GfK sent out a notice today, apologizing and saying there is a chance the shop will result in a hard credit check on some shoppers' credit reports. We were assured it would be a soft check, but evidently that is not the case. They tell us this can be reversed.

In the e-mail, GfK refers people to freecreditreport.com as a means of seeing if this has happened.

Do NOT trust that site. The only safe, legitimate site for consumers to check their credit for free is [anualcreditreport.com]

Freecreditreport is thoroughly bad news:

[www.mywot.com]

[www.consumerismcommentary.com]

I read your note Tech and the first thing that came to mind was the old 'joke' about "Accidents happen and people occur." This is why I never believe a scheduler's assurance that 'there will be no credit check or it will be a soft credit check'. There are just too many ways this can slip up and be a hard hit. As for reversing--good luck with that one. Who is supposedly going to do the footwork???? Probably not the one who screwed up.

Well good thing I failed their test! Sheesh!

The funny thing is I just got an e-mail from them about a month ago begging people to sign up for these and went into specific detail about how it would only be a "soft" pull and the client would bend over backwards to make sure that was the case, because this was keeping people from doing these shops. Good luck getting them done now.

I did one of these shops and am now watching my credit score. I wonder how long it would take before it shows up if it's going to. I have excellent credit and hope it remains so.

They've sent out another update, referring people to annualcreditreport.com instead. They don't say the freecreditreport.com is a scam, but at least they indicate it's not a free service.

Tech - Not considering the credit issue, was the shop worth the money?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/2011 07:37PM by Brak.

Whew! Glad I was just in the preliminary stages of this. I just got an email that these shops have been suspended in my area and I will be notified when they resume. Think I will pass on it when they do resume.

The instructions looked daunting, but it was actually very simple. Yes, it was definitely worth the incentive.

Brak Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Tech - Not considering the credit issue, was the
> shop worth the money?

My guess is they were suspended because of this very issue.

Kris3065 Wrote:
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> Whew! Glad I was just in the preliminary stages
> of this. I just got an email that these shops
> have been suspended in my area and I will be
> notified when they resume. Think I will pass on
> it when they do resume.

A Hard hit is super hard to reverse. Good luck on that one folks. Watch the insurance inquires. They hit too, soft but it is a hit.

How do you continually watch your credit score? I know you can go to several sites and get a free report, something like three times a year. But beyond that, how can you know?

TechSavvy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I did one of these shops and am now watching my
> credit score. I wonder how long it would take
> before it shows up if it's going to. I have
> excellent credit and hope it remains so.

Generally you get 3 free credit reports per year by law--one from each of the three major reporting services. These reports do NOT include your credit score. On occasion there is a shop that requires a credit score and reimburses you for pulling your credit report. I generally find one or two of those per year, which lets me keep track that nothing awry is going on. Purchasing your credit report from Experian, Equifax or Transunion generally costs about $15 and includes your credit score. It also give you access to your credit report for a month. I would NOT go with one of the 'services' that is a secondary market selling you your credit reports and 'monitoring' of your credit. The only exception to that would be perhaps one subscribed to through my bank.

On the free credit reports, I pull one from Experian in my birth month, the one from Equifax four months later and the one from Transunion four months after that. At least that is my plan, but with the reimbursed ones available I have gotten sloppy. The purpose of the free government mandated ones is to allow a peek at what is being reported about you and gives you the opportunity to see who is asking as well as start the process of correcting errors. Luckily I have never found errors though I have found credit cards listed as still active that were closed out decades ago and shut them down again. I also found a lot of 'soft hits' by several of the sleazier credit card companies who sent me tons of junk mail. I contacted them indicating that my mailbox has been raided several times that I know of and they need to be aware that when I want a credit card I will contact them, but I will not be responsible for someone using stolen mail to activate a card in my name. Amazingly I have received no more junk mail from them! THAT was worth the price of admission!

I have done these shops twice now, once in this round and once about six months ago. The last round they paid an extra $100 because of the possibility of a hard credit pull, though the mortgage consultant never asked to pull my credit. The dropped that extra fee this time ensuring the soft pull. I immediately went to the trusted web site above and checked things out, so far so good, but I'm going to keep watching.

Oh, and probably never shop for GFK again. There shops are WAY too much for the pay, even this mortgage shop!

I didn't think the mortgage shop was bad at all. I made maybe ten phone calls, some of which went to voicemail and I hung up. I filled out an online application, spoke to the consultant a couple of times. The guidelines were many pages and looked daunting, but the shop itself was not difficult if you read the guidelines and knew the timeline to follow. I'm going to see about getting extra money, seeing as I now need to monitor my credit reports.


jdfg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have done these shops twice now, once in this
> round and once about six months ago. The last
> round they paid an extra $100 because of the
> possibility of a hard credit pull, though the
> mortgage consultant never asked to pull my credit.
> The dropped that extra fee this time ensuring the
> soft pull. I immediately went to the trusted web
> site above and checked things out, so far so good,
> but I'm going to keep watching.
>
> Oh, and probably never shop for GFK again. There
> shops are WAY too much for the pay, even this
> mortgage shop!

I didn't get that email, it sounds like spam. Are you ABSOLUTELY SURE the email was sent by GFK??? Because I find it hard to believe that they would try to get you to check your credit. Especially through a link...hmmmm....

Several folks have mentioned that they contacted GFK about it and that yes, it was apparently a legitimate email about a legitimate problem with a suggestion of how to check to see if your credit was hit.

I will keep an eye out for that then then.

Yes, believe me, it was legitimate. I was just surprised they suggested the shyster freecreditreport address. At least they sent an update suggesting annualcreditreport.com instead. All they said was that it was brought to attention that freecreditreport was not free...Not that they're known scammers.

I saw two soft hits on two of my reports when I checked; the reports indicated they were visible only to me. They were done in August by a third party acting on behalf of the client.


rochelle_ljames88@yahoo.com Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I didn't get that email, it sounds like spam. Are
> you ABSOLUTELY SURE the email was sent by GFK???
> Because I find it hard to believe that they would
> try to get you to check your credit. Especially
> through a link...hmmmm....

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2011 08:45PM by TechSavvy.

No I didn't think that freecreditreport was a scam I was thinking that that email was a scam using GFK logos trying to get you to click a phony link. I haven't gotten the email so I didn't see exactly how it looked, but I know that is exactly how they do it. So I am just warning. Make sure it's legit. And it sounds like someone already called GFK so it's cool.

Right, I knew what you meant. I'm just saying it's bad when a MSC refers people to a questionable site in order to monitor a problem that THEY created in the first place.


rochelle_ljames88@yahoo.com Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> No I didn't think that freecreditreport was a scam
> I was thinking that that email was a scam using
> GFK logos trying to get you to click a phony link.
> I haven't gotten the email so I didn't see exactly
> how it looked, but I know that is exactly how they
> do it. So I am just warning. Make sure it's legit.
> And it sounds like someone already called GFK so
> it's cool.

rochelle_ljames88@yahoo.com Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I didn't get that email, it sounds like spam. Are
> you ABSOLUTELY SURE the email was sent by GFK???
> Because I find it hard to believe that they would
> try to get you to check your credit. Especially
> through a link...hmmmm....


Try Freeman Group..just did my first one for them and it was easy and fun.

Rochelle, Freeman group is good, but it takesforever to get paid.

I'm not doing any more shops that require a hard inquiry on my credit report unless it's for something I would be doing anyway, like getting a new wireless phone and plan, for instance.

I will do the ones which set the shopper up with a ficticious profile tied to a ficticious SS# provided by the client. I did one of those before, several years ago. It was pretty involved, but paid well and I wasn't divulging any of my own information. Live and learn!

Lindazane Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> rochelle_ljames88@yahoo.com Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I didn't get that email, it sounds like spam.
> Are
> > you ABSOLUTELY SURE the email was sent by
> GFK???
> > Because I find it hard to believe that they
> would
> > try to get you to check your credit. Especially
> > through a link...hmmmm....
>
>
> Try Freeman Group..just did my first one for them
> and it was easy and fun.

CANADAMOMMY Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A Hard hit is super hard to reverse. Good luck on
> that one folks. Watch the insurance inquires. They
> hit too, soft but it is a hit.

Hi CANADAMOMMY. Are you saying auto insurance inquiries will (soft) hit? *gulp* I've got one scheduled for tomorrow. Thanks in advance!

Anything where you provide your SS# has the potential.

I wanna do this for the experience. I hope it is worth it. I hope it is easy. Like I said, we monitor our credit regularly so I will see it at least even if there's nothing I can do about it. And it IS bad that they had to refer yall to freecreditreport. That's like if they caused you to lose your job sending out an email "Just if case you find that this shop caused you to lose your job, be sure to refer to your local unemployment agency."

TechSavvy Wrote:
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> Anything where you provide your SS# has the
> potential.


Thanks for the heads-up. My instructions (for a simple auto insurance quote) say I don't have to give my SS#, but I do have to provide the VIN and my DL#. I'll let you know if I see any hits ...