FreeCreditReport.com Commercials Lying To You: Credit Reports Are Not Free (VIDEO)

Gawker catches this gem in the New York Times about the high cost of the supposedly free credit reports from Freecreditreport.com. It turns out those commercials are pretty much lying to you:

Mr. Steele, 27, remembered a number of commercials for FreeCreditReport.com featuring a young slacker singing about various life problems -- living in the in-laws' basement, dressing as a pirate to wait on tables in a seafood restaurant -- all because he had neglected to check his credit score. The ads were lighthearted and catchy, with lyrics like: "F-R-E-E, that spells free creditreport.com, baby. Saw their ads on my TV, thought about going but was too lazy."

So Mr. Steele headed to the site and filled out the information form, including his credit-card number, which he thought the site needed to verify his identity.

But a couple of months later, Mr. Steele noticed the site had been charging his credit card. While he believed he had signed up for a free report, he had actually enrolled in a credit-monitoring service that cost $14.95 a month. He says he never expected that it would cost anything.

"It's called FreeCreditReport.com," he said. "It's kind of easy to make that assumption. I didn't see anything in the process of signing up that said, 'Hey, if you don't cancel in 30 days or whatever, you're going to get charged.' "

Check out their commercials below.

Comments

[clearthinker2008]

Does it EVER occur to anyone that the fact that 3 (Equifax, TransUnion, Experian) major companies SPY on you, collect all your PERSONAL information, sell it to other companies who want your personal information, then make YOU buy that very information from them? If you ever forget where you've worked, when you've worked, an old address, an old phone number, whatever...... Then act like they are doing you a favor. The should need our individual approval to operate, and they should be paying us. Only if they have our permission should they be able to collect our "life history". Then the should make money off of companies that request our credit ONLY. We don't even question this system and always trying to make sure we keep our credit clean for THEIR PROFIT. Then, if something is wrong on their reports its a heck of a challenge to get it off. But, I guess I'm the only one who seems to have a problem with this system of spying and collecting of my "life" buy ubiquitous money hungry companies.

[clearthinker2008]

I meant *they* not *the*...twice. The whole thing just ticks me off. :)

[Vurz]

I absolutely hate these commercials.

First off is the restaurant one where we are led to believe that someone stealing his identity makes him work in a restaurant. Why is that? Did the person that stole his identity steal his old job too? Maybe they stole his college and are getting better grades. Maybe one day his parents said "Son, we've decided we like the guy that stole your identity better than you, so we are giving him your room." Now all he can do is dress like a pirate.

Then is the dream girl basement thing. He wants us to believe that he could look her credit history up online before they were married. He won't take responsibility that all he has is a job where he dresses like a pirate. He and his friends are just sitting there playing musical instruments while she is cleaning. He even thinks he could have a dog and a yard, forgetting his job sucks and he couldn't afford either. Somehow it's all her fault.

Luckily she throws him out of the house and he needs to go buy a car to live in. You would think he would remember that he works in a restaurant and wasn't able to afford to live anywheres but his in-laws basement, but no, he thinks he's getting a new car. He's not very bright.

All the commercials end with "Offer requires enrollment in Triple Advantage", so I don't know why people assume it's free.

[libertyanne]

I HATE these stupid commercials. When they com on I switch the channel. I wonder if they ran
them by a focus group? Now I find they are a rip-off company as well. Go to equi-fax if you want a legitiment report.

[aphid]

These commercials make me fume. This company and dozens of others were created after annualcred­itreport.c­om made credit reports (but not credit scores) available free (you know, like "free" used to be defined) once a year to everyone.

...Machiavellian pond scum...

[LittleTart]

annualcred­itreport.c­om is a crock. I have been trying for 3 years to get my report, just as my significant other, and every time we try and log in to the credit agencies via the annualcred­itreport.c­om links we get messages that our accounts have been temporarily suspended. Email inquires never fix the problem. My guess is there is little federal oversight so the 3 credit agencies don't actually provide the information as they are required to by law.

[Womanvoter4Obama]

What they do is charge you for credit monitoring...its definitely not free. But to cancel good canceling free credit report. I've read about them.

Why has no one shot the guy singing on this commericial or the person who wrote it. I want to kill myself everytime it comes on. It's not affective..makes you want to do anything but work with them..

[InternationalObserver]

Great. And after dealing to FreeCredit­Report.com can someone in the MSM turn their attention to those 'free' porn sites that say they're completely free but bill you anyway? ("We just need your credit card number to prove you're over 18, you won't be billed"). Imagine what productivity gains the economy could make if men didn't have to waste hours on the phone with their credit card company insisting the site promised they were free and they shouldn't have been charged? LOL

[ohrmets]

Haha, this is hilarious. I just used freecredit­report.com last week! It is VERY clearly stated that what they are offering is a free trial, and that if you don't cancel your account, you will be charged $x each month. VERY CLEARLY STATED! So I signed up, got my report, and canceled my account the next day. Within 3 hours or so the customer service people wrote back and confirmed my cancellation. Easy as pie. If you don't read why you are giving your credit card info away, then you deserve to be charged!

[Destin]

Credit reporting companies are nothing more than a money making scam operation. And "credit" is nothing but an invented term to give "something" to "nothing".

[Arji]

I can't believe someone is just noticing this. That's what all the free credit report places do. This is but one of many deceptive, lying ads out there that the FCC or FTC choose to ignore.

[ramal]

The best way to protect your credit is to FREEZE your credit. Come on do you really need to add more debt or increase the number of credit cards you have to 25?

[libertyanne]

Cut your credit cards into pieces. I can proudly say I have no credit card debt. The whole idea that your credit is considered bad if you have no debt is absurd. I don't know WHAT my credit score is--nor do I care--but I bet it's low. Also, no one should give thier info on line.

[arose36]

At the end of the commercial it even says offer implied enrolling in some program, hence the $14.95 a month fee. And anytime you are asked to give a credit card number you should know you're gonna be charged at some point.

[gwhizz]

He didn't ask himself why a company is heavily (and expensively) advertising something they're giving away for free? How stupid.

[AbsolutBlue]

Thank Gods. I hate those commercials. I know this may seem picky, but I have to throw it out there. The commercial with the guy in the basement...it kills me. He married his dreamgirl, but he had no idea she had bad credit so now they are living in her parent's basement. They were forced to live in her parents' basement because what? They couldn't possibly get an apartment? He couldn't apply for a home loan in his name only? And then he says that if he'd gone to freecredit­report.com he'd be a happy bachelor with a dog and a yard. So what he's saying is that the love of his life isn't worth it because she has bad credit. And I'm not saying him personally, the writers of this commercial and more importantly freecredit­report.com advocate that if your significant other has bad credit you should ditch them and move on to greener pastures.
I did go to the site though once, I have to say it's totally misleading, but if you read what you're signing up for it does say there's a 14.95 monthly fee. That's why I didn't sign up. In fact, anything that's supposed to be free and asks for my credit card number is something that I would immediately ask questions about. So yeah...maybe that guy should have read a little more closely. Nevertheless, freecredit­report.com is a load of crap and I hate their commercials.

[InternationalObserver]

first time I've seen the ads (I don't live in the US) and I think they're great commercials. Very effective. I'm guessing you also think the Hamburgler isn't really an accurate reflection of the criminal element plaguing society either then?

[Schallvain]

I think you missed the point.

[swooge]

Hmmmmm, and here I just pay my bills on time, every time, and I don't ever worry about my credit.

Brilliant!

heh...

[tlhwraith]

Tell you what, give me your credit card number, social security number, or anything else I can use to create a fake identity based on you and see how "brilliant" you are.

I pay my bills on time too, but I'm still enrolled in a service likfe creditreport.com (free from one of my credit card companies) just because it is possible for people with less-than-honroable ambitiions to come along and establish credit in your name without you finding out until the bill collectors start calling your for payment.

The whole point of the article is it shows how people can be naive, IMO, and your statement kind of reinforces that naivetee. People tend to make assumptions about the motivations and capabilities of others just just aren't true. The guy in the article "assumed" freecredit­report.com was just what the name implied, you are apparently "assuming" that only people who don't pay bills might want to track their credit reports. Both are bad assumptions IMO.

[Schallvain]

I agree with the other responder, this shows how naive you are. Looking at your credit report has nothing to do with paying your bills on time. It has to do with incorrect information on your credit report which may, incidentally, show that you have not paid your bills on time. If you haven't seen your credit report you should get one just to see how much information collected on it. Mine has a record of my current employer being from a job I haven't had in 15 years and a current address that I haven't lived at in 5 years. That is just two of the minor issues. If they can't get that right, then imagine what else could be wrong.

[johnqdemocrat]

You are entitled to one free credit report per year (per reporting agency). To do that you have to go to annualcred­itreport.c­om. If you request one free report from each agency (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) on a rotating basis of every four months, you'll be continuously covered and always on top of your credit score.

No, I'm not a financial advisor, but I thought the informational would be helpful, so I passed it along.

[ORSunshine]

Thanks for the tip! I have been meaning to do this for a while, and the Web site for this is actually pretty easy.

[indypete]

Tried that. They gave me the finger.

[LitDr2B]

They will give you your credit report, but not your credit -score-. Apparently you have to pay for that.