CreditUpdates

Creditupdates.com maintains a marketing strategy of posting beautiful apartments at below-market prices on bulletin board websites such as Craigslist. Once you reply to the listing, you will receive a reply that asks you to obtain a credit report and a link to Creditupdates.com

The offender will not accept credit reports from other companies. It is likely that the apartment being listed does not actually exist, but this is just an attempt to get you to sign up for the credit report subscription service, which is ultimately useless as there are cheaper and even free alternatives.

The domain of the email communicator was "@luxuryprop. Xyz". I would avoid at all costs and remember to never give personal information in response to Craigslists ads until you have established a rapport and trust with the vendor.

I recently began searching for my first apartment, exhausting every available method to search: Zillow, Trulia, Sublet, Apartments.com, local realtors, etc. Resulting to Craigslist, I encountered an ad for beautiful luxury apartments within my budget, well below market value. Upon emailing the individual, (the craigslist ad had an email of *******@gmail.com) I received a response almost immediately.

The email did not disclose the exact location of the apartment complex, asking only for me to file a credit report at this website, waiving the deposit if I scored above 620. I would not need to file a leasing application, only the credit report. Once I had done so, I was to notify "Susan Sanger" (*******@intuitivedesigned. Xyz) to schedule a viewing.

Suspicious, I began to search the emails and individuals listed to see if they were legitimate identities. I found nothing. That's when I decided to research CreditUpdates.com

Upon investigation I discovered the website frequently posts such ads on craigslist, with a generated email often similar or exact to the one I received (I've included the email below to give a reference). Once I went to Craigslist to view the ad a second time, I discovered the ad had been flagged for removal.

Please note that the only free Credit Report website approved by the federal government is AnnualCreditReport.com, and barring websites such as CreditKarma and FreeCreditReport.com (though not government approved, both websites do not seem to have a serious background in scamming), caution should be taken with any website claiming to offer credit report services.

Here is the email I received:
"Hi Sydney,

Thank you for your interest in the property listed for rent. You were the first to e-mail from the advertising. We just finished all new renovations and are now prepared to lease with flexible terms. We will work together with you on move in date, lease security deposit and length.

I know that you want the exact address of the property but we do want not to divulge the address before you are qualified. We have had a string of break-ins, squatters and thefts at our other properties. We would like to avoid that with this property due to the renovations that have cost a great deal of money. You will be the first to move in with the renovations.

All utilities are priced into the lease along with garage parking spaces. The appliances in the kitchen and laundry room were just installed. You have the option to pick your paint color and flooring before your move in

If you would like to set up an appointment, go to the link below and request a copy of your credit report. We use this site since it's it gives you 3 scores. All you need to do is fill out the form and you get your report We aren't interested in specifics of your report, it's more of a formality to ensure you have rental history. Simply get your report by CLICKING HERE

Keep in mind that you only have to bring your report to the tour. We typically waive the security deposit with a score of 620+.

Please let me know when you grab your report. I can then schedule you for a showing of the place.

Thanks,
Susan"

My real estate agent referred me to signup for creditupdates for $1 so I didn't have to pay her $40 to pull my credit. A buck was cheap to see my report and I had no problems signing up and was easy to download my report.

I called the number on the site to cancel and impressed my call went straight to a real person in the US not some outsourced call center. They offered me a free month of membership so I decided to keep it to monitor my credit. Overall happy with their service and probably the easiest to read credit reports I have ever seen. Trust me I work in the mortgage industry and have seen hundreds if not thousands so that says a lot.

Was also pretty cool they have a Rewards Total program for members allows me to print coupons for local businesses like Target, Subway, movie theater and other places. So over all this is really paying for itself.

They suck you in by getting you to enter your credit card info by telling you it will only be $1 for a one time credit report. What they don't tell you is they keep your credit card and charge a recurring monthly $15 fee... $60 later I finally caught the charge and canceled my account. NEVER use this site.

I just went through an identical situation as the previous reviewers. BTW... the name changes on the website link that is in the e-mail. One time I clicked it showed up as EFreescore and another time was CreditUpdates. Scandalous. As if it wasn't hard enough to find an affordable place to live. Below are the e-mail chains that I received.

"Thank you for your interest in the property listed for rent. You were the first to e-mail from the advertising. We are currently ready to lease with flexible terms and just finished all new renovations. We will work with you on move in date, lease length and security deposit.

I understand you desire the precise address of the property but we do want not to disclose the address before you are qualified. We have had a string of break ins, squatters and thefts at our other properties. We would like to prevent that with this property because of the renovations that have cost a great deal of money. You'll be the first to move in with the renovations.

All utilities are priced into the lease along with garage parking spaces. The appliances in the kitchen as well as laundry room were just installed. You have the option to pick your paint color and flooring prior to your arrival

When you want to come look at the place, then please visit the link below and grab your credit report. We use this site since it's it gives you 3 scores. All you need to do is fill out the form and you get your report We aren't interested in specifics of your report, it's more of a formality to ensure you have rental history. You can get your report by CLICKING HERE

Remember, print out the report and bring it to the tour. We'll waive your security deposit if your score is above 540+.

Let me know when you have an updated version of your credit report. Then I'll schedule you for a walk through.

Thanks,
Lena "

And my response to "Lena Nickerson" after doing a little investigating...

"http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Credit-Nation/Walnut-California/Credit-Nation-Scoreoutlookcom-and-Efreescorecom-Ripping-off-Chirldren-with-Credit-Repor-*******"