Credit report access North Platte

Consumers are also getting tricked into paying for basic credit reports before obtaining the ones they can get free, as mandated by the federal government in credit report access North Platte 2003. The only place those free reports are available is at AnnualCreditReport.com, run jointly by the Big Three (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax (EFX)). Yet, dozens of websites credit report access North Platte affiliated with the bureaus falsely imply that they can also distribute the government-mandated free reports.

At FreeCreditReport.com, ConsumerInfo.com, PrivacyMatters.com, credit report access North Platte Free3BureauCreditReport.com and other similarly named websites, free trial offers and package deals abound. The most ubiquitous: pitches for free credit reports and free credit scores if you subscribe to a "credit monitoring" credit report access North Platte service that alerts you each time a lender checks your credit history, says Robert Mayer, a credit report access North Platte University of Utah professor who has analyzed two dozen such sites for credit report access North Platte Consumer Reports WebWatch. "The word 'credit report access North Platte free' is used so freely that credit report access North Platte it really has no meaning credit report access North Platte in the context of these types of sites," Mayer says. where can i get a free credit report The profusion of websites hawking credit reports, credit scores and credit monitoring to consumers have one thing in common: They all sell data supplied by the Big Three. The bureaus are the drivers behind credit report access North Platte a blizzard of consumer promotions for credit reports (a record of how you pay your bills); credit scores (a calculation of your creditworthiness, based on your credit report); credit report access North Platte and credit monitoring (a monthly credit report access North Platte subscription service, which credit experts say is of marginal value). Thanks to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, each bureau must supply every consumer with one free credit report a year. But while meeting the minimum requirements of this federal mandate, the Big Three have been energetically tapping online shoppers for hundreds of millions of dollars of fresh credit report access North Platte revenue and profit. credit agency By selling credit data via websites that use "free credit report" and "free credit score" as inducements to sign up for credit monitoring, which has become a cash cow. No credit report access North Platte surprise that the vast matrix of websites pitching credit data to consumers engenders befuddlement. Even industry insiders say it's all too easy for consumers to get flummoxed.

"There should be more education about what you receive and how to navigate the various sources of information," says Mark Catone, senior vice president of First American Credco, which processes credit reports. Experian, for instance, sells to consumers at Experian.com and at credit report access North Platte six other sites. Experian spokesman Don Girard says that selling to consumers at websites using different names "is just creative marketing." TransUnion, credit report access North Platte privately owned by the billionaire Pritzker credit report access North Platte family of Chicago, operates TrueCredit.credit report access North Platte com, the site where Wendy Temple bought her TransRisk credit score, as a wholly owned subsidiary. Another major subsidiary, TransUnion Interactive, distributes credit report access North Platte consumer products via dozens of independently run websites, company spokesman Steve Katz says. 3 in 1 credit report free These include PrivacyMatters.com, free-credit-reports.com, Credit.com, Free3BureauCreditReport.com, FreeCreditReportsInstantly.com, speedycreditreports.com and SpendonLife.com, Katz says. Equifax alone sells consumer products primarily through credit report access North Platte its eponymous website, Equifax.com.

"Our approach has always been to take the high road," says Steve Ely, president of Equifax's Personal Solutions.

Joel Winston, the FTC's associate director of privacy and identity protection, credits the bureaus for improving their public disclosure statements in recent months. But he says the FTC remains "credit report access North Platte very concerned" about any lingering confusion.