Equifax free report for £6.99

hughie278

Hi im hoping someone can set me straight here as ive got bank charges for the first time in a long time and im so gutted.

I signed up for Equifax in December and also Experian. I knew with Experian it was a free trial and I had to cancel my subscription but Equifax had me believing its a free report with additional services to pay for and no auto subscription. When I log in it still says free report, but Ive just found out they have taken two payments of £6.99 and they say its because I didnt cancel before the trial ended.

Ive now got bad ticks on my credit file again and am stuck with credit card and bank charges and most likely a shut bank account now. Is this totally my fault? Fair enough if it is but I was so sure it was a free report and read nothing on automatic subscription like I did with Experian. Anyone able to confirm it clearly says not free after the trial although your account will tell you it is.

Sorry and thanks for reading my annoying problems.

dtsazza

I can't say what it was like in December, but right now the Free credit report page says as the first bullet point:

No obligation 30 day FREE trial*

...

*Then only £6.99 per month to continue if you don't cancel within your 30 day free trial.

Although it's not impossible, it's unlikely that Equifax would have failed to announce this in December, as I'm sure they had teams of people go over the copy. And even if they did, without a screenshot/saved copy of the website I think it will be effectively impossible for you to prove.

So unfortunately I don't think there is anything you can do about this, it seems you missed the small print.

(Thinking about it, you must have given them bank details when you signed up. They would only have asked for these if they intended to possibly charge you for something at some point. In future this should be a red flag that something isn't completely free, but is a free trial or similar.)

Tixy

I'm sorry but I think it shows it fairly clearly on their website. It states

• No obligation 30 day FREE trial*

and then

*Then only £6.99 per month to continue if you don't cancel within your 30 day free trial.

In terms of the negatives on your credit file - were they placed by your credit card company? and did you think you had a nil balance? might be worth phoning up and apologising and seeing if they will remove the markers if its a first offence (worth a shot?).

rising_from_the_ashes

The free trial has been for 30 days for a long time with the fee payable after that.

I'm afraid I don't understand what that has to do with now having to change your bank account tho'?

fermi

dtsazza wrote: »

Although it's not impossible, it's unlikely that Equifax would have failed to announce this in December, as I'm sure they had teams of people go over the copy. And even if they did, without a screenshot/saved copy of the website I think it will be effectively impossible for you to prove.

It has said the same thing, with those terms, for years upon years upon years.

So yes, it would have been there in December.

hughie278

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

The free trial has been for 30 days for a long time with the fee payable after that.

I'm afraid I don't understand what that has to do with now having to change your bank account tho'?

Ok thanks all Ill just suck up my stupidness. With regard to having to change bank, my current bank sent me a letter informing me my direct debit wasnt paid and any further abuse of the account would result in termination. Equifax took more again this month so the money for the bank charge isnt in there anymore hence another bad use of the account.

I guess I read that 'No obligation 30 day FREE trial*' and thought no obligation meant no auto renew subscription. In fact I know thats what happened in this mind of mine.

Enjoy your debt free life guys mine has ended. Thanks for clearing that up.

give_them_FA

Always read the small print Hughie, there's no such thing as a free lunch and the clue was in the word "trial".