Wed, September 03, 2008
Free Credit Reports and Credit Scores
As a result of a class-action suit against the Transunion credit bureau, consumers can obtain six to nine months of free credit report and credit score access if they qualify for inclusion in the class.
According to the settlement, the class action includes “all consumers who had an open credit account or an open line of credit from a credit grantor (including, for instance automobile loans, bank credit cards, department store credit cards, other retail store credit cards, finance company loans, mortgage loans, and student loans) located in the United States anytime from January 1, 1987 to May 28, 2008.” That basically includes the majority of U.S. adults with a pulse, but most of them probably won’t bother to sign up.
I learned about this settlement over at the My Two Dollars blog; kudos to David! Apparently, Transunion has been accused of selling consumer information to third parties in a manner that violated state laws and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. While denying any wrongdoing, the company has agreed to a settlement of the case by providing free services to people who register at the Trans Union Corporation Privacy Litigation class action settlement site. If you’re interested, you must register by Wednesday, September 24th . Once registered, you’ll have six months after final approval of the settlement to activate your credit monitoring services. The site provides detailed information on your options (including initiating your own lawsuit).
In order to register for the benefits, you must provide, among other things, your date of birth and the last four digits of your social security number. If you’re squeamish about this, then you won’t want to pursue this further. However, Transunion has all that stuff now, as well as information on every credit account you’ve ever had, so I’m not worried for myself. Apparently there are people in Korea who have stolen my credit card numbers already, so I have nothing to lose....
Postscript: I should also add that signing up for this does not affect your entitlement to one free credit report per year from each of the three major credit bureaus. Access to your free annual credit reports is available through https://www.annualcreditreport.com. The best strategy is to get one from a different bureau every four months or so.