The blogosphere has been all over Ben Stein, a financial guru, spokesperson and New York Times columnist, over his involvement with what appears to be a slightly shady "credit-score" site, FreeScore.com.
In advertisements, Stein shills for the group which claim to offer you a free credit score. As several blogs point out:
- Your credit score doesn't tell the full story. While your credit score is important, you'll need more information if you want to take action to improve. In order to see what's bringing your credit score down, you'll need to see your credit report, which includes any claims against you.
- FreeScore.com isn't actually free. After giving you a "score" for free, they begin charging you monthly fees.
While some people may want to check their credit score monthly, in most cases you don't need this kind of scrutiny. In fact, simply requesting your credit score or credit report can affect your credit score.
You are entitled to a free annual credit report from the government. And the government makes one available at exactly one - and only one! - Web site: Annualcreditreport.com.
Don't be fooled by similar or imitator sites.
If you're in debt and trying to get out, you may become a target of predatory merchants. These groups are looking to make a quick buck off your troubles.
Avoid this by informing yourself, reading the fine print and sticking to reputable, trustworthy sites and sources.
Trying to repair your credit but can't keep up with the bills? Consider filing bankruptcy.
Filing bankruptcy doesn't have to ruin your credit for life. Learn more: Credit After Bankruptcy.
Tags: bankruptcy, credit, credit report, credit score, debt
This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 at 3:36 pm and is filed under Bankruptcy and Predatory Lending. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I just saw an ad banner for this “free score” site, and it just struck me as bizarre in that it just had his picture, and his name, but didn’t indicate he was even endorsing the site.
“In fact, simply requesting your credit score or credit report can affect your credit score.”
This statement is not true. It may be true in the case of applying for credit to find your score for that type of credit. However, simply requesting your report does not affect your score.
Thanks for the feedback Jeff. I think the most important thing for people to realize is that credit scores are complicated, and they should be careful before making any long-term commitments to a fee-based service.