Dallas company claiming free credit scores to pay $22M for its not-so-free credit scores

A company that promised customers free credit scores has agreed to pay $22 million to settle charges that it billed customers for monthly credit monitoring that they did not sign up for.

The money will be used to refund customers.

The Federal Trade Commission says Dallas-based One Technologies LP and two related companies ran at least 50 websites that advertised free credit scores, including FreeScore360.com, FreeScoreOnline.com and ScoreSense.com. The FTC says that after customers signed up for a free credit score, the company would charge them $29.95 per month for a credit monitoring program. Customers were forced to make repeated calls to cancel the program or get a refund. More than 200,000 customers filed complaints.

One Technologies did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.