Complaint Review: CreditUpdates.com

CreditUpdates.com is advertising its website through Craigslist via rental scamming. The poster advertises a seemingly legit property for rent with pictures, waits for prospective renters to reply by email, and sends out the following email, or one extremely similar to it. I know this because I found the fake ads, recognized the properties in my hometown, and drove by them. I left notes on the doors for the "landlord" to call me, and got calls back from confused tenants who had no idea what I was talking about. 

Note: When you print the "free" $1 credit report, you are informed in very small letters that if you don't cancel within a week, your credit card will be charged $30 monthly. Conveniently, nobody is available to cancel your account before the week is up. Do not use creditupdates.com. Beware of rental ads that seem too good to be true, or ads that are "desperate" for you to rent from them. 

"Hi (Your Name),

Thank you for your interest in the property listed for rent. You were the second to e-mail from the ad. The first prospective renter no longer had to move because of his home situation. So we give the opportunity to you. We are currently ready to lease with flexible terms and just completed all new renovations. We will work with you on move in date, lease length and security deposit.

I know that you need 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 plenty 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 as well as laundry room were just installed. You have the option to pick your paint color and flooring before your arrival

When you want to come look at the place, then please visit the link below and grab your report. All of our tenants use this site because it is widely trusted. All you need to do is fill out the form and you get your report We are not concerned with any negative report items, 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 report. Then I'll schedule you for a showing.

Thanks,
Hope (or Debra, or Amber, or any other generic name)