Free credit check, useful yet sneaky!

Regardless of my obsession with the freecreditreport.com commercials, a jingle that I will sing for days, I have not actually had the guts to enter all my extremely personal data online to discover a number and report I don’t even need.

Yesterday though, encouraged by a blurb in the reputable Readers Digest, I logged on to creditreport.com (note the absence of the market friendly and tempting word “free” before the address).  Readers Digest claims this is the only site approved by the federal government.  Backed by RD and the feds?  I’m there!

It was so nice to see all my student loans laid out neatly before me, and they even gave an estimate of what the monthly demanded bill would be.  Oh, the things to look forward to upon graduation.  In all seriousness, it is a great service to check out your credit report, get your score, and even see who has checked on your credit recently.

The sneaky part came when I called to cancel my free trial.  Once you sign up for this service, you are actually signing up for a continued monitoring system of your credit.  You can get a free 7 day trial to check your credit, but you have to cancel within that time if you don’t want to start getting billed.  So along with having to remember to actually call (a task a recommend doing immediately after you check your info so you don’t forget), you have to deal with the phone operators who don’t want you to cancel the service.

Luckily, I have been employed by the whole high pressure sales, shady language, and fast talking business, so I have a heightened ear for situations that may, in a few words, screw me over.  After informing the operator many times my excuse that I just didn’t have the money or interest in continuing the membership for almost 15 dollars a month, he informed me of an option for 9.95/mo because of the economy.  After he told me this was an option, I simply said “okay.”  Okay as in “I understand,” not okay as in “sounds awesome sign me up right now!”  Warning bells went off when there was a couple seconds of silence after this exchange, so I asked how I would know if he cancelled my membership.  He then told me he had just signed me up for the 9.95 option because I said okay to it.

“Oh, that was sneaky buddy!”  Seriously, I think these were my exact words to the operator.  I know, I use big time intimidating sentences.   Trying to finally cover all my bases I told him I didn’t want any part of the service for any price and to cancel my service immediately, and not to offer any more deals.   I heard angry tap-tapping to complete my request and then a curt reply that I should get a confirmation email in ten minutes.

It was great to check my credit score for the first time, get to see a total of my loans, and take advantage of the one free check I get once a year, but a little frustrating to deal with calling (you can’t cancel online) and navigating sales people customer service.

Take advantage of this service, keep your guard up, and remember to always check on a secure connection!

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