I recently gave Experian a dollar to get my report because they refuse to provide me with the free annual report online. I know exactly what you mean by the their hard sell when you try to cancel. Fortunately they didn’t charge me for the subscription.

“Something is really screwed up with our system.”

You are so right and you have no idea HOW screwed up the system is. I just try to stay OUT of the system as much as possible.

Good luck with your mortgage and be aware that the bankers and brokers make the credit bureaus look like saints. It’s a jungle out there!

I still needed that score, though, so I went to Experian’s site. Only $1 to get my credit report. Wow! That’s great…So I thought. I guess I’d heard that there was some law where everyone was supposed to be able to check their report for free through one of the bureaus…I wasn’t sure. I couldn’t remember, but I thought maybe it was through Experian and the $1 charge was for the score calculation. Fine. I submitted my info and then I hear that the $1 is to subscribe me to some $14.95 a month B.S. What?! Okay, so I could cancel free of charge within 7 days. All right…I’d get my score and then I’d do that.

When I called to cancel, I was put through hell. The lady on the phone guilt tripped me continuously, made it seem like I was a careless, irresponsible person who didn’t CARE about my beloved credit score. I said “NO – PLEASE CANCEL THE SERVICE” continuously. After each rejection, I was given another spiel about how I should check my credit monthly. It took a long time on the phone just to cancel the membership. After all this, they STILL charged me $14.95! After watching the bank to make sure this charge did not show up again, I just let it slide. It’s sad that I would give up $14.95 in order to not have to endure the phone bank HELL that was the Experian call center.

I am dismayed that lenders, etc. will continue to check credit through this bureau who measures the trustworthiness and responsibility of consumers…through completely dishonest, misleading, and untrustworthy means. I’m sorry, but shouldn’t the ones keeping permanent records on our trustworthiness be trustworthy themselves? Credit scoring should NOT be a big business. Something is really screwed up with our system.

Your not alone and I share your sentiment, frustration and disgust!!

I have been blessed to never let my FICO score hinder my financial life. That said, I learned early on how corrupt the practices of the FICO scoring system were and did my due diligence to monitor my own effectively. Make no mistake personal accountablility is critical. However, for those who play by the rules, pay the bills on time, do not over extend themselves and live responsibly, to be judged by a completely biased, under regulated and highly speculative third party is rediculous.

Given it’s original intent to alleviate discriminatory practices in lending, the FICO scoring system has methodicaly mutated in to nothing more then a third party revenue stream for lenders and the Federal Govt! It is truly laughable that all services such as MyFICO, etc., sell their services under the guise that you somehow control your own score… ridiculous as evidenced in original post!! In the interest of full disclosure I have been, like many, lured in to peeking at my score and even having them monitor them for ID theft.

All in all, this is a broken system that has been in need of serious regulation and oversight for many years!! I am disgusted to think at the number of lives, bankruptcies, and billions of dollars collected in higher interest rates by lenders praying on uninformed, ignorant or plain lazy buyers. Make no mistake, I believe in free enterprise/market system and can understand the business model but am at odds with it’s current and perverse mutation.

Keep the great posts!

MrVintage

Thanks for posting, I hope that others also search on the web BEFORE they lose their money.

The ONLY upside is that you have a LEGITIMATE dispute when creditors and debt buyers come hounding or suing you. And I wish you took the time to file a public complaint with the Cal. AG. The REAL crime is that these thugs are allowed to defraud people with impunity and the REGULATORS deserve more jail time than these crooks.

Also, if they are still in business you CAN sue them.

Make sure you SAVE the report and the report # because you can get free new reports for the next 3 months with the report #.

Obviously, make sure nothing incorrect is on the report and of course talk to your bank. They CAN tell you why exactly they declined your loan, whether they used a credit score, etc.