I've seen a lot of ads for FreeCreditReport.com lately, annoying songs that get stuck in my head. It's bad enough when it's real music, there's something terrifying to me about advertising jingles being in my head.
They've got good promotion and a great name, Free Credit Report. But, it's not free. They will send you a "free credit report" only after you purchase their credit monitoring service.
However, you do have a right to a yearly free credit report, you just can't get it from freecreditreport.com. According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission:
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months.
The three nationwide consumer reporting companies have set up a central website, a toll-free telephone number, and a mailing address through which you can order your free annual report.
To order, visit http://annualcreditreport.com, call 1-877-322-8228....
Only one website is authorized to fill orders for the free annual credit report you are entitled to under law — annualcreditreport.com. Other websites that claim to offer "free credit reports," "free credit scores," or "free credit monitoring" are not part of the legally mandated free annual credit report program. In some cases, the "free" product comes with strings attached. For example, some sites sign you up for a supposedly "free" service that converts to one you have to pay for after a trial period. If you don’t cancel during the trial period, you may be unwittingly agreeing to let the company start charging fees to your credit card.
Some impostor sites use terms like "free report" in their names; others have URLs that purposely misspell annualcreditreport.com in the hope that you will mistype the name of the official site. Some of these imposter sites direct you to other sites that try to sell you something or collect your personal information.
Annualcreditreport.com and the nationwide consumer reporting companies will not send you an email asking for your personal information. If you get an email, see a pop-up ad, or get a phone call from someone claiming to be from annualcreditreport.com or any of the three nationwide consumer reporting companies, do not reply or click on any link in the message. It’s probably a scam. Forward any such email to the FTC at spam@uce.gov.
Thanks for warning us about
Thanks for warning us about this, in reality I am more concerned of other things. It's not the free credit report that concerns me, it's the real safety of my identity. I don't want to be paranoid but safety in credit monitoring is a very important factor. I would like to hear more people believing that but in reality people are not quite aware of identity theft risks...
Thanks for the tip about the
Thanks for the tip about the free credit report. I will get one. Thanks.
thanks for the spam
nice try. I'm going to leave your post, but delete the link to the bullshit credit report site you are trying to promote
I'm leaving this simply to be able to comment on the growing trend towards human-created spam. Once it was all bots, now folks like you post comments that seem to be on topic but your motive is to get a link to your site. lame, how much do you make per comment?
I didn't know that
I didn't know that freecreditreport.com charges fees in this way. After seeing their add in TV I also thought that it is for fee like others. It sucks! they promote their site with the cool songs.... so many people like that commercial even kids like that song. But in fact it is really annoying sometimes as you said. Getting free credit report is not that hard these days there are n number of ways to do it. Thank you for sharing one of them with us.
Very nice Blog. After
Very nice Blog. After seeing their add in TV I also thought that it is for fee like others. It sucks! they promote their site with the cool songs. so many people like that commercial even kids like that song. But in fact it is really annoying sometimes as you said.
Repair your credit
Thank you for informing us about this FreeCreditReport.com! I really don’t get it why there are some people who deceive people. And some of us encourage availing these because of good promotions, right? Many of us want good, clean credit but because of economic recession we tend to have piles of credit reports as long as we used this. And unfortunately we need to repair it for future used. It’s good that you could try a bad credit cash advance, or whatever else you want to call it, quick payday loans, short term loans, installment loans and etceteras. You might want to get into debt consolidation sooner rather than later if you're trying to repair your credit. Well there is another option, try to save more and spend less so you would not be force getting to use your credit cards.
Hello, I have read your blog
Hello,
I have read your blog it's really Informative for all.
Thanks for sharing your information about The real free credit report..
Thanks, but spam is spam
I know that so many business consultants out there are telling people to promote their business by using social media sites and posting comments on blog entries that are in your area of business. I've seen many of these consultants suggest that not only should you comment on posts but also link to your site from those comments. It looks like you've been listening to those folks.
Let me give you a little info. If you are going to try that, you must give a very full and informative reply, otherwise people will simply look at you as a spammer. Usually I would delete such comments. Occasionally, as with yours, I strip out the links to your for-profit credit repair service and leave the comment so I can rant about spam.
Hello, I have read your blog
Hello,
I have read your blog it's really Informative for all.
Thanks for sharing your information about The real free credit report..
black hattitude
nice
There are so many scams out there on credit reports. Thanks for the advice!
Thanks for the heads up on credit reports
I appreciate you taking the time to inform others about the strings attached to popular offers. The jingles in the commercials are effective, you barely notice the disclaimer saying that you have to purchase their service to get your free credit report.
Thanks for the tip about the
Thanks for the tip about the free credit report.
Regards
Thanks
Thanks for paying our attention to it and giving such a helpful information. You know only yesterday I read a book by Enthony Robbins Awaken The Giant Within where he gave his interpretation of the crisis which appear as a result of a wrong credit policy. And i'm very glad that there are such posts as yours which help to clear and improve the situation.
Your article is helpful for FTC consumer watch
FTC is protecting consumers against the impostor websites appearing recently which claims that they can provide you absolutely free credit report services but their offers comes with strings attached and hidden agendas. To get the genuine annual free credit report online, you just have to visit www.annualcreditreport.com – the only official website ordered by the FTC to provide American consumers access to their annual free credit report online and it is also the only website that is authorized by Equifax, Experian and TransUnion (major consumer credit reporting companies).