Not-So-Free Credit Reports
Filed Under Blog, Portland, Vancouver · Tagged: buying a home, home loans requirements, Portland Realtor, Vancouver Realtor
I read an interesting article recently and immediately thought about the wellbeing of my clients regarding those ‘so-called’ free credit reports that are advertised on radio and TV, 24 hours a day. The article was published in the N. Y. Times and essentially discusses the fact that most of those ad-spots, if not all, offer credit reports to people, for a price, and are not free. The article was written by Ron Lieber.
Lieber writes: “new FTC rules went into effect on April 2, and they require sites to include a prominent notice across the top of each Web page that mentions free reports, declaring that the only authorized source, under federal law for such reports, is www.annualcreditreport.com.”
The rules are aimed at sites like freecreditreport.com, which has been enticing people into a $14.95 per month credit-monitoring service with the promise of a free credit report. Experian, which owns freecreditreport.com, is pretty clear about its offer; it’s upfront about the fact that you’ll be enrolled in the service and that you have seven days to cancel. Still, the tactic must be pretty lucrative. To avoid having to include the FTC notice, Experian is charging $1 for reports and giving that money to charity.
The author of this article makes a good point and the message is clear:
Before you order a credit report that you think is going to be free, make sure you are aware of what you are ordering, and the possible costs involved.
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