Well I like their commercials so I signed up..

Well on the plus side I found out I have good (For a bum 22 year old) credit report, but holy crap - They won't let you cancel.
I had to freaking argue with the outsourced Indian lady for 15 minutes to get the darn thing canceled.
We repeated this exact conversation about 10 times:

"I want to cancel my membership"
"But if you cancel now you won't be eligible for ... (Lists all benefits)
"I don't care... I want to cancel now"
"But you still have some time left on the trial why don't you wait until it expires"
--
"Because then you will charge me I wan't to cancel now"
"But then you won't be eligible for...."


I'm in the process of a take home test now and this darn lady pissed me off I totally lost track of what I was doing..

(edit crap and somehow I posted this before I wanted to I was going to change the title to outsourced customer service pains)

Is sick of your BS.

Yeah they charged me a good 3 or 4 times before I figured out who was doing it too.

It says in the tiny print on their commercials that they sign you up for all sorts of bullcrap. That's why I won't ever do it.

Commercials actually make people buy things?

The commercials were funny once maybe, but hearing that damn song over and over makes me want to punch a baby.
I hate advertisements. I actively avoid places that have annoying advertisements or ones that pander to stupidity.

Annoying commercials = most effective.

I'm with Vegiemaster. Luckily not watching much TV anymore, I can kind of tune them out.

And if I do see an advert, I probably won't buy the product.

If I'm not mistaken, you are entitled to one free credit report per year from each of the three credit companies (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax). I dunno how much trouble it is, though.

I disagree, I specifically won't buy a product if I find their commercials annoying, and if its really bad I'll even go and get their competitors product sometimes.

I guess so, but my thinking was that annoying sticks in the back of your head longer than the average commercial, thus subliminally influencing purchases?

*shrugs* I don't know anything. All I know is I remember annoying things longer than normal things.

(I almost never buy things that are advertised anyways so I dunno. I buy food and pay my rent...once in a while buy myself a toy that had nothing to do with ads)

Rule: If it's sticks in my head, I refuse to buy it.

This.

You just call them and they ask for your information. They'll send you your credit score within a few days, if I remember right.

Oh.. hmm *shrugs* now I know

It's very easy. I checked Experian before I started car shopping. I got a basic credit rundown after a few forms on the web, then they sent me a full report in the mail a few days later.

Happy to report that I have good credit, especially for a 23 year old

You don't have to go through free credit report to get a free credit report.

Go to your bank, in many states you are guaranteed one free credit report a year. Your bank is usually more than happy to hook you up.

Oh, speaking of good credit.

My new bank just decided I was worthy of a high limit credit card.

I just applied to balance transfer the cost of my books and tools off of my capital one to duck a little interest.. I had no idea they were going to approve me for such a high limit.

Yea, they said one of the only things that prevented my score from being higher was I have a low credit limit. I've never bothered to try to get it up, never needed it. Also I've only had a credit card for 2 years, after 3 years it goes up.

So your score should go up now!

You can very easily artificially increase your amount of revolving credit by having several low limit cards.

Look for ones that don't have monthly fees associated with them.

You could also finance something small. Like a new laptop for school.

Best way to do it is to make minimums for about 6 months then may the rest off clean. Most of the major manufacturers have financing, and it isn't anything but a revolving credit like (like a credit card) without the physical card.

You should be able to get one per year from each of the three major credit bureaus.

Indeed, but it's so much easier to go to your bank and have them do it for you.

True.
But why make minumum payments for any time at all? Get a credit card or two. Save the money you need to buy something. Put it on the credit card. Pay the *entire thing* when you get the bill with the money you already saved. This = establishing good credit.

Yea, I NEVER would make payments on something. It's pretty stupid IMO...paying more for something than what you should.
I understand some people need to do this to get buy.
I've been saving money since I started working at age 15.
Luckily too, because I've had to pay a lot on unforseeable circumstances (car repairs, bail, medical bills, so on)
If I was like a lot of people I know and bought things I did not need simply because I was paying minumum montly fees for them, I would be screwed.

Yeah, if you want to go about it the slowmo way.

This isn't attractive to creditors, debt is attractive.

Even if it's a tiny bit.

So I'm guessing you still live with your parents, you never went to school, and you won't ever own or rent your own living area.

I'm going to school, living on my own, and have my own car
Did you read the part of my post where I said I had been saving since 15?
Community college is cheap as hell.

Theres other ways to build up credit besides credit cards.

I love it. People actually pay money to find out their imaginary number of a scam system that you should know for free. Yeah, our monetary system works just fine doesn't it?

[url]www.annualcreditreport.com[/url]

http://www.ftc.gov/freereports

So you must have been ignoring the numerous posts about how you can get your credit report for free.

You're entitled to a free credit report once a year. https://www.annualcreditreport.com/ is the only official site for this, and it will take you through registration for three credit reporting agencies.

It won't however, tell you your actual score. To do that, most of the agencies have a trial you can do that shows your score. Just cancel the trial before they start charging.

I read most and skimmed the rest. Didn't see any green hyperlinks. Or maybe you were just trying to add to your post count. Sorry.

Actually, most simply add a surcharge if you elect to receive the score. Still, the score is useless. No point in getting it. Especially since it is not always the "all important" fico score.

Its not nearly as slow as you seem to think. And anyway, why should I or anyone else pay for a credit rating? You're gonna sit there and pay 20% interest on a credit card so that you can save maybe 5% interest on a car loan and probably 1 - 2% interest on a home loan? The credit card companies don't deserve my money.

I usually pay for my credit reports & it's so inexpensive that I never bothered trying to get it for free. I did once sign up for to win a car at the state fair & they apparently distributed my phone number to half of the world because I soon began getting text message spam almost every day.

Sorry Wookie, that was meant for Free. You managed to slip in while I was typing.

I hate Wal-Mart

I was wondering. That's cool. I hate it when that happens.