I just signed up to be on a game show. Or it feels like it, anyway.

Less than an hour ago, I happened to be reading the AARP Bulletin, which has a story this week about a $75 million class action lawsuit settlement with TransUnion, one of the three major credit-reporting bureaus. If you took out a loan within the last 20 years, opened up any sort of line of credit, got a car loan or took out a mortgage -- in other words, if you're over the age of 18 and breathing -- you're probably eligible to get something out of this.

Apparently, TransUnion violated a bunch of laws by selling private consumer information for marketing purposes, so look, if you want something for free and a chance to stick it to The Man, here's what you do. Either call 1-866-416-3470 where you can register your information, or go to ListClassAction.com and fill out your information; mailing address, phone number, email... Hey, how do we know TransUnion won't use all of this new information for more marketing purposes?

(I'm just kidding. I'm sure it won't. Still, the irony is kind of funny.)

I've been working with a personal finance coach as part of a magazine assignment. As a hand-to-mouth freelance writer (with two kids), my finances are pretty basic. I earn it, I pay my bills, I buy the groceries, put gas in my car...and hold my breath until the next paycheck.

But personal finance coaches, by definition, think big. And after telling me there's no reason I can't fund my "retirement," pay for my kids' college and/or buy a house if I invest wisely, she recommended I get my FICO score.

I didn't tell her that my "retirement" plans involve moving to a cheaper state when the kids are grown and putting my name on the list for low-income senior housing.

If you have had a loan, credit card or any other type of credit line in the past 21 years, TransUnion is offering up to 9 months of credit monitoring services as part of a class action lawsuit settlement. You can opt for the basic service which includes 6 months of credit monitoring as well as unlimited access to your credit report and TransUnion credit score. This option allows you to still receive some form of cash from the settlement. If you don't care about the cash portion you can opt for the enhanced service which nets you 9 months of monitoring and a mortgage simulator to help you see what your mortgage rate would be as well as access to your insurance scores.

The credit monitoring service offered by TransUnion provides 24 hour monitoring and email notification of major changes. A credit expert notes that all consumers can benefit from a free credit monitoring service and that TransUnion's credit monitoring is top notch. Experts are less impressed by the mortgage simulator and the offer of a TransUnion score because the number isn't your real FICO score and less than 5%of banks use the TransUnion number. While it isn't the same number the TransUnion score is usually within 40-50 points of your FICO score and may at least alert you if your score is drastically lower than it should be.

While I think this is a good deal for a free service that may prove useful, it's sad that it is only coming about due to a lost lawsuit based on TransUnion's greed. You see back before 2001, TransUnion was selling customer information to marketing lists and others. That's right this credit monitoring is just a way of saying sorry, even though we didn't do anything wrong, for all of that junk mail you used to receive!

You can visit www.listclassaction.com to sign up for your benefits, which you can activate after the court accepts the settlement.