NEW YORK— A company that had promised consumers it would provide them free credit scores has been fined $22 million to settle charges it had been billing those same consumers for monthly credit monitoring for which they had not signed up.
The FTC, which announced the settlement, said $21.9 million of the fine will be used for customer refunds. According to the FTC, One Technologies LP, Dallas, and two related companies, operated at least 50 websites that advertised free credit scores, including FreeScore360.com, FreeScoreOnline.com and ScoreSense.com. The FTC said that after customers signed up for a free credit score, the company asked for credit card numbers to verify their identity. Customers would then get charged $29.95 per month for a credit monitoring program.
To cancel, said the FTC, customers had to make repeated calls. More than 200,000 customers complained to their banks, credit card companies, law enforcement agencies and the Better Business Bureau, the FTC said.
As part of the settlement, One Technologies has agreed to disclose clearly that customers will be charged for its credit monitoring program.
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