Comments on: Don’t Get Got (Like I Got Got)

By: mandydax

mandydax — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:18:58 +0000

Some credit cards allow you to view your credit score online. I have a card through Providian– no, WaMu– no, Chase… *sigh* and can look up online my credit score and a bunch of other credit related stuff online anytime, and I think that they can order the report itself, too. You might want to check with your CC company and see if they offer these.

By: curious

curious — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:15:00 +0000

the FTC has a website on this topic here: http://www.ftc.gov/freereports

it says: “annualcreditreport.com is the ONLY authorized online source for you to get a free credit report under federal law.”

By: Ryano

Ryano — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:44:28 +0000

Sometimes, for services like these where you never authorized charges, your best bet is just do a chargeback on all the products. This costs the services money (which is why they usually are happy to refund your money), and eventually can lead to the company losing its access to credit services.

By: John Faughnan

John Faughnan — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 04:18:31 +0000

My five minutes of fame (including a stint on Japanese TV) came courtesy of a similar fraud in the 90s: http://www.faughnan.com/ccfraud.html (Sorry, it’s a mess, but it will never be cleaned up.)

Now we have ‘fraud watch’ protection on our accounts, so a bit harder to change our address, etc. Credit companies will do that if you’ve been defrauded, maybe also on request. No fee.

I highly recommend AMEX over Visa/MC for any internet transactions — vastly better fraud detection, vastly better service, centralized. Don’t use VISA on the net. Get AMEX blue cash back and use that.

We do scan statements. We don’t bother with receipts, just scan them. I don’t mind periodic small scams, I just watch for the big ones (like $3000 in Dell hardware one year, AMEX reversed the charges in minutes).

It’s a jungle out there.

As Schneier writes, we need to make the banks liable for damages …

By: Greg

Greg — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:09:41 +0000

I lived in the US as a graduate student for a few years. I had a SSN, credit card, and no blemishes on my credit rating. I have now moved to New Zealand, but I am somewhat concerned that I might be at risk of identity theft in the US. So I thought I would avail myself of the free credit report service. Looks like a reasonable way to keep an eye out for fraud.

Sadly, the service is only available to those current living the the US, so I miss out. Currently I’m not getting a paid service either. It’s hard to say how much it might be worth paying to get one.

By: Jake Bellew

Jake Bellew — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:13:42 +0000

I work customer service for a major bank and we have to let customers know to be careful when using those free credit reports. I usually advise people to contact the big three credit reporting companies yourself. They are obligated to giving you your credit report once a year for free and the single request can’t be used against you in the credit scoring.

When you go to services that combine it for you it causes the request to be reported. When you have too many requests for credit information can reduce your overall score.

Hope that helps.

By: hack

hack — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:26:24 +0000

This is but the latest internet scam connected to Naveen Jain of Infospace fame:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/29/AR2008052903676.html

By: Drnecropolis

Drnecropolis — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:52:25 +0000

I was gotten too by a credit check agency. It was free! What they didn’t sy was there was a 15 dollar processing fee and a recurring monthly “credit monitoring” fee for $15.

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:13:41 +0000

It’s that kind of stuff that led me to check my accounts online every day. Only takes a couple of minutes and it’s definitely worth it to stop those vultures from ripping me off

By: roland

roland — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:05:38 +0000

No full post in the feed.

By: Wade C.

Wade C. — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:55:28 +0000

This is all too common, (no offense!). You can get an annual free credit report from all three credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and Trans Union at annualcreditreport.com. This site was set up by the three credit companies for just such an occasion and is free, as in “no charge”. But only once a year. If you use any other site, more than likely you will have to agree, directly or indirectly!, to a “credit watch” or some other form of recurring charge in order to get at your report.
It has been recommended that you get one report every few months, as in, say, March, a report from Experian, July a report from Trans Union, and November a report from Equifax, allowing you to generally keep tabs on what is being reported throughout the year.
Glad you were able to get your money back! I am sure that there are many who aren’t as diligent and lose countless amounts every year!

By: Flaime

Flaime — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:54:26 +0000

The real site for the free credit report you are entitled to every year is a .gov site. I don’t remember the URL, but I know consumer reports and several pf blogs (like get rich slowly) have listed it in the past year.

By: Ethan Siegel

Ethan Siegel — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:52:23 +0000

To truly get your “free credit report” you need to go to annualcreditreport.com, which will give you an actual free report. They don’t give you your actual credit score (unless you want to pay), but they give you the full report.

By: nanreh

nanreh — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:39:51 +0000

Sorry to hear you had this experience. I’ve been similarly ripped off in the past and after a frustrating search for some outlet I found consumerreports.org. They’re a non-profit consumer advocacy group any time I need to do business with an organization I’m unsure about I look them up in the database at consumerreports.org. They seem to have good information on just about any company you’re likely to deal with and lots of folks write them about bad experiences, like I always do now.
Good luck!