President Obama must be reading my blog!

Remember the post I did about how to really get your free credit report. See http://fcralawyer.blogspot.com/2009/05/free-credit-reports-are-generally-not.html if you don't remember. Apparently, President Obama or someone in his administration read it. Ok, illusions of grandeur aside, I don't really think the President read my article. But they sure got the issue right in the credit card reform bill passed late last month.

As you all know (from reading my article perhaps), FreeCreditReport.com advertised through TV and radio commercials using a catchy jingle that led consumers to believe credit reports ordered on the site were actually free. Many people fell for the ruse, ordering their "free" credit report only to be forced to sign up for a $15 a month credit monitoring service to be able to get their "free" report.

The credit card reform law requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to issue revised rules that require advertisers such as FreeCreditReport.com and others to acknowledge AnnualCreditReport.com as the only way to get a truly free credit report. Thanks to the new law, new FreeCreditReport.com commercials will include a statement that the credit report they provide for "free" is not the free credit report provided for by Federal law.

President Obama is carrying through with his promises to level the playing field for consumers, such as his excellent action of reversing the preemption being including in federal regulations. See http://fcralawyer.blogspot.com/2009/05/excellent-news-on-preemption-front.html and http://fcralawyer.blogspot.com/2009/05/more-on-president-obamas-preemption.html. That was big for consumers and the credit card bill is another great example of fair litigation for consumers. Once again, thank you President Obama, since I know you will read this. :)