Consumer Blog

Consumers can comment until November 30th on proposed FTC rules to rein in freecreditreport.com and similar sites designed to take your money with the promise of something free that isn't. As I reported recently, the new credit card law reinstated to the FTC broader authority that a previous FTC had foolishly tossed away in a weak previous settlement with the credit bureau Experian, which allowed it to continue to aggressively market over-priced, nearly-useless subscription-based credit monitoring at freecreditreport.com. Instead of paying $14.95/month to Experian, get a real free credit report, I point out. As Ron Lieber reports in his story in today's New York Times, it's a nearly billion-dollar a year rip-off and the credit card companies get huge kickbacks (excuse me, I meant "commissions") for signing their customers up: "While other companies sell credit monitoring too, Experian is the biggest player in the lucrative niche of selling monthly monitoring. Nine million people are spending a total of $650 million to $700 million annually on the services, according to Carter Malloy, a Stephens Inc. analyst. Experian’s market share is more than twice that of its three main competitors combined."