Yea they try to trip you up and make it as hard as you can to get that free report. But I think the problem is more with the agencies more than annualcreditreport.com
Transunion has refused more than once to give me the report. Explanation: "we cannot provide you with a personal credit report" and then suggests I call them. Of course they provide no number or way to contact them. I have never been able to get my report from them as to date. Last time I gave up , but this time I filled a complaint with (((Redacted))) . I may try the FTC directly but not holding out any hope.
The other sneaky thing they do is make it hard to dispute things. Unlike (((Redacted))) (((Redacted))) will not deny me the report but I have like 2 credit cards listed that are not mine (actually they are my fathers-1 opened about 4-5 years before I was born, the other when I was about 10 years old). They will let me dispute address, employer etc, but not those credit cards. When I bought my first house a few years ago those cards came up and they were supposed to have been removed..well they are still there. Only good thing is they are both positive but what if they were negative and I was stuck with them?
I honestly think these companies need to be better regulated so they don't try to trip up folks when trying to get these reports. And if they refuse to give the owners of this data their own report, then they should be barred from giving them out to anyone else. You should have the legal right to dispute items that are not yours-the way and the way it is now you can't in a pratical sense.
Bottom line they are crooks and need to be better regulated.
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