“Free credit scores” from One Technologies came at a price

“Free credit scores” sounds good, right? But what if you signed up for “free credit scores,” then found out you were enrolled in a credit monitoring program that costs $29.95 per month? Not so good. That’s what the FTC says happened with a company called One Technologies, Inc.

One Technologies has agreed to settle the FTC’s charges that it misled consumers by advertising “free credit scores” but failing to tell people that they would be enrolled in a credit monitoring program with a monthly fee. 

Here’s what happened: One Technologies offered people “free” online access to their credit scores through at least fifty websites, including freescore360.com, freescoreonline.com, and scoresense.com. But according to the FTC, the company didn’t clearly inform people that once they got their score, they would have to pay $29.95 per month for a credit monitoring program. You could only get out of that monthly fee by calling to cancel. Some people had to call multiple times. Others were denied refunds. 

One Technologies will pay $22 million to compensate affected people and must get people’s consent before billing them. And it must provide people with an easy way to cancel.

If you’re considering using a free credit report or credit score service, here are a few things to consider:

• To get a copy of your free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com. Other websites that claim to offer free credit reports, free credit scores, or free credit monitoring are not part of the free annual credit report program under federal law.    
• If you’re looking for a way to improve your credit report, remember that many things that companies do for you for a fee, you can do yourself for free.
• If you think you’ve been a victim of deceptive marketing, let us know.