FreeCreditReport.com Isn’t Free
You’ve probably seen their clever TV advertisements, with that scruffy protagonist singing his catchy tune of remorse and financial ruin. They promise to monitor your credit score and alert you of any changes. Sounds great, right? Wrong.
The ad is deceptive. Listen closely, and you’ll hear Fast-Talking Disclaimer Man say this: “Offer applies with enrollment in Triple Advantage.” That’s the catch — their Triple Advantage service is not free. It has a free trial period of only seven days, after which it will cost you about $15 per month. The FreeCreditReport.com home page does explain this, but it does so in blue text on a slightly darker blue background. It’s not exactly easy to read, or even easy to notice if you’re in a hurry.
You’re entitled by law to a free credit report from each of the three credit bureaus every year. To get those reports, however, you need to go to annualcreditreport.com. Annualcreditreport.com is the one and only official source for these free annual reports.
The moral of the story is one I’m sure you’ve heard many times before: if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.
I knew something was fishy about FreeCreditReport.com when I heard the ad’s disclaimer but I owe the details to The Simple Dollar, an excellent personal finance weblog by Trent Hamm. The comments on that site’s original post have some good advice on making the most of your free annual credit reports.
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