Looking for the best credit reporting website or company? Many are better than X-tube at stealing your personal data and selling private information.
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| The Credit Report Wizard: Never use freecreditreport.com, truecredit, and other paysites due to legal issues |
BEWARE OF THE SERVICES LISTED:
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JUSST SAY NO! - NEVER, NEVER, NEVER sign-up with these types of companies. WHY?
1) You can obtain anything these paysites offer FOR FREE, DIRECTLY, as mandated by Federal and State Law!
2) Many of these sites are OWNED by "the big 3": Experian, Equifax, TransUnion
3) Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion compete with each other, so they like to restrict what can and cannot be done with the "other 2" on their version of a "pay for your credit report website".
4) LAWSUITS have been WON on class action levels because these "Credit Report Companies" were datamining your personal information (your registration information)
TO BILL COLLECTORS... THEIR TRUE CUSTOMERS!
- a cellphone number associated with a credit card - sold
- family members addresses - sold
- your social security number, and banking address - sold
- what gas station you frequant the most - sold
- what daycare your children use - sold
A FEW EXAMPLES of Why your info is Safer at free Porn Sites than in the hands of these falsely "free credit report" companies:
Recently, an I've Been Mugged reader wrote:
If you think that you have been affected, let us know below. More importantly, consumers should report any identity theft and fraud to both their local law enforcement and to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. If consumers still don't get any satisfaction, write to your elected officials in Congress.
"Do not sign up for truecredit.com. Here is the path of relationship association that reveals big problems with id theft. Here goes...Transunion's subsiderary with truecredit which DBA great Fun (among others) is owned by Trilegiant (formerly Cedant) Trilegiant was sued last July for $25million by the state of Illinois. Ok...how do I know all this? My identity was passed on from truecredit.com to great fun then for some strange reason...on the same day...my account got hit with almost $1,000 charges by people ordering different goods being shipped to all different states also West Africa. So what can you do? I reported to everyone I can report to and I feel this needs some national attention on a grand scale. Any suggestions? Has anyone else experienced this same nightmare?"Trixie is correct. Trilegiant Corp settled with the State of Illinois in July 2008. According to the St. Louis Business Journal:
"Trilegiant Corp., a subsidiary of Cendant Corp., must pay $25 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by consumers who were charged for products they never ordered... More than one million people nationwide, including some in St. Louis, complained about the incorrect charges, said Rob Schmieder, an attorney who worked on the case."Also:
"Norwalk, Conn.-based Trilegiant allegedly billed and collected unauthorized charges from consumers for products and memberships consumer never requested, including Privacy Guard, Credit Alert, Auto Vantage, Travelers Advantage, Buyers Advantage, Compete Home, Digital Protection Plus, Great Fun, Great Options, HealthSaver, Hotline, Just for Me, National Card Registry, NetMarket, Shoppers Advantage, Travel ER and others."Of course, as part of the settlement deal Trilegiant admitted no wrong-doing. I checked several breach databases and did not see any breach notices from Trilegiant, Great Fun, or TrueCredit.com. Based on Trixie's experience, there seems to have been an unreported data breach by one of these companies.
If you think that you have been affected, let us know below. More importantly, consumers should report any identity theft and fraud to both their local law enforcement and to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. If consumers still don't get any satisfaction, write to your elected officials in Congress.
NEXT:
Experian Sued For Its Deceptive FreeCreditReport.com Ads
A Wisconsin woman is suing the credit-reporting agency Experian because its ubiquitous advertisements for FreeCreditReport.com made her think she could go to that site to get a free credit report. Possin is the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against Experian that seeks to "stop the fraud and seek compensation for the tens of thousands of consumers deceived by Experian's FreeCreditReport.com to the tune of millions of fraudulently obtained profits."
"FreeCreditReport.com tells people they will get something for free, and you do, but you have to pay for something else, and there's not sufficient notice," said John Balestriere, lead attorney on the case. He said his firm had spoken with a few dozen people in Possin's situation. "I think we're going to see more cases like this because people use their credit cards for everything these days."
The complaint, filed on Monday in federal court in California, thoroughly documents six of the catchy ads, lyrics and all, in case there's anybody in the United States who hasn't seen them 10,000 times. (Click here to see a copy of the suit, first reported by Courthouse News Service.)
INFACT YOURS TRUELY: the credit report wizard was part of this class action against TransUnion:
"FreeCreditReport.com tells people they will get something for free, and you do, but you have to pay for something else, and there's not sufficient notice," said John Balestriere, lead attorney on the case. He said his firm had spoken with a few dozen people in Possin's situation. "I think we're going to see more cases like this because people use their credit cards for everything these days."
The complaint, filed on Monday in federal court in California, thoroughly documents six of the catchy ads, lyrics and all, in case there's anybody in the United States who hasn't seen them 10,000 times. (Click here to see a copy of the suit, first reported by Courthouse News Service.)
INFACT YOURS TRUELY: the credit report wizard was part of this class action against TransUnion:
A settlement worth at least $75 million has been reached with Trans Union LLC and Acxiom Corporation (“Defendants”) in a class action lawsuit that claims the Defendants violated state laws and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) when they sold lists containing personal and financial consumer information to third parties for marketing purposes. The settlement does not mean the Defendants violated any laws or did anything wrong. The Defendants deny any claims of wrongdoing in this case. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois will have a hearing to decide whether to give final approval to the settlement, so that benefits can be issued. Those included in the class action, together called a “Class,” may object to the settlement or ask to speak at the hearing. Eligible Class members may also sign up for credit monitoring or other benefits from the settlement. For more information, including a detailed notice, go to www.ListClassAction.com or call, toll-free, 1-866-416-3470.If you had a credit card, loan or credit account, you could get benefits from a class action
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