Equifax charging for "Equifax Identity Watch" [Edited Title]

Jimaldo_2

Good afternoon fellow moneysavers.

I recently noticed on my credit card statement that equifax are charging me £2.99 a month for their "Equifax Identity Watch™ Lite / Complete" product.

I signed up to their free credit report on 21/1/2011 (over a year ago) and cancelled it within the month. But now I have two payments come out of my account from them for 21/2/12 and 21/3/12. I haven't been on their website since over a year ago.

Does anybody know if this is legitimate? Have I missed some small print that they start charging me after 13 months of signing up or something?? I cant find anything on their website :mad:

Has this happened to anyone else?

Thanks.

Forwandert

I think Equifax would be the primary contact to find out what the payments are for. Assuming you've already done that what did they say?

lizzywig

Something similiar happened to my husband although I think with credit expert. He cancelled but they continued to take £1.99 every month. Every time he phoned they would assure him that this time it really would be cancelled and every time they would keep taking the money out. We kept a list of every person spoken to with dates and times and asked to be put through to a manager and gave them a list of their incompetant staff who need further training. The account was then sucessfully cancelled, otherwise we would have written.

I suggest calling to start off with, taking a note of date, time and who you talk to and find out what it is for. Go from there...

jimaldo

well I sent them an email and have got this reply:

"I've cancelled your subscription for Identity Watch Lite and refunded the £5.98 taken. This should take around ten working days to go back on your card."

This isn't going to be the end of it, I'm going to ask them for a reason as to why this happened and assurances it won't happen again because they have used my card details I last used with them over a year ago.

Thanks all :j

wealdroam

jimaldo wrote: »

This isn't going to be the end of it, I'm going to ask them for a reason as to why this happened and assurances it won't happen again because they have used my card details I last used with them over a year ago.

Please remember to report back on any progress you make Jimaldo.
Thanks.

jimaldo

They claim that they gave me this product for free which they do for everyone who creates an account with them for a year then they start to charge.

What a joke, but at least they've refunded me the money and cancelled it. They must make a fortune out of people who don't realise they do this.

petitor

I too found 4 x charge for 2.99 !! I tried emailing after going round and round the FAQ's got no where with that so ended up ringing and hoping now that they have cancelled. You are right it appears that a year ago I wanted a £6.99 credit report and unknowing to me I signed up to a 2.99 monthly charge which was free for 12 months!!! I have asked for a full refund as this was miss sold to me but as yet have heard nothing!

Valli

Jimaldo wrote: »

Does anybody know if this is legitimate? Have I missed some small print that they start charging me after 13 months of signing up or something?

Has this happened to anyone else?

Thanks.

Yes it's legitimate. - they sign you up for the free credit report and free (for a year) ID watch, so yes, you missed the small print. Yes it's happened to others.
Also as you have a 'continuing' relationship with them; albeit free for the first 12 months they will have retained your payment details and other data quite legitimately.

There have been a few threads about this - along with the free trial you also sign up for this identity watch scheme, I believe, free for a year then £2.99 a month ... by which time you have forgotten all about it.

popadom

I vaugly remember reading that you should report it too your bank- if the bank still allows payments, its their fault

StaffsSW

Martin Lewis has heavily plugged these services across a large number of articles that all link to this page -
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/credit-rating-credit-score
which pays him £35 for every sign-up he refers, even if it is subsequently cancelled. There is another article that explains how to cancel the trial, but notice how no mention is made of the ongoing charges like Identity Watch that are not part of the free trial... http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/cancel-experian-equifax

This is where the credit agencies make their money, so it is in the affiliates (Martin Lewis') interest to ensure that a revenue stream continues in order to keep the original sign-up payouts lucrative for them.

CoolHotCold

stevew8975 wrote: »

Martin Lewis has heavily plugged these services across a large number of articles that all link to this page -
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/credit-rating-credit-score
which pays him £35 for every sign-up he refers, even if it is subsequently cancelled. There is another article that explains how to cancel the trial, but notice how no mention is made of the ongoing charges like Identity Watch that are not part of the free trial... http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/cancel-experian-equifax

This is where the credit agencies make their money, so it is in the affiliates (Martin Lewis') interest to ensure that a revenue stream continues in order to keep the original sign-up payouts lucrative for them.

I thought you were talking rubbish, but no, this website does indeed link to a unique identifier that associates clicks to a promoter account which pays out money to the owner of the website (though Martin does give links to TopCashBack too)