At wrong website, ‘free’ report isn’t free

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Updated: May 22, 2011 4:56AM

Dear Fixer: Could you please give me the name of the website that you have mentioned in your column in the past that will give a consumer their credit score for free without any strings attached or any memberships to join?

Jim Chismar, Naperville

Dear Jim: You’re smart to ask The Fixer before going on one of those “free”-sounding websites that are anything but.

The website to get your free credit report is annualcreditreport.com. That’s the official site set up through the federal government to give consumers free access to their credit reports. You can get your reports that are on file with Equifax, Experian and TransUnion from that site. Each consumer gets one free report every 12 months, so you can either get them all at once or you can go there every four months and get them one at a time.

The Fixer has used the site successfully. There were some ads that were confusing, but we just kept following the prompts for the free report and it worked fine. (Make sure your printer is ready so you can make a copy right away.)

The site only gives free reports, however, and not your credit score (we assume you want your FICO score, though there are other types of scores as well). Those scores are compiled using various proprietary formulas and you’ll have to pay if you want them. For a FICO score, try myFICO.com (where you’ll have to sign up for at least a 10-day trial membership). Also, Bankrate.com has a FICO score estimator worksheet.

Even without the score, looking at your report is helpful because it gives you a good idea of where you stand. It also shows whether there is incorrect information in your file or a potential problem with identity theft.

In glitchy hands?

Dear Fixer: In October 2008 my husband’s life insurance premium was inexplicably raised by Allstate. After much correspondence, it was determined that a “glitch” in their system did this, and would continue to do this every year at renewal until they fixed the system.

It was wrong again in October 2010, which makes it three years in a row. We stopped our auto-pay because in 2008 and 2009 we had to go Allstate and request a refund due to overpayment.

They are still telling us that this is a glitch that will happen every year, and they don’t know when it will get fixed. We wonder how many other people are simply paying an increased amount, because it seems that unless you contact Allstate, the premium doesn’t get fixed.

Linda Dietz, Burbank

Dear Linda: Three years does seem like enough time to fix this problem, which was causing your hubby’s insurance premium to balloon from $26.01 a month to $61.35 for no reason. But we thought we’d give it the ol’ Fixer try anyway.

It took a while, but we finally reached the right person in Ellie Klooster, a corporate relations rep for Allstate in Buffalo Grove. Klooster got this issue to the right techies at Allstate and assures us that your glitch is gone for good.

You’ll be getting another statement in the next couple of weeks, so please keep us posted about whether this is indeed fixed.

Costly lesson

Remember that nightmare scene at the end of “Deliverance” where the bony hand rises slowly out of the water and you’re like, “Oh God, when will this end”?

That’s how The Fixer felt upon reading about this week’s Costly Lesson, from Jennifer, an unemployed mother of four who had a run-in with the acai berry people, a scheme we had hoped was long gone by now.

Here’s what Jennifer wrote The Fixer: “I was online and saw a testimony stating how great the acai berry supplement and HCG burn were to help people lose weight. At the bottom of that web page, there were two other websites; both led to a toll-free number.”

The websites offered a “free trial” of the product and made it sound like Jennifer would only have to pay for shipping. But by clicking “OK” she apparently was agreeing to much more.

“They charged me $87.31 after I paid for the shipping cost on their ‘free’ trial,” Jennifer wrote. “For me, this was the worst thing that could happen.

“I had my car insurance coming out of my bank account along with other items, and the unexpected $87.31 made my account get hit with $35 overdraft fees each day.”

The Fixer has warned before about these so-called “free trials” that trap unwitting consumers into monthly subscriptions that pull money directly out of their bank account or auto-bill their credit card.

If you’ve gotten hooked by the same scheme as Jennifer, the best course of action is to cancel immediately and demand a refund. If that doesn’t work, file complaints at chicago.bbb.org, illinoisattorneygeneral.gov and ic3.gov. And tell all your friends: Free trials online aren’t really free.

Getting the runaround about a consumer problem? Tell it to The Fixer at www.suntimes.com/pcds/ssl/scn/fixer.html. If you don’t have a computer, you can mail a brief description of your problem, along with your name, address and telephone number, to: The Fixer, The Beacon News, 495 N. Commons Drive, Suite 200, Aurora, IL 60504. Don’t send original documents. Due to the large volume of submissions, The Fixer can’t make personal replies. Letters are edited for length and content.