Identity theft, false advertising and Experian
Monday, August 4th, 2008Today’s New York Times features an article on Experian and their commercials touting free credit reports. The article focuses on Experian’s wildly popular commercials that feature catchy tunes with the lyrics “Free credit report dot com,” or “F-R-E-E that spells free.”
The first problem with these commercials is that when you order your “free” credit report from their website, freecreditreport.com, you’ll be enrolled in a $15 a month credit monitoring program. The Federal Trade Commission has already fined Experian almost $1 million for misleading advertising, but the commercials continue, and there’s another one coming out this week.
Experian calls this “aggressive marketing,” in spite of their previous legal problems and continued complaints to the FTC by consumer protection agencies United States Public Interest Research Group, ConsumerInfo.com and Consumer Action. (more…)
