by Doug Pollack

I’ll admit I’m a fan of Clark Howard. For those of you that don’t know him, he has a very popular radio show, The Clark Howard Show, and is a advocate for consumers in their financial affairs.

On today’s program, he became very animated talking about Freecreditreport.com. This is a website from one of the three large credit bureaus, Experian, that oddly enough requires that you pay for their service, despite the interesting name.

I thought that it would be useful to highlight some excerpts from his comments. He is obviously not a fan of this offering, and believes that their mass media advertising (who hasn’t seen the television ad with the kid in the seafood restaurant singing about his identity theft?) is deceptive.

The following are quotes from his show today:

“Freecreditreport.com, the ripoff non-service from Experian, is ripping you off, stealing money right out of your wallet…charing you a ripoff fee month after month after month”

“If you are currently subscribing to Freecreditreport.com, stop it! You are throwing your money away…why pay for it, they are liars at Experian. Liars, liars, liars.”

I have always found it amazing that Experian can advertise their service under that name when they require that you purchase their “triple advantage” service for a monthly fee of around $13 a month in order to get a “free” credit report. Maybe I just don’t have a good grasp of the english language. Doesn’t free, mean without cost?

by Doug Pollack

This past week, there were two class action lawsuits filed against LifeLock, one in its home state of Arizona and one in New Jersey. Following on a recent lawsuit filed against LifeLock by Experian, one of three US credit bureaus, these class action lawsuits also assert that LifeLock is engaged in deceptive advertising relative to the level of protection provided by their service against identity theft. The LifeLock offering depends almost entirely upon the placement of perpetual fraud alerts as the means for protecting their subscribers from identity theft.

As noted by David Paris, an attorney involved in this matter, in an article on the CNBC website titled “N.J. Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against LifeLock Alleging Deceptive Marketing Regarding Limited Level of Protection Against Identity Theft“:

” ‘While fraud alerts may be effective in limited instances, they certainly cannot provide the comprehensive identity protection that LifeLock deceptively advertises,’ said Paris. ‘For instance, fraud alerts cannot stop the use of existing account numbers, and contrary to LifeLock’s advertisements, lenders are certainly not required to contact the subscriber before extending credit to a potential identity thief.’ ”

The article and comments from Mr. Paris also address the alleged deceptive nature a severe limitations on the highly publicized $1MM LifeLock Guarantee:

“According to the Complaint, LifeLock also misleads subscribers by advertising its $1 million service guarantee. ‘Potential LifeLock subscribers are enticed by the ’safety net’ of what appears to be a one-million dollar insurance policy against any losses sustained as a result of identity theft,’ said Paris. ‘In actuality, once you get beyond the limitations and disclaimers, you find that the guarantee is limited to fixing failures in LifeLock’s services and paying third-parties to attempt to restore subscriber losses.’ ”

Hopefully these lawsuits will help bring visibility and clarity to consumers as to the differences in identity theft protection services. Most services, including those provided by the company that sponsors this blog, ID Experts, do not rely on fraud alerts as a primary or sole means of protection, nor do they make questionable or misleading large dollar guarantees. It is unfortunate that brash marketing tactics have made it difficult for consumers to make an informed product decision based on the facts related to differences in these services.