8 fake bargains to avoid
May 25, 2010 · Tagged with Banking and Budgeting
6. Going-Out-of-Business Sales
They don’t offer the bargains you’d expect — at least at the outset, when the promoted discounts are usually off the full retail price. That “30 percent off” sale may not be any better than the deals you could get before the liquidation process started. In some cases, you may actually be better off buying from a rival store that is trying to compete with the bankrupt retailer — and will be around to take care of any problems after the liquidating store is out of business.
Better Deal: Shopping robots, such as PriceGrabber.com and Shopping.com, are good places to comparison shop and may be particularly useful before visiting any liquidation sale, says Dworsky. One of his favorite sites, PriceSpider.com, posts historical prices; the range of prices should help you determine whether the price is likely to hold or continue to drop.
7. Paying for a Credit Report
Despite its name, FreeCreditReport.com is not gratis. Here’s what the fine print really says: Order your free report and you get a seven-day free trial membership in a credit-monitoring service. If you don’t cancel within seven days, you’ll be billed $14.95 a month until you bail out. Be wary of other sites making similar come-ons.
Better Deal:Visit AnnualCreditReport.com instead — the government-approved Web site where you can get a free credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus once a year. It won’t give you your actual credit score, but most people don’t need it. (The exception: If you’re actively shopping for a loan right now, go to myFICO.com to get your current score — and a report from Equifax or TransUnion — for $16.)
If you’re merely curious about how lenders perceive your credit record, you can get a good estimate of your credit score for free at CreditKarma.com. You can also try the credit score estimator at Credit.com; you will probably need your actual credit report to answer some of the site’s key questions, such as the age of your oldest credit account and the number of outstanding loans and credit cards.
8. Fraud Alerts
Don’t pay for identity-theft-protection services that automatically put fraud alerts on your credit report. You can do that yourself; it’s easy — and free. But be careful: Don’t put a fraud alert on your credit report as a general matter, because that means you can’t easily open new accounts. You should use fraud alerts only if you’ve had your wallet stolen or something else has happened to put you at real risk.
Better Deal: Review your monthly credit card and bank statements regularly to make sure there are no unauthorized charges. Also, don’t forget to obtain a copy of your free credit report annually from each of the three major credit bureaus — using AnnualCreditReport.com, of course.