Consumer complaint received 2021-09-29
Company: TRANSUNION INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS, INC.
State: TN
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Credit monitoring or identity theft protection services
Sub-issue: Billing dispute for services

Complaint:
XX/XX/21 {$24.00} I called but you are closed. 

I researched on XXXX and found the TransUnion website. It stated they offered free access to your credit report online and I could control my data. 

TransUnion Credit Report https : //www.transunion.com/get-credit-report Fast, free access to your credit report online Control of your credit data, with free reports available from all three credit reporting agencies in one place. 

I was glad, I wanted to check my report and information for accuracy. I was looking for the free account first for accuracy, then wanted to compare it with XXXX to see what what was offered for all three XXXX scores. 

I clicked on the url from XXXX and was presented with 3 boxes. 

I decided to go to box 2 as the first went to an external site, and the third box was the paid version. 

The title said : " TRANSUNION REPORT ''. 
Box info started with " Along with a free weekly credit report " then gave other perks, but a list of exclusions which I didn't qualify for. So, I assumed this may be a paid service, but the very end it said I could... 

Log in or create an account to : Start a dispute Add a credit freeze Add a fraud alert So maybe I was at the right place. I clicked on the " get started '' button and it routed me to a member login form. No place to sign up for a new account. ( Except later I found this was the page. There was a text link in smaller font, located out of view at the bottom edge of the page that said " create an account to start managing your TransUnion credit information ''. Sure is a lot of words out of the view of your screen to say free account. 

Not knowing about the said link, I navigate back to the previous page, and click on the button at the top of the page " Get Your Credit Score " It allowed me to create an account. 

Page 1 of the form itself was large in text size and spaced vertically to require you to scroll as you signed up. They had a huge badge graphic on the right showing member number served. Below that, a larger graphic with an XXXX  credit score showing. It was obviously an ad placement. Nothing else was in view. 

I begin filling out the account form and scrolled down as I went. I happened notice photo ad banner on the right of a lady and it said " Credit Monitoring for XXXX/month " Below was listed in bold, bulleted, all the things this monitoring provided. I dismissed it as an ad and continued with my form. 

Page 2 asks you to create a user / pass.. then asks for your credit card. Confused, I backed out and researched their website. I found one area in the FAQ mentioning the CC. They wanted you to ensure your CC billing address and living address were the same as they use this information to verify your account for security. It's written in such a way to make you think the CC is there to help secure your account. I double check page 1 & 2 TWICE of the sign up, still not seeing anything clearly stating what I was signing up for, so I go back and provide my CC thinking it was the free account. The terms visually displayed on Page 2 was written to make you think you are providing permission to obtain and use personal data on a rolling bases with " your membership '', which in this case was the free one, so I was ok with that.. I click " Agree and CONTINUE TO STEP 3 " I immediately get a text from my credit card company saying I had a charge. 

I cancelled the membership immediately. No refunds and no pro-rated refunds, then signed out to test the process again to see my error. That's when I noticed the ad was not an ad at all. It was the membership I was apparently signing up for. One would never know the difference between that and an ad, except for a tiny header in white text above the photo saying " You have chosen " The membership details is designed in such a way to visually represent an ad. It's placed in an ad spot in the sidebar, under to other ad badges and graphics to blend in. You are required to scroll down to see it, that is of course if you aren't engrossed with filling out the form mid way through to miss the fact you are scrolling right past the what you are signing up for since it's frankly an ad. 

Surely I'm not the only one who has done this? I did my due diligence to research what I was signing up for. The site information is convoluted. Colors, text size, forms and graphics all utilized to distract you from seeing what you are actually signing up for. Verbiage is not clear, vaguely written to think you are getting one thing, but receive another. For instance, box 2 of this : https : //www.transunion.com/get-credit-report Makes you think you don't qualify for a report, but when indeed you do, and the link to sign up is hidden out of the viewing area when you try to go there, making you think you have to be a current member to log in.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief