Will the REAL Free Credit Report please stand up?

...please stand up, please stand up.

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 requires the 3 major nationwide credit companies (Equifax, Experian and Transunion) to provide consumers with a free copy of their credit report, at their request, once every 12 months.

The ONLY website authorized under federal law for this free copy is AnnualCreditReport.com, NOT the ever-so-popular highly-advertised FreeCreditReport.com or any other "free" credit report website. Don't get it twisted.

Last year FreeCreditReport.com, who is OWNED by Experian, was forced to stop false advertising and offering free credit reports due to the Credit Card Act of 2009. They now charge $1 for their credit report AND, as they always have, require you to enroll their "Triple Advantage" monitoring service, for the monthly fee of $14.95.

FreeCreditReport.com TV ads encourage you to believe that they are going to demystify the credit report "rollarcoaster" for you... and if you don't join up with their monitoring services, your identity is going to be stolen, you're going to end up wearing tights, playing the ukulele and singing pirate songs at a restaurant!

Whatever.

After obtaining all three TRULY FREE credit reports from AnnualCreditReport.com, each credit company allows you to return to their website at anytime with a credit report number that they give you. You can check up on all of your up-to-date credit accounts at any time.

Actor/Musician Eric Violette

If only someone would have told Eric Violette about AnnualCreditReport.com, he wouldn't have had to do all those  misleading commercials.

...maybe he had trouble paying $14.95/month for Triple Advantage.

However, while the FreeCreditReport.com ads are designed to scare us into singing up for their unnecessary service... they're totally catchy.

My favorite is the original "New Car" ad. Feel free to sing along... just don't buy into the hype as the song seeps into your soul. "F-R-E-E, that spells free..."