Avoiding Online Free Credit Scams
A few years ago, the government passed a law that allows every citizen to get a free annual credit report. This law states that, as a result of the increase in identity theft, each citizen is entitled to receive a copy of their credit history to examine for problems. This free credit report is easily available online and provides reports from all three of the credit reporting agencies. However, these free credit reports do not include your credit score.
Because this law is so popular, but the actual website hasn't been publicized widely, a large number of shysters have been starting their own credit report web sites to scam you out of your hard-earned money. There are over 100 websites claiming to get you your free credit report, but in fact there is only one website that will give you a real free credit report online and that is http://www.annualcreditreport.com.
The most common trick is to tell you that they are offering you a free credit report, and soft-pedal the fact that by getting it, you are signing up for their credit monitoring service. The first month of it may be free, but if you don't cancel within that thirty-day window, you'll be surprised with a hefty fee the next month. Unless you are a particularly likely target for identity thieves and other forms of credit fraud, these credit monitoring services are generally not worth the cost. You're much better off getting your own copies of your credit report and keeping track of it yourself.
Far worse are the outright scammers who take your credit card numbers and Social Security number and use them to steal your identity. Maybe they'll actually give you copies of your credit reports, or maybe they'll just send you something official-looking and fake. In any case, you've been had and often don't realize it until some time afterward, when checks start bouncing, credit cards are being declined, and you're getting dunning calls from creditors you've never even heard of.
You can detect these problematical web sites in different ways. The ones that are just trying to sell you credit monitoring services will always have that fact somewhere in the fine print of the website, so make sure you look closely over the whole website, especially if they request a credit card number. Remember that you are able to receive one free credit report a year. This is true even if they ask you for your credit card information and state they will not charge you. If you get an email with some kind of sales pitch for a free credit report, be sure to read the fine print very carefully before you respond.
Most of the outright scam sites that are trying to trick you out of your identity have a similar name as the official free credit report web site but with small variations -- a word misspelled, a period out of place. Also, many of these sites are done very sloppily with shoddy spelling and grammar throughout. Especially if the English seems oddly distorted, as if the person writing the site were translating mentally from some other language, you should take it as a warning sign that this is not a legitimate credit report site.
Because it is important to keep a close eye on your credit report, both to catch identity fraud and to remove erroneous information, you will want to make sure to get your annual credit report from the legitimate website, http://www.annualcreditreport.com You can also contact the three national credit report agencies, Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union, directly to exercise your right to a free annual copy of your credit report.
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