254:"New Spot"- featuring the band gone and regrouping, with all members now financially well off. The "used sub-compact" from the used car commercial, is now pimped out, and the scene from the earlier commercial is reprised. The band is stopped at a light next to attractive women in a red Mustang convertible, but this time, instead of laughing at them as in the previous commercial, the women are now interested because of their financial success.
92:. Now any company who advertises a 'free credit report' on TV or radio must include the statement: "This is not the free credit report provided for by Federal law." The law also calls for the Federal Trade Commission to issue new rules that will force free credit report advertisers to inform consumers that the only place for a free credit report is
113:
campaign featuring singer Eric
Violette as a man struggling with difficult life circumstances due to his poor credit score, and his ignorance of it. The commercials feature jingles written using various distinctive forms of popular music. To date the company has aired nine different commercials,
65:
for deceptive marketing tactics. They settled for $ 950,000 in the form of free credit monitoring for those affected and agreed not to use deceptive and misleading claims about free offers and to offer full disclosure of terms and conditions of any free offers. The penalty was largely seen as
219:
In May 2010 a nationwide band search began to find the new face of freecreditscore.com. Live auditions were held in New York, Chicago and Los
Angeles. Bands could also submit videos of themselves online at freecreditscoreband.com for consideration. Many were typical entries, but some bands,
114:
which have aired in different orders in different markets. The commercials featuring
Violette and his band stopped airing in February 2010, as a new band was brought in. In June 2012, the original band returned in new commercials for FreeCreditScore.com as a part of a "comeback" campaign.
195:
parodied the ads in a sketch that featured a young man cursed by bad luck after getting a credit card in his senior year of high school. After racking up $ 80,000 in debt, he ends up in jail, escapes and eventually winds up living with a skinhead named Fang "in a soggy cardboard box".
182:, Violette said that "He's a guy who has a lot of dreams and hopes. But he's not able to make them concrete because I think he's a little bit lazy. He's the kind of guy who always has bad luck . . . but I'm sure he has a good heart."
149:
Most feature references to the original "Pirate" commercial; either lyrically, or by including it as part of the background. Most also feature an elderly woman, who in the later commercials is disapproving of the group.
239:
Unlike the first band, who sang about finding themselves in bad credit situations, the new band sang instead about other people in bad credit situations, while simply being part of the background.
257:"Set It Off"- featuring the band talking about receiving score alerts from the FCS app. The commercial also featured the return of the elderly lady, who frequented the band's older commercials.
61:
FreeCreditReport.com as well as its affiliate site FreeCreditScore.com has been the subject of two major lawsuits. In 2005, the site's owner, Experian
Consumer Direct, was sued by the
750:
66:
ineffective since it amounted to a small fraction of the $ 72 million annual advertising budget for FreeCreditReport.com. They were further subjected to a 2006 inquiry by the
430:
648:
806:
481:"Text of H.R. 627 (111th): Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (Passed Congress/Enrolled Bill version) - GovTrack.us"
204:
732:
452:
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649:"FTC Releases Spoof Videos with a Serious Message: AnnualCreditReport.com is the Only Authorized Source for Free Annual Credit Reports"
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363:
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investigation of the website called it "misleading", "deceptive" and a "scam". The program has also been identified as a
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On June 15, 2012, freecreditscore.com released a new commercial that featured the return of the original band.
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53:. The membership may be canceled with no charge within 7 days of signup by contacting the call center.
228:(Formerly known as "Victorious Secrets", but changed the name to avoid any possible legal issues with
229:
394:
305:
693:
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529:
416:
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453:"President Poised to Sign Credit Card Act; New Law Substantially Impacts Colleges and Students"
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The advertising practices of FreeCreditReport.com were specifically addressed in the
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produced two public service announcements to remind citizens of the right to annual
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are websites owned by
Experian Consumer Direct, a subsidiary of the credit bureau
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from
Experian on the condition that they sign up for Experian's Triple Advantage
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http://www.complex.com/pigeons-and-planes/2014/03/freecreditreport-com-band
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The commercials have spawned various homages including many parodies on
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program for a fee. The credit report also comes with the user's PLUS
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708:"Freecreditscoreband.com -- home of the freecreditscore.com band!"
368:
336:
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802:
232:) were named the new FCS Band. The band features Daniel Zott of
82:
821:
501:
Petrecca, Laura; Theresa Howard; Bruce
Horovitz (2008-04-13).
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accent, his voice was dubbed by
Muhlenfeld. He earlier did a
816:
689:
COMPARATIVE ANATOMY: Free Credit Report Band Search
Rejection
220:
apparently as a joke, submitted videos as well, most notably
586:"Conversations: Eric Violette, the FreeCreditReport.com Guy"
733:"The Victorious Secrets Named New FreeCreditScore.com Band"
395:"FreeCreditReports.com Scam at ConsumerFraudReporting.org"
109:
In
October 2007, Experian Consumer Direct began airing an
161:
in 2002. The commercials prepared by David Muhlenfeld at
117:
The themes/motifs of the commercials include, in order:
503:"Ad Track: Starbucks splash stick says no to sploshing"
306:"Marketer of "Free Credit Reports" Settles FTC Charges"
275:"Marketer of "Free Credit Reports" Settles FTC Charges"
696:
from the original on 2021-12-21 – via YouTube.
637:
from the original on 2021-12-21 – via YouTube.
532:
from the original on 2021-12-21 – via YouTube.
165:began appearing in October 2007. Due to Violette's
408:"A Free Credit Score Followed by a Monthly Bill"
77:'s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. An
332:"Florida AG investigates FreeCreditReport.com"
19:For the U.S. federally mandated website, see
8:
496:
494:
611:"The High Cost of a 'Free Credit Report'"
475:
473:
525:All 9 Free Credit Report.Com Commercials
559:. 25 November 2007 – via YouTube.
266:
41:. The sites offer users their personal
176:When asked about his character by the
364:"Don't fall for FreeCreditReport.com"
7:
199:In response to the commercials, the
153:Violette was born June 12, 1981, in
14:
159:National Theatre School of Canada
121:Pirate-themed seafood restaurant
85:by ConsumerFraudReporting.org.
1:
215:Freecreditscore band campaign
362:Sullivan, Bob (2006-09-12).
330:Sullivan, Bob (2006-11-15).
283:. 2005-08-16. Archived from
142:Small town / cell phone shop
16:Website operated by Experian
435:The San Francisco Chronicle
858:
18:
630:Mad TV - Free Credit Card
505:. USA Today. pp. 2B
280:Federal Trade Commission
201:Federal Trade Commission
63:Federal Trade Commission
250:FCS Commercial Themes:
90:Credit CARD Act of 2009
803:AnnualCreditReport.com
556:Radio satellite Sirius
209:annualcreditreport.com
173:commercial in French.
171:Sirius Satellite Radio
94:AnnualCreditReport.com
21:AnnualCreditReport.com
751:"Detroit Metro Times"
243:Original band returns
822:FreeCreditReport.com
663:"FCSBand.com - Home"
226:The American Secrets
133:Rockstars pool party
31:FreeCreditReport.com
817:FreeCreditScore.com
222:Comparative Anatomy
205:free credit reports
145:Country bar in Reno
124:Living with in-laws
105:Singing ad campaign
27:FreeCreditScore.com
615:The New York Times
528:. 4 October 2009.
417:The New York Times
230:Victoria's Secret
224:. In August 2010
163:The Martin Agency
157:and attended the
47:credit monitoring
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837:Finance websites
807:legally mandated
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753:. Archived from
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710:. Archived from
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692:. 17 June 2010.
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455:. Archived from
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431:"Small Business"
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420:November 2, 2009
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372:. Archived from
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310:Consumer Affairs
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136:Renaissance fair
71:Attorney General
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813:-promoted site.
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179:Washington Post
167:Canadian French
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842:Credit scoring
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797:External links
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757:on 2012-08-04.
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139:Roller coaster
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130:Bicycle riding
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73:for violating
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43:credit reports
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669:on 2010-10-30
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570:Eric Violette
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459:on 2009-05-25
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344:on 2007-11-27
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712:the original
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671:. Retrieved
667:the original
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592:. 2009-05-23
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378:. Retrieved
374:the original
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346:. Retrieved
342:the original
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314:. Retrieved
312:. 2005-08-16
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289:. Retrieved
285:the original
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51:credit score
34:
30:
26:
25:
485:GovTrack.us
410:article by
111:advertising
100:Advertising
57:Controversy
831:Categories
718:2011-11-07
673:2010-10-04
596:2009-12-17
509:2009-06-12
463:2009-06-03
412:Ron Lieber
380:2008-03-27
348:2008-03-27
316:2008-03-27
291:2009-06-06
262:References
35:Credit.com
737:Billboard
79:MSNBC.com
694:Archived
635:Archived
530:Archived
155:Montreal
127:Used car
39:Experian
786:YouTube
770:YouTube
187:YouTube
75:Florida
68:Florida
805:, the
369:MSNBC
337:MSNBC
234:JR JR
207:from
192:MADtv
574:IMDb
83:scam
33:and
811:FTC
572:at
414:in
833::
809:,
735:.
613:.
588:.
493:^
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472:^
433:.
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