Explain Free Credit Report.com commercial to me

Free Credit Report.com has this commercial where this guy dressed up like Judge Reinhold in Fast Times claims that because some hacker stole his identity, he is now forced to work in a crappy job at a seafood/Long John Silvers type place. The implication is that this job is way beneath him, but it’s all he could get after his identity was stolen. I don’t get this at all.

  1. Hacker steals identity.
  2. ???
  3. Lose good job and have to take crappy fast food seafood job.

My identity was stolen last year. It cost me a couple of phone calls and some frustration. I didn’t lose my job or any money. What the hell are they talking about?

They’re selling a service for “free” with a huge commitment attached that people can get for free with no commitment elsewhere. What part of “scum-sucking sleezeballs” is not clear?

Many companies now do extensive background checks, including credit checks and criminal history. I work in the financial services industry and not only had to undergo a credit and criminal check but had to have my fingerprints sent to the FBI. If your identity is stolen and your credit destroyed, that may cause potential employers to refuse to consider you.

Not that I disagree that freecreditreport dot com are scumbags.

That still doesn’t answer the question.

My take on it has always been that he has to take a second job to pay debts that aren’t his.

Of course, that makes no sense, since you’re not liable for debts that some other mook fraudulently took out in your name.

Perhaps it’s that he wasn’t able to get the office job of his dreams since lots of companies do credit checks on potential hires.

I’m shocked – shocked to discover that advertisements use exaggerated and unrealistic situations in order to sell a product. What possible reason could they have for doing that?

The Police Notebook:

USA Today:

I thought it was that he was stupid and ran up huge credit card bills that somehow he thought he wouldn’t have to pay, and if he had had FCR.com he would have “known” this to be untrue because he would have seen his loser credit rating and payment history, and now he has to take a crap job to pay off his obligations.

I want to punch that kid in the face. There’s something about him that just needs punching.

In the time-honored way of these things on the SDMB, #2 should be “Profit.”

It’s misleading advertising by a credit reporting agency, trying to get you to sign up for credit protection. It’s not supposed to make sense, it’s supposed to SCARE YOU!

Not liable for the debts, but there are still obvious negative financial consequences to credit fraud done in your name. Even if you eventually clear it up, your credit rating takes a hit in the meantime. If you’re one of the far too many people who carry a balance on your credit cards, you might find that your credit card company has jacked up your rates for having bad credit (elsewhere)

Hey! Who you calling a mook?

Since we are talking about these comercials, can I ask about another one these guys made?

The I married my dream girl/but her credit was bad one. First off, I don’t know what freecreditreport.com would have done for the guys who’s life was ruined by his wife’s bad credit, but is it actually possilbe for your spouse’s credit to screw up your good credit when you get married? Do you cease to be seperate people?

Wrong wrong wrong. Step three is profit.

So which step is Opal?

Also, could I just pay for a credit card report on my fiancee before the wedding, so I can dump her if her rating isn’t good enough?

My understanding is that the couple wasn’t able to be approved for a home loan because of her bad credit, which I suppose could happen if they had to apply for a joint loan. I don’t think it’s possible to get a copy of someone else’s credit report without their permission, though, so I don’t see how freecreditreport.com could have helped anyway.

And now that Anthony Pellicano is out of circulation (for the time being), there goes that approach.

I’m really, really, really hoping it’s the same step as “profit”… crosses fingers, squints eyes