The Battle of the Credit Reports

June 7, 2010

Who knew?  There’s a major battle raging between credit reporting companies and the federal government.  You’ll remember the commercial company, freecreditreport.com, and its funky band with tunes you can’t get out of your head.  You know, they played at a Renaissance Faire because their credit score was so low they couldn’t work anywhere else.  Their band became real famous, for an ad band anyway.  Up against them is the federal government’s agency, annualcreditreport.com.  The gov’s site has created a mock band, to spoof the ads from freecreditreport.com.  They’ve launched themselves as a free alternative – and pitched itself as a way to avoid the fees.   But Experian, the company that owns freecreditreport.com, has hit back.  It’s holding auditions for its next band, and the winner gets to go on the MTV awards to perform its new song.  It’s hard to compete with a free site from the federal government, but Experian’s got a good strategy for prevailing.