"Freecreditreport.com" Finally Has to Fess Up
The Consumerist spoofs Freecreditreport.com.
There’s a new blog on the block, Fair Credit Reporting Act, run by Chris Kittell, a consumer attorney and member of our Partner the National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA). The blog explains the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which “is the federal legislation that regulates the credit reporting industry, including the national credit bureaus Equifax®, Experian®, and TransUnion®. The Fair Credit Reporting Act, or “FCRA,” was enacted to protect consumers from the damage that errors in their credit reports could cause.”
Of course, the bureaus don’t always comply with the FCRA, and 79% of credit reports contain some kind of error. If yours is one of them, you may have trouble getting it fixed. An NCLC report (PDF) found that credit reporting agencies have minimized the resources devoted to handling error investigations to the point that one agency pays its dispute-handling vendor in the Philippines a mere $0.57 per dispute letter.
But on to better news. At the new blog, Tuesday’s post discusses the happy fact that the new credit card law will require advertisers such as FreeCreditReport.com to acknowledge AnnualCreditReport.com as the only way to get a truly free credit report. This will hopefully prevent more people from falling for the catchy Freecreditreport.com jingles which have been so annoyingly successful and pervasive. The Consumerist mentioned this last week too (and came up with the awesome image above). For more on ordering, reading, and correcting your free credit report, click here.
(Photo: The Consumerist)
Comments are closed.
Americans for Fairness in Lending 
It seems wrong to advertise as “free” for something that isn’t.
What I don’t like about these so-called “Free” credit report ads is that at the end of the information request form, is where they’re asking for my credit card number, etc., information that I cannot disclose to a source that I do not know enough about, especially these days where there are so many scam artists/opportunists around.
Please crack down on misleading and deceptive ads. Also, I don’t like political ads. They are illegal in the UK. Is there anything we can do to ban them in this country? Thank you.
Stop the misleading and deceptive ads NOW.
thats not all..all false ads should not be allowed to run..the work from home scams the emails buy FREE..lies..how to ebooks dvds is all you will get. They are ripping people off..even smc is a LIE avon is a LIE..thousands must be spent on a website..yet they say at little or no cost to you..lies I used gift cards last christmas..didnt get the products because the employees simply stole the card and used it themselves and the ccard co said sorry nothing we can do about it? Who allows these false ads that trick people? make it stop..they prey on the desparate and poor.
Seen this scam from the start but I do have a concern for others. Americas attitude is “Steal or be stolen from.” Businesses, corporations, and institutions all know there’s nothing an individual can do. “Sue us. We know you can’t afford it. Besides, if you do. We’ll just shut down that part, change the plan, or ignore your complaint all together.”
We have no Consumer Protection.
What I don’t like about these so-called “Free” credit report ads is that at the end of the information request form, is where they’re asking for my credit card number, etc., information that I cannot disclose to a source that I do not know enough about, especially these days where there are so many scam thats not all..all false ads should not be allowed to run..the work from home scams the emails buy FREEartists/opportunists around.
all know there’s nothing an individual can do. “Sue us. We know you can’t afford it.
We have no Consumer Protection
Who allows these false ads that trick people? make it stop
It should be a national scandal that our representatives for both, federal and state, are doing nothing to protect the citizens they are elected to protect. All in the name of capitalism and free enterprise, I am all for these, but are not burglary and armed robbery, examples of capitalism and free enterprise as well. We need to have laws now to protect the citizens from outright theft disguise as capitalism and free enterprise.
Fasle advertising is a punishable offense. Stick to the truth, guys!
Advertising something as free that is not free, should be illegal. It’s false advertising.
I have recieved many, many, Many E-mails from creditreport.com. I e-mailed them to tell them to stop sending me thier e-mails. Ever since i did that thier e-mails to me have doubled they will not stop filling my e-mail with thier junk, how do i get them to stop? I told them that they are misleading and faulse. No matter what I do they continue Why are they allowed to do this????????????????????????
Hey thanks for sharing your knowledge, Really nice post
Is Freecreditreport.com the same organization as freecreditscore.com? When does the law requiring them to be honest and not deceptive take effect? When does the law requiring them to acknowledge annualcreditreport.com take effect?
I am a U.S. citizen who has been living abroad for several years. I want a credit score and reports that actually reflect what the lenders (for cards and mortgages) see and whether I am seeing the same thing. So far, only freecreditscore.com has been willing to provide me with anything, albeit a PLUS score as opposed to a FICA score. But now, it seems, that a PLUS score is not actually useful.
ALL your help on this site is appreciated.