Since Donna brought up the subject of credit reports, I felt compelled
to warn this list of a practice used by Experian. Experian uses
deceptive practices so they can charge your credit card once a year for
a "credit protection service." This happened when I was refinancing my
home through lending tree. I paid 29.95 for all three-credit reports,
which included the credit score (had to-have-it now syndrome). About a
month later, I noticed a 79.95 charge on my account from CIC credit
services. I did not agree to any additional "credit protection service"
at the time of purchase but there it was. 
I did a search on CIC, discovered Experian owns them, and this is
something CIC does nationwide (several complaints filed). CIC will give
you the money back (after being rude and arguing with you) but it takes
some digging to get the right phone number to call. I noticed the last
time I went to Lending Tree they have changed their site and now offer
this service up front. However, there are several affiliate sites that
do not tell about the once a year charge. This was the second time in
two years that CIC charged my account for this service that I never
agreed or wanted. I did not catch it the first time; I thought Frankie
was buying me a present, which never materialized. :-) 
Just beware of CIC (Experian) and their practices.  


Michael R. Roeser
IT Analyst
College of Engineering & Computer Science
UT Chattanooga
735 Vine Street Chattanooga, TN 37403
EMCS Room 317
Phone: 423-425-1717 Page: 423- 395-2304 http://www.arch.com/message 
 
"We should be careful not to pare down God's omnipotence to the level of
our human opinions."


-----Original Message-----
From: UTC Staff E-Mail List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Donna Adams
Sent: Friday, December 03, 2004 10:41 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [UTCSTAFF] Free Credit Report/New Federal Law this week

For Your Information:

There is a new federal law which went into effect this week enabling you
to get a snapshot of your credit history for free.  The FACT Act grants
consumers one free credit report a year from each of the 3 credit
reporting bureaus - TransUnion, Experian and Equifax.  If you will log
on to www.annualcreditreport.com <http://www.annualcreditreport.com/>
you can access a free report -------but our area has to wait until June
1.  They are going by geographic locations.

Although I heard that Experian is already providing a free report to
consumers independent of their geographic location, that is not true for
they told me I would have to wait until June 1.

This may be a good web-site to keep handy until June 1.

Donna Adams