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I GOT TAKEN BY A CREDIT MONITORING SERVICE!

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with Classic Property Management of Santa Clarita

I TRY TO BE CAREFUL, BUT I GOT TAKEN. All I wanted to do was see my wife's credit report without getting a "hit" on the credit. So, I paid $29.95 to get it. It was a lot of money, but I figured it was worth it to not have a "hit".

BOY WAS I WRONG. They have now charged my card $9.95 twice for a monitoring service I didn't sign up for! So, I tried to call and cancel. I didn't have a phone number, so I did a search. Here is what I found:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IF YOU WILL NOTICE, I DID A SEARCH FOR "MNI* CREDIT REPORT". WHAT CAME UP SURPRISED ME. There are no links to their website. Only links to complaints about their company. One of them led me to a site that showed how to file an FTC complaint. It was very fast and easy. If you want to read the complaint board, click here. This is one of the 3 that were on the first page.

I CALLED TO CANCEL AND, OF COURSE, THEY MADE IT DIFFICULT. The funny thing is, they had 3 options on the phone system, one of which was to cancel. So, I canceled, and then filed the FTC Complaint. The complaint makes for very interesting reading.

IF YOU HAVE BEEN TAKEN, FILE A COMPLAINT. This can trigger a federal lawsuit to shut them down. They are making a ton of money in a very unethical way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is what their website looks like. Don't sign up for it. Just wanted to get the word out.

Posted by

John Evarts

CEO, Classic Real Estate Management, Inc. 

john@rentwithclassic.com

www.rentwithclassic.com

www.santaclaritapropertymanagement.com

Debbie Creech
ERA Team IV Homes - Poughkeepsie, NY

John,

It's scary that we do things to try to protect our credit and there is someone right there taking advantage and getting away with it.   Sorry this happened to you, but thank you for the heads up for the rest of us.

May 24, 2007 11:23 AM
Scott Gormley
Oak Valley Mortgage-California Home Loans and Refinancing - Chico, CA

Super shady!

That's why I pull my own credit reports through my company...

Sorry this happened to you. It's the principle...Stick to your guns!

Scott

May 24, 2007 11:33 AM
Paul David Hiebing
Grampp Realty: Real Estate in the Quad-Cities - Bettendorf, IA
Quad-City REALTOR®, @ Grampp, Realty of The Q.C.

John,  

You can monitor your credit history (free of charge) on an annual basis through:

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp 

and any/all of their three participating credit reporting companies:

http://www.experian.com/, http://www.equifax.com/,  http://www.transunion.com/

You are allowed to down load your credit report once per year from each company-- without charge.

For an additional $6.00 to $10.00 (depending on which company you use) they will give you your current credit score (usually including info from as little as a week or two ago).

For about $30/month you can have unlimited access to your credit report and credit scores from all three companies...

Never pay for this service from a third party (not one of the three above)---- it's always a rip-off

 

  

May 24, 2007 12:00 PM
John Evarts
Classic Property Management of Santa Clarita - Santa Clarita, CA
Paul, thanks for the comment. I forgot to mention, I did use annualcreditreport for the first to bureaus, but the 3rd bureau blocked me out for not being able to verify one of the questions. I was in kind of a hurry, so I looked for an alternate site, that's when they got. But, you are absolutely right, those are the only ones to use. Thanks for the useful info.
May 24, 2007 12:03 PM
Anonymous
Jeff

Hi John,

Unfortunately your story is all too common. FreeCreditReport.com (owned by Experian) often goes even further: They continue to charge you even after canceling. Keep checking those statements!

Experian has been fined by the FTC twice for a total of $1.25 million over their deceptive credit monitoring practices.

I'm glad you filed a report with the FTC. Next, you should hit these guys in the pocketbook: Call you credit card company and dispute these charges. $20 isn't much, but you shouldn't let them keep that ill gotten money.

Jeff
Credit Monitoring is a Rip Off!

May 24, 2007 01:35 PM
#5
Thesa Chambers
West + Main - Bend, OR
Principal Broker - Licensed in Oregon
this is great information!  it needs to be featured - I think it is one of the biggest scams around - thanks for posting this valuable information
May 24, 2007 05:52 PM
John Evarts
Classic Property Management of Santa Clarita - Santa Clarita, CA

Jeff, thanks for the info. Going to call the bank today to dispute the charges.

Thesa, I feel like a dork for getting taken. Gives me some empathy for others it has happened to. Silver lining in every cloud.

May 25, 2007 03:28 AM