FreeCreditReport.com

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FreeCreditReport.com is a website owned by Experian Consumer Direct, a subsidiary of the credit bureau Experian. The site offers users a chance to check their personal credit reports from Experian on the condition that they sign up for a 7 day free trial of Experian's Triple Advantage credit monitoring program. The credit report also comes with the user's PLUS credit score. The credit report is free as long as you cancel before the 7 day trial expires by calling the customer service number, 1-866-252-0121.

Freecreditreport.com is different from annualcreditreport.com, a United States government mandated site set up by Experian, Trans Union, and Equifax. Annualcreditreport.com does not provide a FICO score, however it also does not require users to enroll in a program. Freecreditreport.com allegedly tried to associate itself with the U.S. government site.[1]

[edit] Advertising

FreeCreditReport.com is the primary sponsor of the #38 Ford Fusion in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driven by David Gilliland and owned by Yates Racing.

Early advertisements featured an explanation of how the company worked. The company's current advertising campaign features an unlucky guy (played by French-Canadian actor Eric Violette) and his friends performing songs about how he should have gone to freecreditreport.com.

[edit] Controversy

Freecreditreport.com has been the subject of two major lawsuits. In 2005, they were sued by the Federal Trade Commission for deceptive marketing tactics. They settled for $950,000 in the form of free credit monitoring for those affected and agreed not to use deceptive and misleading claims about free offers and to offer full disclosure of terms and conditions of any free offers.[2] They were further subjected to a 2006 inquiry by the Florida Attorney General for violating Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.[3] An MSNBC.com investigation of the website called it "misleading", "deceptive" and a "scam".[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Block, Sandra. "Beware impostor offers of free credit report", USA Today, 2005-08-22. Retrieved on 2008-03-27. 
  2. ^ "Marketer of "Free Credit Reports" Settles FTC Charges", Consumer Affairs, 2005-08-16. Retrieved on 2008-03-27. 
  3. ^ Sullivan, Bob. "Florida AG investigates FreeCreditReport.com", MSNBC, 2006-11-15. Retrieved on 2008-03-27. 
  4. ^ Sullivan, Bob. "Don't fall for FreeCreditReport.com", MSNBC, 2006-09-12. Retrieved on 2008-03-27. 
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