~Leo & Stephanie~

Thats good Scott 

Always read the fine Print. Kaind of reminds me of the bogus checks that have about 9 bucks in your name but in the back in fine print says, by signing you agree to a 29.99/mth subcription.  I usually send my clients to www.annualcreditreport.com they have a free credit report once per year.

Scott, I love the last paragraph.  I guess that is one way to generate some traffic.  I may need to offer free credit reports also. But, isn't there something (RESPA) about not being able to give a free credit report.  I need to check on that one. 

Thanks for the great post Scott. I agree with you; if you want a free credit report then speak to your local mortgage broker. I think that we place too much trust in some of these web sites that offer something for free. In all cases; consumer beware. Thanks again.

There are free credit reports from the 3 credit reporting agencies, they dont tell you your credit score for free but it's a great way to monitor your credit once a year for any inaccuracies 

Annual credit report.com does not ask for a credit card.  You can select no to join their program and still pull a free report instantly.

It is not truth in advertising, nothing is for free and unless it is, it should be advertised that way. If it isn't, they should not be able to advertise it.

My 3 year old daughter asked me yesterday, "Mom, do you have too much credit card debt?". I laughed, but felt that it is ridiculous all of the ads for credit problems and free credit reports.

I hear your frustration.  The advertizing is very missleading.  But most advertizing is.  It's a perpetual circle.  One place says they can do something weather they can or not and the next place who may not be able to actually match the first companies claims but can do more than the first company has to say they can do the same or they won't get the clients even though they are the better company. 

Same goes here.  One company says they offer a free report so the next one has to follow suit to get clients to look at them.  I know I've used the free credit report from Experian.  If I recall correctly it was at www.freecreditreport.com.  It gives you the credit reports from all three bureaus but only gives you the score from Experian.  This is a good idea of what your score could be but because all lenders use the middle of the three scores it could swing significantly from that number. 

When I did use that service they do make you enroll in their credit repair program.  I don't remember if they ask you for a credit card number up front or not but I did call and got it cancelled with no problem.  But you do have to call them to cancel it.  They obviously try to sell you on keeping the program but ultimately they have to cancel it if you don't want it.  I never got billed for it either. 

"if its to good to be true...."

What a great post!  I completely agree.  My husband & I were talking about that not too long ago...