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Equifax alone sells consumer products primarily through its eponymous website, Equifax.com. "Our approach has always been to take the high road," says Steve Ely, free annual credit report Marquette president of Equifax's Personal Solutions. Joel Winston, the FTC's associate director of privacy and identity protection, credits the bureaus for improving their public disclosure statements in recent months. But free annual credit report Marquette he says the FTC remains "free annual credit report Marquette very concerned" about any lingering confusion. "The principle we're upholding is, you've got to make clear what it is you're selling," Winston says. "And also make all of the conditions clear." The Big Three for decades denied consumers access to their credit histories, selling data exclusively to lenders. Once the government gave consumers the right to a free copy of free annual credit report Marquette their credit report, the bureaus moved aggressively to tap the consumer market. sales of credit data to consumers negligible in 2000 hit $220 million in 2003, soared to $488 million in 2006, and should top $860 million by 2010, says Craig Focardi, financial services analyst at market researcher TowerGroup. how to get credit report free Though consumer sales make up only a fraction of the bureaus' lender-centric operations, they have become the bureaus' fastest-growing free annual credit report Marquette source of revenue. But this windfall free annual credit report Marquette derives from an online marketing free-for-all in which many websites and promotional offers aren't what they seem.

"Consumers face a bewildering variety of things to click on, some of which is valid, much of which is not," says Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum. The bureaus make no apologies for how and what they sell to consumers. The biggest bureau, Dublin-based Experian, reported $375 million in consumer sales in its fiscal year ended last April. "Unhappy consumers don't buy your stuff," Experian's Girard says. 100 free credit report

"We've been averaging about 20% growth free annual credit report Marquette in our direct-to-consumer business, year over year. That's due to happy consumers." Not all consumers are endeared with Experian. The company's well-known subsidiary, Consumerinfo.free annual credit report Marquette com, has been fined twice by the FTC. In August 2005, Experian paid the FTC $950,free annual credit report Marquette 000 to settle charges that Consumerinfo.com misled consumers into subscribing free annual credit report Marquette to an $80-a-year credit-monitoring service. In February, Experian paid the FTC a smaller fine $300,000 to settle a second round of similar complaints.

Experian admitted free annual credit report Marquette no wrongdoing in either FTC free annual credit report Marquette case. On Consumerinfo.com's home page, that disclaimer is in small, light blue lettering on dark blue background next to a large "order now" button for a credit monitoring subscription. In March, about a month after Experian paid its second FTC free annual credit report Marquette fine, Melissa Duenas, 28, a customer service representative in Denver, surfed to Experian.com in an attempt to obtain her free free annual credit report Marquette credit report. credit report check She recalls being guided to a Web page where she typed in a credit free annual credit report Marquette card number, as directed, thinking free annual credit report Marquette it was part of verifying her identity. Actually, Duenas had signed up for trial use of a credit-monitoring service. After a month of free service, Experian free annual credit report Marquette initiated a recurring $13-a-month charge, which was dropped only after Duenas complained. The FTC and Experian free annual credit report Marquette say the service was properly explained. Consumer advocates advise credit data shoppers to remain extremely wary.