Just wanted to pass along the good deed done by Seth Stevenson in his Ad Report Card blog for Slate Magazine.
You’ve probably seen the ads for FreeCreditReport.com. They feature a 20-something guy singing songs about his poor credit, and wishing he’d taken the time to visit FCR.com. The songs are clever, and the promise implied by the title of the website is obvious.
But it isn’t true.
FCR.com is actually a sales page, built to sell you a paid monthly service. You can get a free report from them (or so they say), but only if you buy what they’re selling.
If you actually want a copy of your credit report for free, and with no strings attached, visit www.AnnualCreditReport.com.
To publicize AnnualCreditReport.com, The Federal Trade Comission has released a few Public Service Announcements that poke fun at the FCR.com ads. (You can see them here and here.) As Stevenson’s article points out, they’re not as clever as their source material. But what they lack in slick writing, they more than make up for by actually delivering what they promise. I’ve used it myself, and encouraged my friends to as well.