Amanda Smith is no dummy. The Edina native is working on a master's degree in political science and says she's a "careful" consumer.

It was the careful consumer in her that wanted to check her credit report. Her mom was a victim of identity theft and Amanda wanted to make sure she hadn't suffered the same fate.

So she went to freecreditreport.com after seeing a catchy ad on TV. You know, the guitar playing one.

Busy with school, Smith didn't notice right away that she was being charged $14.95 per month for a credit monitoring service that she had apparently signed up for when she examined her credit report. "It's a small enough amount where you don't really think about it," she said.

But when she did finally catch it, she was mad. In her complaint to the Better Business Bureau, she wrote " They are basically stealing as much money as they can before people notice the monthly charges on their bills, and it needs to be stopped."

Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson agrees. Swanson just sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission urging the agency to crack down on these companies that offer so-called free-trials for products consumers never knew they signed up for. She writes:

Swanson is asking the FTC to:

  1. ban the use of the word "free" when the product is not free, or is contingent on purchasing a paid product or service, or is contingent on agreeing to a trial period for a product or a service
  2. ban the use of freecreditreport.com (which is owned by the credit reporting bureau Experian. According to a New York Times story, Experian won't cough up the link.)
  3. explicitly address the issue of trial periods in relation to free credit reports
  4. disallow marketing of paid products or services on the official site for free credit reports, annualcreditreport.com

The FTC is accepting comments from the public through December 7th to prevent individuals who really just wanted their free credit report from signing up for paid offers. The FTC wants to:

Now Smith's story has a happy ending. She joined the more than 10,000 people who complained to the Better Business Bureau about freecreditreport.com. Her charges were quickly reversed. But what a hassle. And what about all of the people who still haven't noticed they are being charged?

If this has happened to you, or the practice burns you up, take the time to share your views with the FTC.

And I can't say it enough. If you want your truly free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com.