If FreeCreditReport.com Doesn't Even Offer A Free Credit Report... Is That Truth In Advertising?

from the just-wondering dept

It's no secret that FreeCreditReport.com, a site owned by Experian, has always been somewhat misleading in its marketing (okay, very misleading), getting people to get a "free credit report" that is not the government mandated free credit report, and whose entire program was really about upselling people to expensive credit monitoring services. However, we noted back in March that the FTC was finally forcing the site to be more honest in its marketing -- including a clear and conspicuous link to the real free credit report offering. But now, reports are coming out that FreeCreditReport.com isn't offering anything for free any more. The report you used to get for free is now a dollar. And, even though they promise to donate that dollar to charity, it makes you wonder: could the domain name itself be considered false advertising?

Of course, the reason why Experian is charging that dollar seems even more misleading than its old advertising program:

The new F.T.C. rules went into effect on April 2, and they required sites to include a prominent notice across the top of each Web page that mentioned free reports declaring that the only authorized source under federal law for such reports is annualcreditreport.com.

Rather than include such disclosures, Experian added the $1 charge, saying that "due to federally imposed restrictions, it is no longer feasible for us to provide you" with a free credit report. And now that the report costs $1, the new F.T.C. rule would presumably no longer apply.

Yes, you read that right. It's trying to make the FTC look bad for requiring the company to actually be honest... and, in doing so, is pretending that this means it no longer has to be honest. An Experian spokesperson explained it this way:

The offer for the $1 report is very clear and in compliance with the F.T.C.'s rule," she said in an e-mail reply to questions. "There is no express or implied offer on our site for a free report."

Other than the domain, you mean?

Filed Under: advertising, credit report, fraud, truth
Companies: experian, freecreditreport.com

FTC Finally Forces FreeCreditReport.com To Be Honest In Its Advertising

from the it-ain't-really-free dept

It's been many years since we first wrote about the scammy services set up by the major credit reporting agencies to pretend to give you your federally guaranteed free credit report. The worst of the bunch has been FreeCreditReport.com, run by Experian, which despite its name, was actually just a way to get people to sign up for costly monthly credit monitoring services. The place to get your real free credit report is AnnualCreditReport.com, but FreeCreditReport.com tricked an awful lot of people into believing it was the real site, leading many to end up paying money (a lot of it) when they just wanted their mandated free report.

The FTC has been battling Experian and the other rating agencies for years over this blatantly misleading advertising. The misleading ads have been incredibly lucrative for Experian, who apparently has convinced an astounding 20 million people to sign up for FreeCreditReport, and spends $70 million per year in advertising to get more people to sign up. For all that, the FTC forced Experian to pay a measly $1 million in fines (and refund money to plenty of customers), but you can understand why Experian has kept up its misleading adverising.

However, Experian and the other credit reporting agencies are now required to clearly disclose what's going on, and they're testing much more straightforward messages on their websites. For example, MSNBC reports that some visitors to FreeCreditReport are already seeing a giant gray box at the top of the page with text that reads:

"You have the right to a free credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com ... the only authorized source under federal law,"

And, with it, there's a link and a call to action: "Take me to the authorized source." What's amazing is that it took this long to actually require basic truth in advertising on such ads.

Filed Under: credit reports, free credit reports, truth in advertising
Companies: experian, freecreditreport.com, ftc

FreeCreditReport Wins Over 1,000 Domain Names In Dispute Process

from the trademark-control dept

It's quite common for various trademark holders to go through the UDRP domain dispute process to get back domains held by cybersquatters. Still, it's quite impressive to hear that FreeCreditReport.com was able to get 1,017 separate domain names in a single dispute (found via Slashdot) apparently by using some sort of software that identified all the domains. The company that held the domain names argued, in part, that the term "free credit report" should be seen as generic, not a specific trademark, but the arbitration board simply said that since the USPTO had granted FreeCreditReport.com with a trademark, that the trademark was solid -- and thus most domain names that included those words could be turned over.

This does raise some questions however -- since we've seen plenty of other cases where domains that included trademarked terms, but which would not be confusing to users (such as "trademarknamesucks.com"), have been allowed to be used by the original registrant, rather than handed over to the trademark holder. It's unclear, in this case, if some of those domains were like that -- or if they were all pure squatter domains. Still, it's quite an impressive haul by FCR.

Filed Under: domain names, trademark
Companies: freecreditreport.com