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SALT LAKE CITY -- They may have catchy jingles, but beginning Friday, sites like Freecreditreport.com will have to disclose that people can get the same information with no strings attached.
Director of the Utah Division of Consumer Protection Kevin Olsen said often people would go to such sites and unwittingly sign up for monthly monitoring service.
"Many times consumers would not understand that they were buying that service. They didn't want that service and they didn't see that they were being charged that service until they saw it on their bank statements," Olsen said.
The FTC is requiring that the sites refer people to FTC.gov, and mention that people can go to Annualcreditreport.com once a year to get their own credit reports.
"Obviously that's been a concern of theirs (the FTC) or the law would not now require them to more fully disclose the fact that they can get a free report if they go to this other website," he said.
It's why Freecreditreport.com now charges a dollar for the service, though it says the money will be donated to charity.
By September, television ads for the services will have to carry similar disclosures.
E-mail: mgiauque@ksl.com
