By, Ashley Crimaldi

In case you haven’t heard, The Federal Trade Commission (F.T.C.) is going after company Experian (the geniuses behind FreeCreditReport.com, and those clever commercials) for misleading Americans into believing FreeCreditReport.com’s credit report services were actually free of charge. In actuality, users are prompted to enter their credit card information before receiving their credit report, and are then enrolled into a monthly credit monitoring program and charged a monthly fee of about $14.

The F.T.C. has accused Experian for misleading Americans seeking free credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com (the FTC’s website), to visit FreeCreditReport.com instead. In reaction to the supposedly “false advertising”, the F.T.C. has changed its website name from AnnualCreditReport.com to FreeCreditReport.gov to hopefully clear up any misconception. The F.T.C. has even gone as far as releasing their own parody version of the commercials to inform Americans of the scam. Check out the parody commercial here.

So who is at fault? Should Experian be punished for misleading Americans? Or should the FTC have done a better job marketing its own free credit report website in the first place? Or should credit score commercials be banned all together?

I’d love to hear from you all- were you aware that FreeCreditReport.com credit reports were not free? Have you been duped in the past in scams like this?

Moral to the story: Don’t use Free Credit Report dot com!

For more information, or to view multiple perspective news coverage on the story check out this video from newsy.com, or read the New York Times Article.

By, Nicole Crimaldi

Last night my girlfriend Millie and I were shopping at Water Tower Place in Chicago. Millie had several things on her shopping list, so spending long amounts of time in each store pondering and chatting with sales associates wasn’t a priority. We went into the Coach store where Millie intended on purchasing an every day purse. Millie doesn’t shop often so when she needs things, she gets in and out.

Unfortunately, the moment we walked into Coach we were practically “attacked” by an overly peppy and talkative sales associate who immediately asked us “Do you guys work around here? What do you do? Where are you from?” Etc., etc. We gave short and simple answers in hopes that we could continue shopping. She proceeded to follow us around the store while talking about her self and practically bouncing off the walls.  She was a recent college graduate and banking intern. We learned wayyyy too many details about this girl (I’ll spare you) and honestly it was a distraction for us as shoppers. I couldn’t wait to get out of that store.

As we were leaving, Millie said “Gosh, that girl just doesn’t get it. That store sells itself, her attempt at selling us so hard made it worse.” And I said back, “she must not understand the concept of white space and that white space is ok!”

I think I first learned about “white space” in my entrepreneurship classes in college. Apple is a GREAT example of using white space. Take a look at their website, their products, their marketing. While Apple’s competitors focus on filling the page/conversations/advertisingn with “stuff,” Apple does just the opposite- and boy has it worked well for them.

The same concept of using “white space” can be applied to our careers. As young professionals, it’s so easy to open our mouths as a way to overcompensate for our lack of experience or to fill the silence with rhetoric. Consider your favorite leaders: they choose their words carefully. Sometimes they nod and think rather than speak. Great public speakers have learned to master (and rely on) white space.

Experiment with taking advantage of “white space” today. It builds credibility and makes you more of a pleasure to work with. Don’t fear the moment of silence- embrace it for your benefit!

By, Nicole Crimaldi

As you put away your Halloween decorations for the year, it’s time to start thinking about the holiday season. I know you’re thinking, “Why?! It’s only November 2!” Exactly.

Most Americans rack up tons of debt on holiday gifts because they fail to plan ahead.

If you get paid bi-weekly that means you have 3-4 paychecks left (as of this post) before all of your holiday shopping needs to be done. That is plenty of time to set some money aside so that you don’t have to use your credit card at all for holiday gifts this year.

You might be thinking, “that’s a nice concept, but I have way too many people to shop for.” Think differently this year.

For example, my best friend and I have started a “holiday dinner” tradition where we go to dinner and drinks rather than exchanging gifts. We’d probably be going out anyways, but we aren’t accumulating extra expenses on gifts and we really look forward to it!

As for my two sisters, I’m planning on asking them to donate their Christmas gift to those in our family who could use the gifts more than us this year. I will also encourage them to do the same with my Christmas gift. Giving to our less fortunate family members is a much better feeling than buying more PJ’s, perfume and junk that we don’t really need.

For your girlfriends, consider doing something together for charity this year rather than buying gifts. For example, you could volunteer at a soup kitchen, donate old clothes together or run a 5k for charity.

You may find that giving to the less fortunate or creating memories is much more fulfilling than buying someone a gift.

For those who you do decide to buy a gift for, sit down and make a budget ASAP. Even after reducing the number of gifts you give, you will probably be surprised at how quickly things add up. Divide the total by the number of paychecks you have left before Christmas/Hanukkah so you know how much you need to put away in order to end 2009’s holiday season debt-free.

Happy planning!

By, Nicole Crimaldi

One of our readers needs your help!

I received an email from reader “Sarah” this morning which explained that her co-worker (a veteran of her company) had been slacking, causing big messes. In the process of cleaning these messes up, Sarah started noticing that her veteran co-worker was cutting corners, telling white lies and not fulfilling her job responsibilities; therefore costing their company money and possibly even opportunities with clients.

Sarah’s co-worker has been with the company years longer than she has, and it seems that she is taking advantage of her tenure to an unhealthy degree. Now that some of the messes are coming out of the woodwork, the veteran employee has gone to their director and “stirred the pot” making it seem like Sarah receives preferential treatment and vacation time (which is not the case).

Sarah’s initial reaction was to get revenge and tell their director about all of the messes the veteran has caused lately and the financial implications they may have on their company.

While Sarah feels she has a duty to reveal truths that could hurt the company, it is my belief that her timing and delivery of the message to the director is crucial as it will determine Sarah’s professionalism and maturity.

How would you handle this if you were Sarah?

Please leave your comments for Sarah.  Thanks!

By, Nicole Crimaldi

In Christine Hassler’s book “20 Something, 20 Everything” she describes one’s twenties as an “expectation hangover.” I couldn’t agree more.

Think back to yourself in college. If you were an ambitious career girl, you were trying to study hard in order to understand the intricacies of your dedicated field of study. Your goal was to land a sweet job which paid well, offered benefits and a path for quick promotion. If you were like me, you knew you wanted to move to the city after graduation and live your own version of “Sex and the City.” You’d have a great apartment and frequent trendy hot spots while still stock piling money in the bank and avoiding debt.

Enter reality.

My first job was in sales. My definition of sales in college meant “Being cute and wearing nice outfits will definitely close more deals (duh)! I mean I love people, right?! I will make $70,000 my first year out of school and I will be SO good at this!!”

The base salary at my first sales job was so low that I didn’t feel comfortable moving out of my parents’ house. I cold called all day. My clients were not glamorous and we didn’t meet in fancy board rooms.  We met at their kitchen table in distressed neighborhoods. Deals fell through. The bonus structure was designed so that it was almost impossible to really cash in on it.

Things did get better after that first job in terms of salary and job responsibilities. And yes, I moved out of my parents’ house less than a year after graduating college (don’t even get me started on my nasty first apartment though!). Regardless, the one piece of advice I’d give to college students who are nearing graduation is not to get stuck on your high expectations. Your high expectations will only hurt you and haunt you as you get your first big credit card bill, pay your rent, and sit in your cubicle wondering how you got there.

Yes, it’s true: you went to college so you can live the same day over and over again doing work that is probably slightly boring and repetitive, then pay bills.

And that “Sex and the City” lifestyle? It costs a lot of money. Good luck stock piling your savings account while sipping on $10 drinks, taking cabs, looking cute and paying for your apartment on an entry-level salary (which probably isn’t nearly what you had hoped it would be).

The point of my story? Embrace the imperfect. Embrace that you will likely be “a dollar short and a day late” throughout much of your twenties. You may get into your career and realize you despise it. Things will most likely not go as planned. The guy you thought you were going to marry in college might let you down. Every day is not sunny. But at the end of the day, your twenties is an adventure- it’s just a different kind than you originally imagined.