More info on the errant charge, and where to get a truly free credit report

I should probably note the errant charge wasn’t actually from FreeCreditReport.com – it was from "CIC Triple Advantage." Apparently, I’m not the first person to have this problem, either. There’s even an article written about how to go about canceling the service and getting your money back. The steps are rather obvious (essentially it says to call the number next to the charge on your credit card and insist on a full refund), and it but it does point out something interesting at the end:

Now that you’ve experienced the trouble a free credit report from FreeCreditReport.com will get you, allow us to show you a better site: http://www.annualcreditreport.com. At this government mandated web site, you are entitled to one free credit report a year from each of the three credit bureaus. No strings attached.

It also points out that although Experian (the parent company of CIC TripleAdvantage) "has been forced to give up $1.25 million in what the FTC calls ‘ill-gotten’ gains [and have] settled multiple class action lawsuits, … their business practices have changed very little."

Lastly, it suggests reporting fraud like this to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Bureau of Consumer Protection. I might just do that.