Chances are you’ve heard the ads for FreeCreditReport.com.  They’re the ones with the catchy jingle and the guy walking around singing about the website and how his life was ruined because he didn’t check his credit.  In one particular commercial he tries to buy a car and ends up in an old jalopy due to his poor credit.  While driving around in the subcompact monstrosity he laments:

F-R-E-E, that spells free-
Credit report dot com, baby
Saw their ads on my TV
Thought about going but was too lazy
Now instead of looking fly and rollin’ phat
My legs are sticking to the vinyl and my posse’s getting
Laughed at
F-R-E-E, that spells free-
Credit report dot com, baby

Well, it turns out F-R-E-E doesn’t really spell free; it spells $14.95 a month for the Experian Triple Advantage credit monitoring program.  Erica Possin, a college student, took the ads to heart and went to Free CreditReport.com prior to buying a car.  She got her report and went on her merry way, only to realize months later that she, like thousands of other customers, was being charged a $14.95 a month recurring fee.  She tried to get a refund from Experian, the owner of the website, but was denied.  Now she’s suing as the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit.  This isn’t a first for Experian either; they’ve already settled one suit with the FTC over ConsumerInfo.com.

So the morale of this story?  Be careful, not everything advertized as F-R-E-E is actually free.  Should you check your credit periodically, absolutely, but keep in mind you can go to AnnualCreditReport.com for a free one, or if you’ve been denied credit you can also get a free copy of your report.  Protect yourself, but keep in mind it may cost you.