It’s rare that I encounter out and out fraud, but I think I saw it this morning, and I am writing because the perpetrator, FreeScore, is a partner of Trulia and I think Trulia needs to know.
I was searching Trulia this morning for foreclosures and homes, thinking it was time once again to invest in Arizona real estate. Trulia is partnered with RealtyTrac, and RealtyTrac has been trying to get me to upgrade from my free account for a long time, but I am a veteran of online services and I know I don’t need their data for more than a little while, and if I sign up, I will probably not be able to unsubscribe. But I did want to check my credit score, I know I have the right to do so at no cost once a year, so I clicked.
Big mistake. I was supposed to be “one click away” from my scores, but after I opened an account I was asked for more and more information about myself, and had to check boxes that sold me more and more added services (identity theft protection, personalized credit scores, etc). Worse, I couldn’t get to what I HAD signed up for, because there were no other links and there was no opt-out.
After a while, I kept going only to see how bad it was.
After I had signed up for the 7-day free trial, given my credit card, and taken a test to see if I was myself (“which of these counties is the one in which you live”), I was told to re-enter my password, which I did.
Then I hit the page with all the “free offers” for me: the Chase credit card, the bank accounts, etc., and all the other things I could buy. There was, finally, a big link to my three scores, which I clicked, only to get a message that said “The page you requested cannot be found.”
So I called customer service, and a very condescending dumb person (not a sexist, so I won’t say what kind) told me to re-enter my password. I did. He/she walked me through the log-in process as though I were an idiot, and we got to the same place. He/she put me on hold, and got another person, only slightly more articulate (these people were NOT from India, believe me), who told me she was making a note and I should try again in a few hours.
I just did. Guess what?
It is now my contention that this site has no intention of furnishing free credit scores, and exists only to take money from unwary consumers and up-sell services. They have now tangled with the wrong little old lady. I am on my way to RipOffReport.
Screen shot after a half hour of trying to log in
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
AnnualCreditReport.com is the only legit one that is in fact FREE… if the site or tv ad says free… it’s not.
Yes, I found that out on G+, but that site is still quite difficult to use, and the TransUnion connection was down. I wouldn’t call any of this a consumer service.
Sorry to see you go through such trouble, but glad you were able to find out so much about them without being harmed.
Yours isn’t the first problem (http://www.ripoffreport.com/Search/freescore.aspx) we’ve read about regarding FreeScore.com.
Thanks for thinking of us and good luck spreading the word!
Very useful article for me, there is more information I have is very important. Thank you! I’m glad you could get out of it to share with us.
While you are entitled to a free credit report, the score comes with a fee. I use Annualcreditreport.com. The creditscore (do not pay for Experian’s Vantage score, it is NOT standard) fee is $7.95 on a credit card with no other obligation to purchase.
Be careful with freescore. They promise you 7 day free trial. You cancel the membership within the trial period. You soon discover that your card was charged a fee. They indicate that you agreed for additional membership. In my opinion, it’s a scam. It’s probably legal, because you probably hit an agreement button that you are not aware.
Francine, I just found your comments and they are right on. I, too, had the same experience. In addition, I now get 3 emails a day from them, saying ‘your credit score may have changed.’ I tried the “opt out’ button a gizillion times but it does not work. I wrote them a letter; that did not work. I contacted the attorney general’s office and they said they’d look into it. Hope you have contacted RipOff Report!
I agree 100%. I did get my credit report and I cancelled on the same day. I printed out the screens that showed I did, however I was informed I didn’t go to another screen that should have told me to contact customer service. So in fact, they have created bogus cancellation screens to scam people out of the “free trial” and you end up paying for the report. They never intended for the report to be free. I hope this message gets to others before they too are scamed.