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The government stepped in since then to protect consumers from misleading offers. One of these new amendments to rules pertaining about free credit reports is certain portions of the CARD Act.

As of April 2 the CARD Act included rules addressing disclosures about credit reports. Companies offering free credit reports are required to include a specifically-worded notice across the top of each web page that mentions free reports.

This notice placed on websites declares that the only federally authorized free credit report resource is annualcreditreport.com. If you need to know what the exact wording is you can look within the FTC website regarding the CARD act.

The effort to create CARD Act legislation was made in order to help people obtain a free credit report with not so many strings attached. That way, consumers will get what they need and they will not have to pay monthly monitoring fees.

However, as always with every law there is a loophole. The government did not tell people they could not charge for credit reports.

This charging for credit reports steers webmasters clear of having to make an announcement that these complimentary records are available at annualcreditreport.com.

However, as always with every law there is a loophole. The government did not tell people they could not charge for credit reports.

This charging for credit reports steers webmasters clear of having to make an announcement that these complimentary records are available at annualcreditreport.com.

One of the most common examples of this is that some Credit monitoring webmasters are now charging a token amount of $1 so that a consumer can obtain a free credit report.

The other clincher is that advertisers know that the Free Credit Report Rule of both 2003 and onward does not include credit scores. Therefore, marketing efforts are still very misleading. The problem has not yet been solved.

Monitoring companies can still trick you into signing up for credit monitoring or other services you do not need. Be careful, not unless you think you want these services.

Then by all means that is your right as well. It does help to keep track of your credit report, as well as your credit score on a regular basis. This helps prevent further cases of identity theft.

Of course, these loopholes make it easier for monitoring services to make money. However, sometimes it is at the frustration of the consumer. You should look for a company that offers these types of services and yet does not mislead you.

The concept of investigating credit reports is quite complex. It is done for many different reasons. Sometimes it is consumer fraud while other times it is because of identity theft.

It also could be a case where a consumer is just careless with money and has run up a “bunch” of credit card bills. It could be for any number of reasons or any combination of these reasons put together.

In any case, there is a variety of different ways that credit investigations are made. For instance, sometimes a credit report is checked. Usually this is done by way of social security number or birth date.

Other times other financial records such as bank accounts or credit cards are accessed. Of course, all of this is only done by the proper authorities who can be trusted to handle these investigations.

Investigative Concerns

Sometimes credit bureaus or other governing agencies investigate overextended consumers. However, they do not always do their own research. They sometimes hire detectives of different sorts who sift through personal records.

All of this is done in order to search for financial judgments, liens, or other “dirt” against a homeowner. If there is any negative action on a person’s record, the detective then reports this to a credit bureau.

This further puts a person in financial trouble in even more jeopardy. New information is placed on a person credit record that would prevent them from getting a mortgage, car loan, or job.

There have been legal battles in recent times as to whether or not it is lawful for credit bureaus and other financial agencies to hire these detectives. Lawsuits were even filed in various geographical locations such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

There are a variety of different methods and tools that are used to investigate credit. You can read about these in a future blog entry.