Ed McMahon, credit bureau ‘viral rapper’
p2pnet news view | Advertising:- “Jovial TV titan Ed McMahon” is, “on the brink of losing his Beverly Hills mansion, the latest in a string of money woes that includes nearly $800,000 in court judgments,” said a Daily News story during the summer.
That might partially explain why he dressed up like an idiot to star in a couple of ‘viral’ videos for a credit firm.
Now, “The 85-year-old former “‘Tonight Show’ sidekick will star in two viral rap videos for FreeCreditReport.com, a financial Web site owned by credit bureau Experian,” says the Associated Press, adding:
“The videos feature McMahon wearing a tracksuit, being chauffeured around Los Angeles in a Cadillac Escalade golf cart.”
“The videos will appear online in October,” says the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
“Charles Harris, FreeCreditReport.com’s vice president of strategic marketing, said the company sought out McMahon to star in the humorous spots after seeing him openly discuss his finances on ‘Larry King Live.’ Harris said McMahon represents ‘a man who is taking charge’.”
Yes. Well ….
Anyhow, free credit report, eh?
There’s always something inherently dodgy about a corporation — any corporation — offering ‘free’. So we started poking around online and Lo! – “I’ve seen a lot of ads for FreeCreditReport.com lately, annoying songs that get stuck in my head,” blogs eric.Openflows, continuing:
“It’s bad enough when it’s real music, there’s something terrifying to me about advertising jingles being in my head.
“They’ve got good promotion and a great name, Free Credit Report.”
But, “it’s not free,” says the post. “They will send you a ‘free credit report’ only after you purchase their credit monitoring service.
“However, you do have a right to a yearly free credit report, you just can’t get it from freecreditreport.com.”
eric.Openflows cites the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, to wit »»»
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months. The three nationwide consumer reporting companies have set up a central website, a toll-free telephone number, and a mailing address through which you can order your free annual report.
To order, visit http://annualcreditreport.com, call 1-877-322-8228….
Good one, Eric.
Daily News – Hard times for Ed McMahon: fighting foreclosure on Beverly Hills home, June 5, 2008
eric.openflow – The real free credit report, July 4, 2008
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September 25th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Thanks for the compliment, and the link. One thing, there’s an ’s’ missing, it’s Openflows not openflow
man, it’s about time I came up with a real name for that blog.
September 25th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Sorry, Eric. Fixed.
Cheers!
Jon
September 26th, 2008 at 12:15 am
Also, it costs $50 for their credit monitoring service which will most probably, like most credit monitoring service, wreck your credit rating.
September 26th, 2008 at 3:42 am
how about for canadians, how do we find ours?
September 27th, 2008 at 12:27 am
Used them about 5 years ago, and started seeing all sorts of inquiries on my credit reports. Turns out I didn’t read the TOS closely enough and they were selling my info to other companies that would send me offers based on my report. No thanks.