There are loads of adverts out there assuring us of FREE CREDIT REPORTS. It annoys me ” the way I see it Free Credit Reports dont exist. If anything, I believe it could be a make money scam carried out by immoral Credit Report companies.

Once we have been enticed onto their sites through their pop-ups which cost them an absolute fortune and are detested by us all, we then have to go through all the form filling, and finally, we have to submit our bank details to them.

This, supposedly is to verify our identity, or is it a way to assure them of recurring billing? According to Google, Recurring Billing means, …Transactions for which a cardholder grants permission to the merchant to periodically charge his account number for recurring goods or services…

In fact, we may not be aware that we have been paying for these Free Reports on an ongoing basis, until we realise that our credit cards are being debited. Too many of us fail to remember to stop our subscriptions, and as a result they debit our accounts on a monthly basis, and on occasions, even twice a month. This will be covered in a later article. So this is how these Free Credit Report companies earn revenue from us. Despicable, is it not!!

During this period of financial insecurity, we are a bit more vulnerable, and if more competition were to be is introduced, and legislation tightened, we may get the opportunity of benefitting from a fairer deal.

But enough of this, if a service is hailed as being a FREE service, then unfortunately, there is almost always some sort of trap involved. These companies are supposed to protect our finances and shield us from Internet Fraud, Credit Card Fraud, Cheque Fraud and Identity Theft, yet they can be viewed by some as a bit of SCAM!

Not only do we get charged for this Free Service, we have to give them our credit card details! Hell, I want to see what they are offering me before I give them permission to debit my credit card, dont you? An example of standard Terms and Conditions these Companies issue contain examples such as.. …after your 10-day FREE trial period it’s just 25.95 per month. Remember, you can call us within the first 10 days to cancel, and you will not be charged the 25.95. To ensure continuous service, at the end of your trial period your membership will be automatically charged each month at the then-current membership fee…

Apart from the recurring billing we also have to tolerate an unacceptable level of service and occasional glaring errors. These errors can have a devastating impact on our financial prospects! You will see this published soon within my next article. So above all, remember to stop your subscription, or PREPARE TO BE CHARGED!

Tags: Identity Theft