That Stupid "freecreditreport.com" Commercial

 

On television they keep playing this stupid "freecreditreport.com" commercial repeatedly, and there is something about this ad that really irks me. I almost didn't post about it, because as I searched on the internet for the lyrics to the commercial's song, I found that many people had already posted about their dislike of this commercial, including this great post on the blog Shakespeare's Sister about the sexism in the ad.

What bothered me about this ad was not a perceived sexism in the commercial, but the message of the lyrics:

"Well, I married my dream girl
I married my dream girl
But she didn't tell me
Her credit was bad
So now instead of living in a pleasant suburb
We're living in the basement at her mom and dad's
No, we can't get a loan
For a respectable home
Just because my girl defaulted on some old credit card
If we'd gone to Free Credit Report dot com
I'd be a happy bachelor with a dog and a yard."

The song is a cautionary tale that describes a man who has found his "dream girl", but unbeknownst to him before their marriage was the fact that she has poor credit. The song states clearly that he would have been better off not marrying her, and instead should have remained a bachelor.

Now, if she was indeed his "dream girl", shouldn't he have accepted her faults along with her other attributes? The conventional wisdom about romantic relationships in this culture is that "true love conquers all", not "true love conquers everything, except bad credit."

Now, I am not saying that marriages don't exist where one of the two partners turns out to be a flim-flam artist or deadbeat that end in regret and despair - but this is not the situation that the song suggests. The song clearly states that he should not have married his "dream girl" because she has "defaulted on some old credit card".

My argument is that if you are fortunate enough to find your "dream girl", you should count yourself lucky, despite any faults that you might find in her. I wish that I was lucky to find a woman that I could call my "dream girl" that was stupid enough to marry me. I would forgive her past indiscretions, especially if her only problem was bad credit. Good credit, in itself, is not a guarantee of happiness, nor should it be a defining aspect of a romantic relationship.

And what is our hapless young newlywed doing about his financial situation? He is living in the house of his wife's parents! I don't see anything about the ad that suggests that he is trying to find a decent job, or is even remotely thankful that he has a roof over his head.

If you watch the ad, the accompanying images are of him and a band made up of his scruffy friends playing the song. (**Ahem** Not that I have anything against scruffy, mind you.) While he is singing his song of lament about his 'ruined' life, his wife walks through the scene. She is doing laundry. She is probably doing his laundry!

If you ask me, this bozo should count his lucky stars, be thankful that he has a wife that he can call a "dream girl" and in-laws that are understanding enough to let them live at their house. I think he should go find a job, rather that sit around pissing and moaning about his life with his no account, layabout friends.

And another thing, I think the whole credit report business is a scam. I filled one of those out for an older person that was not internet savvy, and the conclusion reached on the webpage's SSL form was that the person had no record, "please call this 800 number." Upon calling, she was told that they still could find no record, but if you just pay them $15 dollars a month they were 'sure they could dig something up'.

After she paid interest on loans to these credit card companies, why was she being expected to pay money for a report about those debts that was advertised as being free? And why would they only guarantee finding information that they couldn't find at first if a sum of money was involved? I think it's a scam.

UPDATE: Bubs said, "I haven't seen that ad yet, but I've seen the other ones. What pisses me off is that the site they're pushing is a for-profit commercial site. What most people don't know is that you CAN get a free credit report, it's the law, and there's a real site set up by the three credit reporting bureaus to do so. I always refer victims of identity theft and credit card fraud to this website. If you do it right, you can actually check your credit for free three times a year--once through each bureau. The site is Annual Credit Report."

Thanks for the info, Bubs!