Free Credit Reports? Can It Be True?

Merriam Webster Dictionary defines FREE as: not united with, attached to, combined with, or mixed with something else. It may be time to review the meaning of the word FREE and add an additional usage something like; FREE as in: smoke and mirrors, con job or look out baby because here it comes. Some things are free, a sunset over Charlotte Harbor, a conversation with a burrowing owl or even an evening stroll during Gallery Walk. It seems that the word free is bandied about with little regard to its meaning.
This morning I received my monthly mortgage statement along with a full color flyer showing a happy couple embracing in magnitudes of joy. I presume their bliss was because they had taken advantage of the offer contained in the flyer. I read the flyer, at any moment expecting waves of ecstasy to wash over me, and was amazed that my mortgage company was going to give me a FREE copy of my credit report. I continued reading and there was the reason it was so important to have good credit and in addition to my FREE credit report, I would receive credit monitoring as well. This way I would know as soon as some nefarious character used my credit and good name for disreputable means. What a nice company they are, and imagine they used to make automobiles.
But wait, what is this? If I take my FREE credit report and the credit monitoring they will only add twelve dollars per month to my mortgage payment. $144 per year for my friends at the mortgage company to watch and tell me when my credit is used by someone else. No, I am not permitted to take just the credit report and forego the credit monitoring. So the question becomes, is the credit report really FREE?
Blood is boiling now. I fire up the computer, open a browser and type in the search window, “free credit report.” First site up is http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre34.shtm. This is the FTC site that gives us the particulars of a federal law entitling every citizen to one free credit report per year from each of the three major credit reporting companies. Surf over there and then click on the link to annualcreditreport.com. Order a credit report from one company, wait four months and order from the next company and repeat after four more months with the last company. Repeat next year. Beware that while the companies are required by law to provide a free credit report without strings, they are not prevented from trying to entice the purchase of useless credit monitoring services. Yes I said useless.  And don’t be confused, this is not our FICA score. We are talking Credit Report, who we owe, how much we owe and how we pay what we owe.

Let’s review what a credit monitoring service does. It will supposedly notify you if anything unusual or suspicious appears on your consumer credit report. Kind of like closing the barn door after the horses have run away. How tough is it for someone to steal your credit information? Apparently not too tough. April 20 MSNBC A few years ago, information giant LexisNexis revealed that hackers stole data on about 310,000 of its customers and Citibank sent nearly 4 million letters to consumers after a data backup tape was lost in transit to a credit bureau. C/NET February 18, 2005: ChoicePoint has confirmed that scammers culled the personal information of tens of thousands of Americans in a recent attack on its consumer database. Nov. 02, 2004 NEW YORK (AP) Thousands of Wells Fargo & Co. mortgage and student-loan customers may be at risk for identity theft after four computers were stolen last month…… According to Javelin Strategy and Research, in 2009 11.1 million adults were victims of identity theft in 2009, the total fraud amount was $54 billion, the average victim spent 21 hours and $373 out of pocket resolving the crime, 4.8% of the population was a victim of identity fraud in 2009 and 13% of identity fraud crimes were committed by someone the victim knew.

There is another much more effective method that is permitted in Florida and 46 other states by statute. Browse over to http://www.consumersunion.org/campaigns/learn_more/003484indiv.html and scroll down to Florida to read about how to put a “Security Freeze” on your credit information. A security freeze lets consumers stop thieves from getting credit in their names. A security freeze locks, or freezes, access to the consumer credit report and credit score. Without this information, a business will not issue new credit to a thief. When the consumer wants to get new credit, he or she uses a PIN (Personal Identification Number) to unlock access to the credit file. Florida gives consumers this important weapon to prevent identity theft. If you have been the victim of identity theft, or are over the age of sixty five, then this service is mandated to be FREE. Otherwise there is a $10 fee to place a security freeze on your credit reports. I wonder why credit monitoring is pushed so hard and security freeze not.
Maybe it’s time to go cash only!
This blog is from chapter 7 of Grumbles From The Keyboard or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Computer. Many very helpful, informational, money saving tips, tricks and fun stuff can be found throughout the book. Get your copy today by clicking on the Buy Now link to the right. (Martha, buy one for that relative that keeps calling asking for computer help.)

Grumbles From The Keyboard: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Computer