Sears Gold Mastercard The $1 one-month credit monitoring charge won't be canceled when you call to cancel. Here's how to avoid the $12.95 monthly charge they'll stick you with. Sioux Falls, South Dakota

When you sign up in-store at the cash register for a Sear's credit-card, you'll be contacted later by a telemarketer asking you to sign up for a 30-day credit-monitoring service. The initial charge for the first month is $1, but you must call them to cancel within 30 days of receiving the report, which will be mailed to you. If you don't cancel, you'll be billed $12.95 per month thereafter for the credit-monitoring service until you do cancel.

If you do decide to cancel the service, be advised that the operator will tell you that the rest of your reports are online at a website. If you agree to view those reports, your call will be construed as a call for further information and NOT a cancellation. Unless you immediately tell the operator to cancel anyway AND GET A CANCELLATION NUMBER the service will NOT be canceled and you will be billed $12.95 per month.