Credit Report Scams

From Dave Ramsey's website.

Credit Report Scam

By Erica in Texas
A couple of years ago my husband and I were finally able to start paying off some bad credit that both of us created before we met. So I saw a TV ad for the Free Credit Report website. I thought how wonderful, I could check to see who we needed to contact for our credit issues, and we could mend some old, bad habits.
I went to the website to sign up for the "free" credit report. I read all the fine print - or so I thought. About 20 days later when I went to pay for some groceries, my debit card was denied. So embarrassing. I went home and called our bank. Come to find out there were charges from a company in California that exceeded $250!

I was shocked and asked the bank for the company's information. I contacted them and found out that when I gave them my bank information, they signed me up for a credit watch. I was furious and demanded that they send me a contract showing I allowed them to do this. Several phone calls later, they still couldn't tell me where I had agreed to this service, so they said they would refund the money and stop the service. I stupidly believed them. A month later, no refund, and this time I was charged twice for this service. I tried to get a hold of the company but no answer.

Finally I just cancelled my bank account, so no further charges...but no refund either. $750 later, I have no more dealings with this company. I later told my sister in-law about the story, and she told me she too had dealt with them and lost money as well.

Now I know I can get a REAL free credit report on the internet from the credit bureaus. Get this now. I don't purchase anything on the internet unless I call the company first and get the real story.