By law, each of the three credit reporting agencies are required to give you one free credit report annually. I pay $12/mo. for Experian, and usually have it go for 3 months or so just to watch it, then I cancel it and look into another company.

It's free, and it's important. Know what your credit score is, and how to improve it. See what credit cards are out there issued in your name. A credit card held for 3+ years is GOOD, a bunch of recent cards is BAD. ANY deliquent payments that have been reported past due over 30 days are BAD. You don't want to exceed 20% used of your total credit limit (i.e., $10,000 limit - shouldn't put more than $2,000 on it). Of course, that can vary, but they do look at how much of your credit you utilize and if you're using it wisely or maxing it out. Also, I think they lump them together, so the total of all of your limits compared to the total of all balances. Also note that even if you pay off your credit card every month, it will still show your balance was $xxxx.xx. I used to pay mine off before the statement came out, and my credit report never showed I was using my credit card because it always posted as a 0 balance. It's good to show you're using it.

Long-term good-standing major credit cards are positive for your credit report. Checking accounts, cell phones, and rent payments don't really show up. Mortgage and Car Loan payment history are good, but not necessary.

The 3: Experian, TransUnion, Equifax

Ericy321

I know the bank lady told me that when looking to get a home loan it is good to have multiple open accounts. I know she told me that when it comes time to purchase a house I will have no problem.

majik

knowing your credit score is good for negotiating rates. Bankrate.com shows daily mortgage interest rates and historical data. You can use that as a benchmark and a way to ask questions regarding data you've seen elsewhere.
When I bought my first house, having an apartment or rent somewhere for 13 consecutive months was one of the things they looked for. They also looked for income levels, time spent at current place of employment, and money in the bank (checking & savings).

I hadn't had 13 consecutive months in an apartment (all were 9 months during college, and then I lived with my parents). I was still in college and was only working in my internship for 2 months when I bought my house (part time intern, making $15/hr. - NOT a lot of income). But, I had worked my butt off during school and had a good amount of money saved in the bank. The money in the bank and my excellent credit score are the reasons I got the loan. If I had the others, it might have helped get a better rate.

Alex01tib

Oh im not arguing the benefits of checking your credit, i'm just saying you really need to watch out for the "legal scam artist" companies that use barely legal tactics to make money

In this case it was "forgetting" to un-enroll me from a few things i clearly stated i wanted no part in. I checked around and this is definitely not a isolated incident.

They figure most people have enough money in the bank to not notice small charges each month that seem to be legitimate due to an "error" and will continue to collect the money until the person switches accounts or finds out.

And even when somebody like me demands a refund, they still win, have had my money for over half a year, and have benefited from the interest and liquidity of my money.

JonGTR

I've been raising my credit score for the past 6 months now and have learned just about everything there is to raise it in the fastest way possible.
True Credit, while does tend to "forget" to take you off the list quite frequently, does have its perks. You always need to check when cancelling something. That goes for every business. I've had gyms do the same thing to me.

Now, since this board isn't monitored by credit agencies, I'm gonna let you in on a very big secret. wink1.gif
The credit agencies use programs to store your credit history. Now, just like every hard drive, there is a limited amount of space available for your data. When you go to check your own credit, a "soft" inquiry gets put on your file. These are inquiries that are shown to you in your file, but don't count against you or are shown to anyone else.
Well, it seems that Equifax and Trans Union both have very small spaces to hold your inquiries. So, when you use a "daily monitoring" system such as True Credit, and update/check your own credit, you put a soft inquiry on your own file. Well, after so many inquiries, your file begins to get FULL, and the older inquiries, hard and soft, begin to magically dissapear, or BUMP OFF.

As of now, I have 0 hard inquiries on my EQ and TU credit reports, even though I applied for a loan only 2 months ago. I've found that on average, it takes about 30-45 pulls from Trans Union to begin the bumpage. And about 45-60 pulls for Equifax to start bumping.
Remember, True Credit and other systems only allow you to pull once per day, so it'll take you almost 2 months of straight pulls to get everything bumped.
Experian apparently has a larger file system and will not let you bump. You just have to wait the 2 years for them to fall off. 02.gif

Now even though this seems like a huge deal and you can't wait to do it, remember that inquiries don't have that big of an affect on your scores. Each inquiry will oinly cost you maybe 3 points. It's not that big of a deal. But it can keep you from gaining new credit and a denial when you apply for more credit and the inquiries you have are recent, within 6 months.
Also, True Credit has apparently caught on to this and has dropped a few members. Don't worry, nothing will happen to you, you just won't be using True Credits services again. lol But you'll be able to get all your bumps before that happens. wink1.gif

Alex01tib

OK, i thought this was over, yah, guess not.

I've been checking my account balance, True Credit promptly refunded my money 3 days later (as promised) and I've been patiently waiting for the "great fun" money to return, well its been over eleven days and I still have no refund. They quoted me 10-15 days, which is bullshit in and of itself but thats besides the point.

I call them to check the status.

They tell me that the refund was not processed properly (just like the cancellation was accidentally not finalized), and that my two 11.99 refunds will be processed in ANOTHER 10-15 days.

I said "wait wait wait, slow down, you stole almost 100 dollars from me and you really think I'm going to let you only refund 2 of the $11.99's?!?!?!?!?"

her "Im sorry sir we can only refund two of the payments, its policy"

me "thats bullshit, I need a manager, manager, manager, manager"

then the manager gets on the line and i explain the story, and that i want every single cent back without any comprimise, because this money was STOLEN from me.

She obliges, and lets me know that ALL of the money will be refunded within 10-15 days.

I try to explain to her that i've already waited 11 days when i was promised a refund, so i shouldnt have to wait a total of 21-26 days for my refund, also i asked what would happen if the payment didnt make it in 15 days, she responded that i would have to call, and i explained this could keep going on and on.

Well we argued for about 5 more minutes where i let her know that if the money was not back in 15 days i would seek legal action (affidavit of fraudulent charges, bbb report, etc) and took her name and such.

Scam artists

JonGTR

Truecredit IS Trans Union.

Regardless of what people think, the credit bureaus are not your friend, and they're not there to help you. They want money! They get paid by the companies they give your credit reports to. And the lower your score, the more they can raise your rates and basically steal your money.

The only reason they make you believe they're helping you (correcting certain false info that YOU happen to find) is only because the government stepped in and <u>made them</u>. Otherwise, they could care less if you have 10 bad accounts that aren't yours.

It's funny how they take extra care to put together this credit system that helps the banks, but can easily destroy your payment history with a tiny slip up in numbers/name/address. For instance, it can only take "what they believe" is your current address to put an account on your credit file. It doesn't require other inportant data such as your SS#, name, DOB, etc. like people like to believe. It's easier to screw up than you think.

Ok, I got a little off-topic, but like I said, the whole credit system is a money making scam, and Alex is in the middle of just one of their ways to steal from you.