by Janet Farricelli CPDT-KA

Created on: February 14, 2009

They say a man should always dress for the job he wants
So why am I dressed up like a pirate in this restaurant
It's all because some hacker stole my identity
Now I'm in here every evening serving chowder and ice tea
Should'a gone to free credit report dot com [wee haw]
I could'a seen this comin' at me like an atom bomb
They monitor your credit and send you e-mail alerts

So you don't end up selling fish to tourists in t-shirts

Free creditreport.com commercial

We all are familiar with the jingle from freecreditreport.com, however, many of us may have not bothered to really take a look at the website and see what it offers. At a first glance, the idea of getting a free credit report will appear to be a very convenient offer. The website reassures on the fact that checking your credit will not lower your credit score.

As a freecreditreport.com customer you would be ale to access your information and monitor for any fraudulent activity. You will be able to check your credit score which if high enough would allow you to get lower interest rates on loans. Freecreditrepor will also safeguard your identity by monitoring Experian Equifax and TransUnion Credit Reports every day.

The Federal Trade Commission estimates that each year about 9 million Americans have their identity stolen. This has deleterious effects on the victim causing several days to fix the issue and even lots of money. A main after effect is the inability to get a loan or take a job because of the affected credit records.

The best way to avoid becoming a victim would require attentive monitoring of your credit card statements, bank statements and most of all, credit reports. By carefully monitoring ones credit activity, any unusual charges or suspicious requests for loans can be nipped in the bud, before major damage occurs.

However, as convenient as the services from freecreditreport.com may appear, there is ultimately a catch. The service is not totally free, rather it is a trial. Upon signing up you will be required to pay a fee that may appear to be for a credit report when in reality you are paying for an enrollment in Triple advantageSM credit monitoring. Such enrollment requires monthly payments.

The commercial and website may be quite misleading. The word free is repetitively mentioned in the commercial and the web site's name "freecreditreport.com" is elusive as well. A disclaimer however appears for a flash second during the commercial and is included in the website under the "Important Information" section. However, because freecreditreport.com is a trial, you are entitled to ask for your membership to be canceled and this way you will not be charged.

Completely free of charge credit reports however are available from annualcreditreport.com. The only drawback is that only one report per calendar year may be requested. So ultimately, it is up to you. You can either get a completely free credit report once a year form annualcreditreport.com, get a free one from freecreditreport.com and ask to cancel within one week or enroll to freecreditreport.com and be charged the enrollment fee monthly and have daily access to your credit report.

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