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Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2005 11:23 am Subject: Experian

WASHINGTON � Credit bureau Experian (search) has settled charges that it used free credit reports to deceive consumers into registering for a subscription credit monitoring service, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday.

Experian, a unit of British retail and financial services group GUS Plc, has agreed to refund deceived consumers and give up $950,000 in ill-gotten gains, the FTC said.

The FTC (search) had complained that Experian promised free credit reports without adequately disclosing that consumers would automatically be signed up for a credit monitoring service and charged $79.95 if they failed to cancel within 30 days.

According to the FTC, Experian drove consumers to their freecreditreport.com and consumerinfo.com Web sites with radio, television, e-mail and Internet ads that promised free credit reports and bonus free trials of the credit-monitoring service.

Consumers were required to provide detailed personal information and valid credit card account numbers to get their credit reports. The FTC says it is not known how many people were duped.

Under the settlement, Experian is also barred from deceptive and misleading claims about "free" offers and must disclose terms of its offers.

"It's unfair and deceptive to promise consumers something for free and then trick them into paying for products they didn't want in the first place," Lydia Parnes, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement.

Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2005 10:55 pm Subject: Experian

Hi vwh
Welcome to the forums

Thank you for posting this information in the forums.
Through this post all our community members will come tp know of the event and they will be cautious from now onwards. Thanks once again for sharing this valuable information with the community members.
Please feel free to write back in the forums

Regards
Mike

Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2005 2:10 pm Subject:

Where can users find more information on how to claim their "settlement"? I'm not personally affected, but I think we should provide this information for anyone that may be interested. I think the topic should also be updated to better reflect the nature of the original post so more people will be made aware.

Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2005 2:34 pm Subject:

You can go to the FTC website. It gives detailed inforamtion. It states that The consumers who do qualify for the settlement or refund will received a notice from Consumerinfo by mail or email. It also suggests that there is a FAQ about this on ftc.gov/freereports. This will help determine if a consumer is eligible. Consumers are also given a hotline number of (202) 326-3457 to provide informaiton regarding the refund.