They get on their computers to obtain the free credit reports they’re entitled to under federal law.

They want to go to annualcreditreport.com, which is the site the three major credit reporting agencies — Experian, TransUnion and Equifax — established to provide those.

If they type “annualcreditreport.com” into the address bar of their browser, they go right to the site. (The image above is what you’ll find on the real deal.)

But some consumers are going to Google and searching for that URL.

When they do that, first links that appear on the page are paid advertisements that are out to trick unsuspecting consumers with names like “Annual Credit Report” or “Annual Credit Report.com.”

They’re commercial Web sites that pay Google to have their links listed first and the questionable info they provide is definitely not free.

One link, for example, took us to a site called “CreditReportsandScores.com” which urged us to “Start Here, It’s Free.”

What we quickly discovered is that the site was really offering to provide a credit score – it doesn’t say what formula will be used to generate that score – and not the credit reports consumers set out to get.

At least not right away.

When a user orders a “free credit score” they’re automatically signed up for a credit monitoring membership that costs $14.95 a month plus tax.

After they pay for that that membership, they can then “purchase a triple bureau credit report.”

Of course users are offered the option to obtain their “free credit score” and avoid all costs by canceling their membership within seven days.

But good luck with that.

This kind of deceptive marketing around annaulcreditreport.com has been going on for years now and we have to wonder if the Federal Trade Commission is ever going to get serious about putting an end to it.

We fear it’s not.

If you resisted the temptation to buy a home you couldn’t really afford.

If you refused to run up big balances on your credit cards.

Then it’s OK to be a predator now.

You shouldn’t feel a shred of guilt about driving a hard bargain on cars, collectibles, electronics or anything else you’d like to buy from cash-strapped sellers who didn’t have the same good sense that you did.

Being a nice predator will get you farther than being a mean one.

But expressing sympathy for a seller’s financial plight does not mean you shouldn’t drive a hard bargain.

So don’t hesitate to snap up a foreclosed home or repossessed car.

And don’t feel guilty about buying something that’s more lavish or luxurious than you might have in the past just because it’s so doggone cheap.

You have the cash the sellers need, and in most cases, you have it for a good reason. You were smarter about managing your money than they were.

As I’ve said before: Savers Are The Heros Of The Recession.

This is one of the benefits you’ve earned.

So imagine my shock when, as part of my daily morning routine, I logged into my checking account and found a $112 purchase at the Lego store.

I’ve been a victim of debit card fraud before, but it happened on a massive scale.

Someone cloned the card while I was on vacation, and racked up hundreds of dollars in charges at gas stations and grocery stores, before I found the purchases and had the card cancelled.

I’d never seen just one instance of fraud before.

When I did, I was so surprised that I did a quick check of my recent purchases to make sure I didn’t forget buying a birthday present for a friend’s kid, and to make sure I didn’t buy anything affiliated with Lego.

Then I logged into my account, and sent my bank an email through their online contact form. Within an hour, I received a reply with a phone number of where to call to start a fraud claim.

First I had to answer a few such the date of my last valid transaction and whether I’d ever bought anything from the Lego store before (Answer: No.)

Then I was able to ask that my debit card be cancelled.

The Wachovia customer service representative emailed me an affidavit to sign and fax back, stating the nature of the purchase that it wasn’t mine. They’ll be giving me a $112 credit while the case is being investigated.

That was the easy part. Now I have a lot of work to do.

I have no debit card for five to 10 days, so if I want to pull money out of my account, or deposit a check, I need to go to a teller, and I’ll be charged a fee for that service.

I must change over any account that automatically charges my debit card, like my Netflix subscription, EZ Pass and iTunes accounts.

So even though I’m the victim here, I’m going to pay with my time, my extreme annoyance, and possibly a few bank fees.

I have to figure the crook that used my card wanted to see if I would catch a single fraudulent purchase, and would have continued to occasionally ding my account again until I did.

The moral is to make sure you go online and check your account summary every single day. Or at least every other day.

Debit cards don’t offer the same protections as credit cards, even if they say “Visa” or “MasterCard” on the front.

If your credit card is stolen or cloned, you’re on the hook for $50, period. With debit cards, your liability depends on how quickly you find and report the fraud.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, if you catch an unauthorized purchase within two days, you’re liable for $50.

If you find it within 60 days, you’re liable for $500.

Longer than 60 days? You’re screwed.

Almost half of all checking account customers opted into their bank’s overdraft protection, according to a new study released by the American Bankers Association.

Overdraft “protection” is that nasty little program where banks will cover relatively small debit card purchases even if you don’t have enough money in your account – and whomp you with a fee for doing so.

Polls have shown that a significant majority of consumers would rather have their transactions declined.

But these fees were so lucrative for the banks that many routinely signed customers up for this “protection” unless they specifically asked to opt-out.

By last fall the public was so fed up with all of the “gotcha” fees banks were charging that the Federal Reserve finally told the banks they had to get customers to “opt-in” to the programs before imposing such fees.

The deadline was Aug. 15.

The ABA, which is the trade group for the banking industry, touted the 46% opt-in rate as a victory, and it certainly is – for them.

Many banks launched significant marketing campaigns to convince as many of their customers as possible to do so.

And they aimed those efforts at customers who have paid these outrageous fees in the past – and are most likely to pay them in the future.

We wish more people had said no. There is no reason to have overdraft protection. Wouldn’t you rather pay cash, or take a pass on your $3 cup of coffee, than wind up paying $30 for it?

(The average overdraft fee is $27 according to the most recent Fed survey we’ve seen.)

If you signed up, just remember.

It’s not too late to change your mind.

You can opt out of overdraft protection at anytime, and that’s what we think you should do.

It’s sort of like the Sears Christmas Club.

You can sign up at any check-out lane at Toys “R” Us or Toys “R” Us Express stores.

You’ll receive a special gift card that you can add money to any time you wish, at any Toys “R” Us cash register, now through Oct. 16, 2010.

The store will add 3% to the final total on your card and you can start spending the balance on Oct. 31.

The most you can put into the club is $2,500 for a maximum bonus of $75.

If you put the money in after Sept. 25 and spend it by Dec. 25, then you’d earn an annualized rate of something like 12%.

Where are you going to find another deal like that?

While the card doesn’t have an expiration date, the longer you hold onto it, the lower your effective return will be because you’re only paid one bonus.

One final thing.

Although you can only open or add to your account at Toys “R” Us or Toys “R” Us Express stores, you can spend the money at Babies “R” Us, toysrus.com and babiesrus.com.

But we’ve got to revisit this topic one more time for two very good reasons:

Reason 1. The deadline for banks and credit unions to get you to enroll in overdraft protection is Sunday (Aug. 15).

Reason 2. A new report says some banks and credit unions are aiming their marketing campaigns at customers who have paid these outrageous fees in the past – and are most likely to pay them in the future.

That study from the Center for Responsible Lending blames banking industry consultants for the widespread use of that strategy.

“…20 to 29% of your members give you 90% of your NSF [non-sufficient funds] income,” it quotes from one consultant report. “Target those top 29% and get them to opt in…”

“If they are in the top 29% of abusers, call them” said another.

As a result, the study says the University of Iowa Community Credit Union is actually “offering incentive-based pay to employees who can identify accountholders who have overdrawn their accounts when they walk into a branch and then convince them to opt in to debit card overdraft coverage.”

And credit unions are usually the good guys when it comes to treating customers right.

In the past, banks and credit unions could automatically sign customers up for “overdraft protection” on their checking account unless they asked to opt out.

It was a nasty practice that allowed them to ding you with a $34 overdraft fee if you didn’t have the funds to cover that $2 cup of coffee you bought with your debit card. Those fees were a major source of income for the banks, drawing in nearly $24 billion annually.

New financial regulation bans the practice of automatically enrolling customers for overdraft protection. Banks were given until Sunday to get existing customers to opt in or they must be dropped from overdraft protection programs — and their fees.

A few big players, including Bank of America and Citibank, didn’t bother and have said they will decline debit card transactions that would have otherwise triggered an overdraft fee.

But as the Center for Responsible Lending found, some banks and credit unions are doing everything they can to continue exploiting their “frequent fliers,” as customers who regularly incur overdraft fees are called by the consultants.

Our advice remains the same: Do not agree to overdraft protection, no matter how many times it’s pitched to you.

Banks are now promoting reward programs for their debit cards in an effort to get customers to use them more often.

But take heed: These programs aren’t always free.

Enrolling in a reward program that offers points or cash rebates often means you’re signing up for something most debit cards don’t have – an annual fee.

Chase charges $25 a year to be part of its debit card reward program, as does Citizens Bank. One U.S. Bank program costs a whopping $55.

I got a glossy mailer the other day from Wachovia to entice me to join its program. Guess what I found in the small print? A $12, non-refundable fee.

Debit card reward programs are usually less generous than credit card reward programs too, offering one point for every $2 or $4 spent instead of one-for-$1.

If you use your debit card a lot, they might still be worthwhile.

But you can’t make that decision without knowing how much they cost.

Hah. That was wishful thinking.

The Consumer Federation of America says 13 of the country’s 15 biggest banks – all of them except Citi and Bank of America — are pushing customers to voluntarily sign up for a program that’s costing them $23 billion a year in fees.

Doing so will allow those banks to continue charging fees of $25 or more each time you overdraw your checking account with a debit card.

Banks have routinely signed customers up for these programs unless they specifically asked to opt-out.

But by last fall the public was so fed up with all of the “gotcha” fees banks were charging that the Federal Reserve finally told the banks they had to get customers to “opt-in” to the programs before imposing such fees.

New customers had to be given the choice as of July 1. Existing customers must either sign up or be taken off overdraft protection by Aug. 15.

Citibank and Bank of America said they wouldn’t pressure customers to opt in.

“What our customers told us is that, if I don’t have the money, I don’t want to overdraft” with debit cards, Susan Faulkner, head of the bank’s deposits and card products business, told USA Today.

“We don’t think our customers would come in and opt in” to overdrafts and their associated fees.

That seemed to acknowledge what we’ve seen in survey after survey.

Given a clear choice between paying overdraft fees or having a transaction refused, the majority of consumers say they want the purchase or ATM withdrawal turned down.

But it looks like most banks aren’t going to give up the millions they make on overdraft fees without a fight.

That means you’ve got to resist whatever your bank throws at you – phone calls, letters, pitches from tellers – over the next month.

Warnings that your debit card “won’t work the same” if you don’t accept overdraft protection are absolutely true.

And it’s a good thing.

Saying “no” to overdraft fees is the only rational response.

They allow users to tell the world what they’ve bought, where they got it and how much they paid for it.

We think that’s a bad idea for all sorts of reasons.

But let’s focus on two that are clearly hazardous to your financial health.

First of all, some sites want users to provide logins and passwords to credit card and email accounts so they can search statements and receipts for purchases to post.

That’s crazy. Providing personal data like to anyone is just begging to be the victim of identity theft.

The results were hardly surprising when the blog VentureBeat did a Google search for the phrase “from card.”

It turned up 127 results from the social shopping site Blippy that included the buyer’s full credit card numbers.

We’re also horrified that some users think they’re engaging in some sort of wise money management.

Rachel Lawes, a British expert on consumer behavior recently told NPR that it provides a rationale “to spend your money on whatever the hell you like and feel good about yourself, feel morally shored up. Because tracking your spending is in itself a responsible thing to do.”

Let’s be clear.

Telling the world that you spent $41 for an iPad case, $24 at Applebee’s and $6,450 on a nose job (yes, it’s been done) is no substitute for real budgeting.

Those changes are expected to spell an end to free checking accounts for many Americans.

Free checking accounts, which have been widely available for more than a decade, have been a boon to middle-class consumers and attracted low-income customers to the banking system for the first time.

Customers will likely be required to pay new monthly maintenance fees on the most basic accounts that don’t generate a lot of activity.

To avoid a fee, customers will have to maintain certain account balances or frequently use other banking services, such as credit and debit cards, automated teller machines and online accounts.

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