Show Me the Numbers

The world is obsessed with my credit.  Okay, not mine personally, but credit in general.  You can't rent an apartment, buy a car or buy a house without it.  Some companies won't even let you get a cell phone plan without checking it.  Every time I turn on the television or radio there's yet another company offering to give me a free credit report or fix my credit or monitor my credit.  I can't surf the web without having credit ads pop up all over the place and flash at me from huge banners.  It's overwhelming and annoying.  Of course, all that paled in comparison to my annoyance when I actually had to pay for a credit report, only to find out I'd have to pay an even steeper fee to find out my credit score.  I'd already coughed up the price of a dinner out to read pages of information, but to get the actual numbers would cost me yet another dinner out!

It seems to me that the people that truly benefit from credit reports and scores are the companies reporting them, specifically Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.  It's in their best interests to make the consumer paranoid about their credit and businesses obsessed with it.  Every time that report gets pulled someone pays, and half the time that cost gets passed on to me.  I think it should be the other way around.  I think TransUnion and associates should have to pay me each time they make money when someone looks me up. 

Apparently I'm not the only one who's angry about this.  A class action suit that's been going on for years against TransUnion was just settled.  The complaints were much worse and more specific than mine.  TransUnion had been accused of illegally selling too much information about consumers to credit issuing companies.  The settlement has two aspects: cash and services.  The money will have to be distributed amongst all the class members and will be a few dollars at most.  The services aspect is something more people can really sink their teeth into.

You can register at the website https://www.listclassaction.com/ to claim one of two free service packages, each of which includes a few months of free access to your credit report AND score and free credit monitoring.  Best yet, when your months are up, it automatically cancels it for you!  Like me, you've probably had at least one experience where a "free trial" of something suddenly ended and the company started charging your credit card before you could cancel the subscription.  Not the case here.  You do, however, have to register by September 24th.  You will be notified when the court grants final approval of the settlement and your free access begins.

Sign me up!  My hat's off to the men and women who stood up several years ago and went after TransUnion for their activities.  Now I'm just thinking, is Equifax next?

Related Links:

• Read all about the lawsuit and register to receive benefits.