FTC Takes On Ads From Credit Monitoring Service Freecreditreport.com

New York Times:

The Federal Trade Commission is not amused. It has long believed that the company that owns freecreditreport.com is deliberately diverting people from a government-mandated site where consumers can get free credit reports by law, and using the reports as a lure for a $14.95 monthly service that alerts subscribers to important changes in their credit status.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[need more jobs]

All this economic recovery talk in BS. Something democrats & republicans can agree on.

good articles; http://financeopinionss.blogspot.com

[RightWingMarine]

I can see how people would be confused since on the first page there is section highlighted in blue informing visitors that this is not the free report granted to them by law and contains a link to that page.

So because some "experts" feel that most Americans don't need a service means that businesses shouldn't provide that service? Most people don't need dialysis, should we urge companies to discontinue that service as well?

Even the "experts" quoted by the NY Times say that we should check our credit score three times a year and this can be done for free using the govt website. No, three times a year is more than once a year the annual credit report provides. Granted a person could get just one report from one credit agency and stretch that out three times over a year but these same "experts" explain that a person needs to check all three reports because some info may not be reported on one report or may be incorrect on another report.

[CommonSenseForChange]

End the credit bureaus, businesses will get back to being profitable. As long as Indians staff credit bureaus, government contractors and Wall Street, no Americans will be able to buy from any businesses and no businesses will be in a position to lend to Americans.

[Dreamwalker420]

I signed up for what I thought was a free credit report, and after $100 in fees finally got the account cancelled. A class-action lawsuit said that I would be eligible for more "free services."

The federal government has turned a blind-eye to anything the Corporate communist regime has done to the people.

Will I get my money back? nope.
Will they be forced to divest all the illicit gains? nope.

And the merry-go-round will continue until the debt burden and unemployment in our country actually leaves no other alternative to bankruptcy.

Ahh, life is great in America!

[cdouglas]

Anyone who think they can get anything for free (especially something on the TV) is a m@ron. It clearly states there is an 'enrollment fee' at the end of the commercial.

[jojofrance]

Tell your dad. Tell your mom.

[GoogleMaster]

If that band came here to do a concert I'd certainly go. Of course they only have 5 songs (and each of them is only 30 seconds long) but I think it'd be a pretty good show. Over in less than 3 minutes. Then instead of handing out free cd's after the concert's over, they'd give everybody free free credit report signup forms. Which sadly, many in the crowd would sign.

[Pyfagorus]

The drummer is hot.

[jelly450]

Great! Maybe the band will end up in the same place as the "Dude your getting a Dell" guy

[YoungSloshee]

These credit-checking services are the ultimate "something­-for-nothi­ng" scams. The owners of these websites know it too.

For instance, you know those freetriplescore.com commercials (say it three times fast!)? The website at the bottom is not as the verbage above implies. It's "freetripl­escore19.c­om" or "freetripl­escore75.c­om" or some such nonsense. They seem to change their home web address regularly as if they are hiding from something. None too trustworthy.

[Earl]

I like the ad where the guy bemoans getting married without checking his fiancee's credit score first.

[katocat]

God I hate these commercials!!!!

Basically the message is if you have bad credit your life is over and you are a worthless piece of garbage.

Who are these people and how in the he11 do they afford all those ads every 10 mintues when they don't even have a product or service that is worth anything?

Gotta be the credit card companies.

[LyssaBarnes]

Unfortunately, there is some truth to that.

What I hate is companies that do not need to establish credit worthiness for employment using it to justify hiring practices.

What I hate is that there is no provision for people who have to take care of relatives due to major medical.

What I hate is that big business and government officials can do bad business and still be considered worthy while we pay for it.

[pissedmichael]

Someone help please. Every time I try to locate the site for the free government report, I keep getting 'diverted' to these kinds of sites. Is there a trick to getting to the 'legit' site?
I am embarrassed to admit that I fell for this once, and had to twist some arms to get the fee credited back to my checking account.
Other than that, I'll just be glad when I can get that annoying jingle out of my head.

[donasanya]

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

[pissedmichael]

Thanks, I'll try that.

[binarystar]

Anything short of lethal injection for everybody in that band and justice will not have been served.

[Nunnya]

Amen to that sh*t.

[mapleaforever]

No joy in that division.

[MyWhiteHouse]

WHERE ARE THE JOBS YOU PROMISED, OBAMMI?

good articles: http://financeopinionss.blogspot.com

[AlysonStern]

Where were the jobs Bush promised? There is no way that the right is going to get away with what they've done to the country since the Reagan administration. They produced no new jobs, destroyed public education, let the infrastructure decay.

F' off wingy's - you created the sorry state of nation. :waves:

[Bardmess]

Your friends in the GOP and their Blue Dogs took the new jobs away by refusing to fund them. We didn't get the 60 votes for the help we needed. What we did get wasn't enough. Write your angry letters to your Senators and demand an immediate and drastic redistribution of wealth in the form of government created jobs. Tax the wealthy to pay for it. They can afford it.

[katocat]

zzzzzzz



...and no, I didn't click the link.

[SoCalNick]

Only raysisst Assshats distort his name like that.

YOU WIN!!!