Maybe you didn’t take MTV News too seriously to begin with, but if you did you might want to reconsider. BrandChannel started noticing that MTV News was posting articles about FreeCreditScore.com’s contest for a new sellout band for its TV spots. (This is the same company as FreeCreditReport.com; both charge for their services and generally suck.) The problem with the paid MTV sponsorship is that it’s not disclosing that the “news stories” are just advertorials. [More]
freecreditreport.com
FreeCreditReport.com Just Got Even Less Free
By 4.8.10
Between their irritating ads and misleading name, FreeCreditReport.com has been a target of Consumerist’s derision for years. And now the “service,” which was never free to begin with, will actually cost you a dollar to use. [More]
Come September, Freecreditreport.com Must Come Clean In Ads
By 3.2.10
If you really love those Freecreditreport.com commercials just the way they are, take this next half year to pause and reflect on what they mean to you, because in September, the Huffington Post reports, owner Experian will have to start telling people their side business isn’t the real way to get free annual credit reports from the government. We had this story last year, but in the wake of CARD act reforms, it bears repeating. [More]
Is That Credit Score FICO Or FAKEO?
By 2.10.10
Donny just bought a bunch of credit scores. But they’re all from different companies and none of them are the same. What gives? [More]
Experian Sued Over Deceptive FreeCreditReport.com Ads
By 2.4.10
Freecreditreport.com is getting class action sued, baby. Their ubiquitous singing ads make it sound like you’ll go their website and get a free credit report, but they don’t tell you that’s only after you sign up for a $14.95 monthly credit monitoring service. “FreeCreditReport.com tells people they will get something for free, and you do, but you have to pay for something else, and there’s not sufficient notice,” said John Balestriere, lead attorney. I agree, so I made up my own parody Freecreditreport song: [More]
Mint Upselling To "Free"CreditReport.com
By 11.23.09
It didn’t take long for Intuit to start ruining a great product. They’ve begun upselling Mint.com customers to two “free” credit report sites that are anything but. UPDATE: Turns out Mint was already doing this pre-Intuit. Bully for them.
CARD Act Includes Limits On Not-So-Free Credit Report Ads
By 5.26.09
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.
This Is Why You Don't Use FreeCreditReport.com
By 3.28.08
Jesus from South Texas signed up for credit monitoring at the notoriously scammy FreeCreditReport.com. He never received the confirmation email and wasn’t able to access his account, so he never used it, but forgot to call to cancel it. After three months he realized he was being charged $15 a month as per their terms of service, so he went to their site to retrieve his login credentials and was told the account didn’t exist. After that, it took him 4 calls to get the account canceled, and they would only refund him for one month of service. One of their CSRs tried to scare Jesus into keeping the account open because there had been some “suspicious activity” in his credit history that he’d be wise to monitor. Then they told him there is no phone number or email for their “customer satisfaction department”—it can only be reached through snail mail.
With Vigorous Cane Shaking, America Responds To 20/20 Story
By 10.16.06
Of all the complaints that flooded our inbox following our 20/20 appearance, this is our favorite.
