Buying a Credit Report Sucks
So I had to get a Credit Report to rent a new place. Basically there are three options:
- Experian (Didn’t try it)
- Equifax (Bad)
- Transunion (Worse)
I started with Equifax because it is a dollar cheaper, unfortunately I closed the browser halfway through the process. This put me into some strange account-half-created purgatory where I could not continue any further, stuck in a loop of trying to complete the purchase form.
So I went over to Transunion and flew threw their form and got my report. I downloaded it and started getting some other things ready.
I re-opened the tab and poked around the billing section of the site, apparently I had not only purchased a credit score but I had purchased credit monitoring, a recurring 17 dollar a month subscription.
Stupid me, oh well I will just cancel it! So I begin looking around the dashboard. Surely there is a way to remove my payment information or cancel my subscription, must be in my account tab, or billing information.. profile info?
So I check their FAQ and it says to call their phone line. So I do, and I am talking with the support agent on the phone (Mary) and I ask her about the account. She tells me that not only do they not let you cancel the account from the dashboard but first time buyers can not purchase a single credit report from Transunion.
This is what their site looks like, that tiny text below that terrible web design and laughable stock imagery is what you are supposed to read to know what you are buying. As far as I can tell there was no other part of the process that told me I would be buying a subscription
This is insane, I don’t know what the laws around this sort of practice (if any) are but I wonder how this works for people who are mute, or dont speak English or French well enough to get through a phone line.
In any case this is a terrible experience and ate up 3 hours of my life. Transunion must be making an absolute killing in unclosed subscriptions.
