The Truth About Free Credit Reports

THE TRUTH ABOUT Free AnnuaL creDIT REPOPTS MAY 2010 SOURCES: MONEYCENTRAL. MSN.COM, FTC.GOV, CONSUMERWEBWATCH.ORG $1.99 The U.S. Federal Trade Commission In a review of 24 websites offering "free" credit reports, Consumer Reports found that: reports on its website ftc.gov that Only 4, of the Sites ANNUALCREDIT 24 REPORT.COM Analyzed were Unaffiliated to Another! IS THE ONLY Of the 24, sites analyzed, nine were owned by or closely connected to Transunion and eight were owned by or otherwise closely connected to Experian (only 4 of the 24 sites were unaffiliated to another). AUTHORIZED SOURCE Relationship Among Web Sites AnnualCreditReport.com EXPERIAN.COM CONSUMER FREECREDIT AnnualCreditReport.com is the ONLY authorized source for the free annual INFO.COM REPORT.COM credit report that's yours by law. The Fair Credit Reporting Act guarantees you access to your credit report for free from each of the three nationwide credit CREDIT LENDING FREEBIE reporting companies - Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion - every 12 months. ELOAN.COM MOVING-LINKS.COM REPORTING.COM TREE.COM CREDITREPORT.COM AnnualCreditReport.com was created as a result of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTAct) TRANSUNION.COM Types of Uses of the Term Free TRUECREDIT.COM As PART OF A CREDIT MONITORING SERVICE FREE-CREDIT- PRIVACYMATTERS.COM CREDIT.COM WITH TRIAL PERIOD REPORTS.COM 170 As PART OF A CREDIT MONITORING SERVICE FREE3BUREAU FREECREDIT WITHOUT A TRIAL PERIOD SPEEDYCREDIT CREDIT REPORT SPENDONLIFE.COM 11 REPORTS.COM REPORT.COM INSTANTLY.COM IN REFERENCE TO CONSUMER RIGHTS UNDER FACT ACT OF FCRA 20 THEFREECREDIT MIGHTYNET CREDITREPORT.COM IN REFERENCE TO RECOMMENDED SITES OR REPORTSOURCE.COM PARTNER COMPANIES 20 INTERSECTIONS IDENTITYGUARD.COM IN REFERENCE TO FREE CREDIT SCORE(s) WHEN REPORT(s) ARE PURCHASED 14 IN REFERENCE TO CREDIT CALCULATORS OR NATIONALCREDIT LEXINGTONLAW.COM EQUIFAX.COM MYFICO.COM PRICE QUOTES REPORT.COM 16 IN THE WEB SITE FS NAME 1 9 The above map shows Web sites that are owned by other Web sites or are otherwise affiliated with other entities. Green cells are companies but not Web sites. IN REFERENCE TO CLOSE MISSPELLINGS OF ANNUALCREDITREPORT.COM In two reports the World Privacy Many Web site names and URLS - free3bureaucreditreport.com Forum brought to light the existence contain the word "free" and/or freebiecreditreport.com of over two hundred Web domains are similar enough to that resembled the official annualcreditreport.com to - freecreditreportsinstantly.com annualcreditreport.com site, possibly cause consumer - freecreditreport.com referred to as "imposter domains" confusion. and "imposter sites" to highlight the possibility of consumers ending up at uses of the word "free" across - creditreporting.com unwanted Web sites. | 10 ALL OTHER USES freecreditreports.com 40 thefreecreditreportsource.com There were as much as 312 - creditreport.com TOTAL 320 the 24 site home pages. -nationalcreditreport.com