CARD Act Includes Limits On Not-So-Free Credit Report Ads

A less-reported provision of the CARD Act, the credit card reform bill signed by President Obama on Friday, puts limits on ads promoting that old Consumerist nemesis, “free” credit reports.

The law calls for the Federal Trade Commission to issue new rules that will force free credit report advertisers to inform consumers that the only place for a free credit report is AnnualCreditReport.com.

Television and radio ads will also be required to include a pretty deflating statement: “This is not the free credit report provided for by Federal law.”

YAY! Wait, though. That’s not the funny part.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page on that Huffington Post article. The automatically-generated Google ad is for….FreeCreditReport.com.There’s a hideous banner ad at the top of the page for a similar service right now, too. Ah, contextual advertising.

Credit Card Law Will Curb FreeCreditReport.com Ads [Huffington Post] (Thanks to Tim for alerting us to this!)

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