I think we are focusing on the wrong issue. Its so easy to steal someones identity, every time you go to a hospital/doctors office all your data is entered into national data centers like Epic; Its so simple to get anyones SS# and Date of birth, address, really simple.
What we need is a national system for protecting identity from theft, Our system is last century and its worthless . Some smart people need to come up with high tech solutions to this issue. We also need to make it easier to correct identity theft . I spent a year trying to fix my identity theft without success till NYT helped me.
Yes what happened with Equifax is wrong but hopefully people will realize its impossible today to keep your information private.
The whole system needs to change!
18
all credit bureaus must be mandated to adopt a standardized, simplified process for freezing/unfreezing your credit report. In my view, guidelines would include: 1) all Credit Reports are FROZEN BY DEFAULT. 2) Consumers are given the option to use 2-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION (2FA) to verify their identity required to UNFREEZE their credit report FOR 24 HOURS. 3) Following that 24 hour period, the report is FROZEN automatically. 4) Social Security numbers are obsolete as far as "security" is concerned. MAKE PERSONAL INFORMATION SAFE AGAIN!
27
Why doesn't Equifax just freeze ALL accounts? Why does each individual consumer have to call or go to a webpage? The absurdity quotient on this one is just off the charts!
33
This fiasco is an indication of why the public should have control over their credit information, not some incompetent company who cannot protect the data they collect on individuals.
It is now time to propose legislation on the federal level to allow the public to control their information and be paid for the use of that information by the alleged "credit reporting agencies" who use our personal information to make money from with our unique information. These companies are leeches that feed off of our personal information, then as a further insult they have this information compromised due to their incompetence. Equifax should be put out of business as a warning to the remaining companies to get their to act together.
21
Equifax froze my account without letting me know and without providing a
PIN to unfreeze
I had tried , in past few days, using Equifax freeze phone number, to freeze only to be told, after putting in some state and address number, to try some other time or go onto website to submit freeze request ( which I did not do)
I recently called the freeze phone number again , to try again to freeze my account only to be told that a freeze had been put on my account ( not by me!) and without providing me a PIN to unfreeze.
Has anyone else had their Equifax account frozen by unilateral action by Equifax and without Equifax providing a PIN to unfreeze?
Sorry to not provide correct name and location, but a little paranoid about Equifax freezing my account without my knowledge and without providing me a PIN to unfreeze...its bizarre, I have to hope its Equifax that has done this and not a hacker
4
Simple math should put Equifax out of business, with $14 trillion in penalties to be paid to hacked consumers. Suppose that the lifetime of credit insecurity Equifax allegedly caused is worth an average of $100,000 per person. If so, the 143 million hacked accounts should cost Equifax a total of about $14,300,000,000,000, i.e., 14 trillion dollars and change. That seems a reasonable charge for unreasonably gross irresponsibility.
10
I'd suggest the Social Security Administration immediately issue new SS numbers to all Americans.
5
Where are the so called Consumer Advocate politicians...crickets from Elizabeth Warren ..what a phony? Where is the FTC? Equifax doesn't pick up phones, their website doesn't work and they were supposed to sign people up for 1 year credit monitoring. No one I know that signed up has gotten the email link! This is a national DISGRACE
These credit bureaus need to be put out of business and taken over by the government
6
I worked in the credit card industry for over 30 years. By far, Equifax was the most egotistical, "we can do no wrong", not to mention expensive, credit bureau of them all. Somehow, things DO tend to pay it backwards.
Setting that aside, however, another question comes to mind, and that is, given we consumers are not their customer (very true statement), why aren't the banks and credit card companies (who ARE the customer) screaming loud and clear; and how about the card associations (Visa, MasterCard, AmEx, Discover, etc). They are the ones open to massive fraud losses; they are the ones who will need to re-set account numbers and re-issue credit cards......a very sizable collective expense for the industry. It's time to bring these players into the mix.
After all, Equifax, you had one job to do......and you blew it in so many ways.
17
Ron, another question:
My was already frozen due to another security breach (these things happen far too often). Is there anything more I should do now? Can I add a second freeze on top of the first one, or extend that freeze (I don't remember how much time I have left on the earlier one).
Another observation too. The freeze I already had has made it more difficult for me to monitor my credit. Two of the credit monitoring agencies make it more difficult for people whose credit is frozen to check their credit. As a consequence, I've only been checking with the one I can get easily. This seems to work against the need to monitor things due to the previous breach. But my credit cards now offer free credit reporting, and that seems to work despite the freeze (I'm not sure if they're pulling data from the ones I can't get to otherwise).
1
Seems possible the current credit reporting market structure doesn't survive this. People will soon forget about this whole thing. They'll forget they requested these freezes, or they'll lose the pin. They'll go back to expecting on the spot convenient credit approvals. Lenders will just stop doing business with credit bureaus that can't cough up the data reliably because their database is full of these freezes. They'll go to someone else who doesn't have that problem, perhaps a new entrant. Or they'll handle it in even murkier ways in house or in cooperation with each other. We may look back on this as a golden era for transparency, when there was this simple thing called a credit score, you knew where it came from, and you got to request it yourself.
I suppose it is too much to hope that the whole Trump/Kushner clan's credit histories have been stolen and are "out there, somewhere"?
Wouldn't that be a nice bit of leverage to use that gang?
3
It's a shame that we have such an unsecure credit reporting system that is so amenable to being hacked. So If the personal credit information for 143 million people was downloaded by hackers I must assume that the information can be used by thieves for identify theft or to steal money from just about everyone. So people should try to monitor their credit and use protective passwords and other protections whenever possible.
I froze my info at Equifax and the other two places last week, all three over the phone. I used the phone numbers listed in a Washington Post article. Equifax' says ten generated a ten-digit PIN over the phone. The other two companies' systems said PINS would arrive via mail in 5-7 business days.
I was so excited to complete this task, but have lingering doubts that my inputs are actually being processed.
These are the phone numbers I used (taken from Washington Post article on what to do): Equifax (1-800-349-9960), Experian (1‑888‑397‑3742) & TransUnion (1-888-909-8872).
8
Probably not
I did same never got pins or even the email link to complete sign up for trusted id why are no politicians like so called ms consumer Elizabeth warren on this? How come so few of my friends don't know about this? Why is nothing being done and allowing these incompetent companies to control what they couldn't control
In first place?
4
Just off the phone with Equifax, which will not just send you a new PIN if you have one of the date/time-stamped ones. You must unfreeze your account, wait an undetermined amount of time (a week, perhaps), and apply for a new freeze.
1
This will all get fixed when several prominent members of Congress get their identities stolen.
14
Get this. I went to put a freeze on my wife's Equifax credit report and was told that she already had one! Funny thing is, we were never successful in doing so on the occasions when we tried. Now, we have a security freeze in place without having actually applied for one and without a pin number. Thanks, Equifax . . . Thanks, a lot.
7
I had the same problem, as have many others.
1
We need a secure personal identification method. The institutions and companies such as our doctors and banks are also at risk. Credit reporting bureaus are third parties to our transactions over which we, as individuals have no control. Those who do have control could issue all of us an RSA key fob, or developed a more modern system. Meanwhile, we all are at some risk criminals could bypass, for example, bank password change control systems and drain our bank accounts. After all, how would a bank know i am really me?
4
There has been some suggestion that this hack is similar to other hacks conducted by national governments and their contractors. If that proves to be the case here, then this data breach is a national security threat. For example, a hostile government could use the data to sow chaos in our credit markets, which would quickly tank our economy.
I'm sorry to say that under the current regime we are not likely to see aggressive action from the federal government until an economic crisis is at hand.
13
Um, maybe not even then. The skimmers have to get theirs first.
1
Equifax has always been difficult to access and virtually impossible to call unless you paid for one of their services. Credit freezes have always been the best tool to prevent credit fraud but the credit reporting agencies don't want to tell you that because they don't make as much money on these as they do the monitoring services that don't prevent theft, but tell you when something has already happened to you. The three credit monitoring bureaus are monopolies that have been abusing there status for years with little oversight. Its about time some attention was paid to these entities.
12
My big complaint is that im trying to buy a house and was just informed mortgage companies are still pulling reports from equifax. Wth would you still use a company whos data has been hacked, is being sued into oblivion and has half its accounts frozen? Credit in the US is a complete joke.
10
Freeze all the damn accounts now at all three institutions right now, indefinitely, and let us unfreeze the accounts if we want to. Enough all ready. Now.
20
We're seeing the ugly side of our capitalist nation. Executives delayed telling the public, sold shares which should be a SEC violation, and now are making things as difficult as possible for those of us who have been impacted. In the meantime we're hearing crickets from Congress on what they plan to do to ensure that this never happens again.
7
We are seeing the ugly side of lobbying. No protection of your most important personal data by a company you gave no permission to have thr data. And Congress wants to protect Equifax even more. Through those bums out asap.
10
After much frustration I was able to freeze Equifax account.
1
The Social Security Administration indicates that there is a way to get a new number (see publication 05-10064).
I imagine their phones have been swamped, so I will not go down that rabbit hole just yet. Maybe an awesome NY Times journalist could dig into this issue??
A couple of questions I would like to have answers to would be:
Is the SSA preparing an action plan to help us?
In this situation, can we get a new number even though our number has not yet been fraudulently USED?
Thank you so much for keeping on top of this.
4
Yes! Can the author please address this issue?
1
Contact your senators and representatives!
https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
https://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
Tell them to: 1) Hold Equifax accountable to making consumers whole by paying for freezes at all 3 bureaus indefinitely; and 2) Reinforce the need for the CFPB.
4
The Trusted ID Premier program that Equifax is offering for one year for free is plagued by bugs. After I signed up, they finally sent me the email that says "it is time to take the final steps to activate your free product, TrustedID Premier." However, the website their link takes you to is broken. It has been for hours. I wonder if they hope I just give up. Where are the voices of our legislators in all of this?
3
Shut EquiFax down. This is too much. They are complete incompetents.
A little regulation for the other two wouldn't hurt either. They all need MUCH better ways to authenticate people trying to get credit or information.
8
Just to be clear, is the damage to 140,000,000+ people's (virtually everyone who has a credit file in the U.S.) credit permanent? I'm assuming unless we change our identity, including our name and social security number, our identity and credit will be forever compromised. I don't know who has the data but the data is not time sensitive.
As we speak, Republicans and tacitly many Democrats are trying to forestall measures that would protect citizens in favor of protecting banks, lenders and affiliated entities like the credit bureaus. The Consumer Protection Bureau could have protected us from all of this but Republicans have a better idea.
I'm quite sure there is no bigger issue than people's money, or generally money itself. Even the troglodytes will connect the dots in this case! Any member of Congress who even remotely takes the side of the credit bureaus will be booted from office because the breach as occurred, the damage has been done and nothing can out reverse the damage which will manifest itself in perpetuity.
As usual, the progressive wing of the Democratic Party AND Bernie are leading the charge against the robber barons. The Democratic establishment (which thankfully is rapidly dwindling) better get on board FAST or will face more and more voter rejection.
This is a huge political story. What Equifax does or doesn't do pales compared to what politicians do to get control of the rapacious private sector.
12
Thank you for continuing to follow up on this despicable violation of our financial data. I appreciate the hard work on behalf of those affected by this complete fiasco. Your work also reiterates my belief that journalism is a powerful force and I will continue to pay for my NY Times subscription to support journalism at its best.
8
When I try to enroll in the Equifax Credit Freeze program, the Credit Freeze website gives me 3 options to choose from, all having to do with lifting a credit freeze. There is no way to place a freeze. Did Equifax freeze the (likely) affected accounts?
1
Same exact thing happened to my wife. She never froze her account but got the same three-option menu when she tried. I don't get why you would be given the option of unfreezing an account before you've even frozen it. Just crazy!!
The response from Equifax is extremely poor. They had weeks to plan for this mess between their discovery of the breach and their announcement of it. Their response plan has been poorly thought out and pathetically implemented. Their help hotline is useless. I've spoken with them several times, and I know more about the breach than their employees do. Pure waste of time. I did receive three other phone numbers I could call to get my questions answered, but these lines are ALWAYS busy. I've called corporate headquarters, and I am either instantly transferred to the worthless help line or just hung up on. I recommend everyone freeze their credit information. This is your best protection, and it deprives these credit bureaus of the revenue they would otherwise get by selling your information.
3
Maybe all 140 million of us should file a lawsuit just to rush them to bankruptcy. What we are witnessing is lack of government oversight reasonable people call regulations, which lead to accountability. Where regulation is lax, corporations see that as a good thing helps them to post larger and larger profits.
So Equifax can properly fund their favorite congressperson, so that congressperson can make sure that no regulation is passed that might interfere with Equifax's ability to make money selling a product they don't own, i.e. our most secret of information. All because regulation is bad for business, the illusion of how hard it is for corporate America to provide good high paying jobs if they have to waste money and comply with government regulation.
And let's not forget, that the people running Equifax, the ones that won't answer questions, they sold millions of dollars worth of stock, knowing it would be decimated, they were right it was/is
Regulations protect consumers from predatory companies. Companies, that collect personal data should be required to have secure systems, but that costs money, corporations will argue.
This will only change when the majority of voters in this country stand up against the domination of companies against weak congresspeople. Companies that take what doesn't belong to them and profit from it. The most sensitive information we have, our privacy, the very thing that can do the most damage in the wrong hands, just got there.
4
RETREIVING EQUIFAX FREEZE PIN FROM BLANK BOX ON SCREEN
If you do an Equifax credit freeze and receive a blank box where your PIN should be you can do this to recover:
The data has been sent to you and is IN the box, it just will not display on the screen. On a PC, right click the box and select SAVE AS to save the data in a file. Then view the file SO you can see the data, including your ten digit PIN.
On a MAC? Do whatever you need to do to save the contents of the box.
I did this on my Windows computer and it worked fine. Warning: Do not refresh the screen because the refresh will fail and you will lose the data.
4
Not much faith in the credit freeze. Had a credit freeze with all three bureaus, but still on May 19 of this year someone opened a Verizon account for phone service with my information. I know this because the unpaid bill is now marring my Transunion and Experian credit reports.
2
The companies make $$ by selling our data. A freeze prevents them from doing so; therefore they charge you for the freeze to compensate them for their lost opportunity cost.
My data belongs to me, and they should not be allowed to charge me to control it.
Perhaps there should be a meta-credit agency, rating the credit agencies (without their permission or control), that now severely downgrades Equifax's creditability rating. Like to below "400". Which would make it very difficult and expensive for them to borrow others' data .
1
When I went to TransUnion to request a credit freeze I was sent to a "free" program that will monitor my credit. It took a second step, once a :"member," to freeze (or "lock") my credit. I hope that this is not some secondary scam on the part of TransUnion to profit from their competitor's folly.
What would happen if everyone froze their accounts at all of the credit reporting agencies? Would they cease to exist if they didn't have a product to sell? Would they be forced to change the rules and address "their products" well being?
2
Brilliant idea. Take a vacay from requesting credit.
3
Suppose I were to find ways of collecting the personal and financial information of millions of people and offered them, for a nominal fee, the ability to "freeze" that information so that I didn't disseminate it to others. Am I legally allowed to do that? If not, why are so-called "credit bureaus" allowed to do it? I firmly believe that their activities would be labeled crimes were it not for the fact that they are large corporations with the power to create legality by buying legislation.
3
All I want to know is when, when will the litigation begin on a class action level against all the credit agencies? We are talking about over half the nation breached and attacked. Who is the litigator(s) who will begin to put the rest this power hold by credit agencies to an end? Enough is enough. Obviously, nothing will be done with our government beholding to Wall Street and lobbyists. When will people wake up in every state and get rid of these representatives and senators who fail to protect the citizens of this nation from the powerbrokers? Thomas Jefferson was pleased with America as he witnessed the evolution from authoritarian, King George III, to a government by the people and for the people. It was not perfect, but he was dismayed by the corruption and vice in Europe and the unwillingness of the powerful and autocrats to relinquish power over the citizenry. The result revolution. Washington is corrupt and unwilling to listen to the people, and the seeds of anger and convulsion will strike sooner if not later a backlash by the public. Watch the tax bill favor the wealthy and corporations.
4
One correction: you say, "Equifax told me that it is not deliberately throttling down its web servers to keep people from getting freezes. (It’s tempting to believe that they would do this, given that freezes make it harder for the company to make money off your personal data.)"
The credit bureaus get paid for searches whether they find a record or not. A freeze results in a no-hit to the inquiring creditor, but the charge is the same. A freeze has no impact on Equifax' ability to make money--they have no incentive to make it hard to freeze.
2
Conspiracy, fraud, and anti-monopoly prosecutions against the three companies would be very appropriate.
And a R.I.C.O. prosecution would be very satisfying.
A couple commenters ask how to hurt these corporations financially. Pay cash and make your credit history irrelevant. And remember, when you use the internet, you are mostly a marketable commodity, nothing more.
2
Before the data breach was made public, Equifax senior people dumped stocks before the fall in value and Equifax lobbyists were busy convincing Congress to limit oversight. After the public found out it was made known that Equifax had been told about IT security issues and did nothing. This for-profit company has much too much power over us, as well as Transunion and Experian, and it should not be allowed to continue. The SSN has no special security whatsoever, but is the most critical link to extremely important data. How has this been allowed to evolve with such private and public incompetence?
4
I just froze my credit report at all three agencies in about 30 minutes at 10:00 at night. Maybe because NC is one of 7 states that you can do it for free, and they're not trying to sell me something!
2
I've been affected by the hack according to Equifax but my husband has not. I put a security freeze at all three credit agencies. Not sure if I should remove it for my husband. Never got a PIN from Equifax. Wish I knew what to do now, anyone have any suggestions?
3
I was able to freeze my credit on the Equifax site easily. Printed the page with the PIN. My wife asked me to do the same for her. I got to the final stage where Equifax would display the PIN. At that point, the site said it couldn't process the request and to return later. I tried a bit later to freeze my wife's credit and the only options were to unfreeze, so clearly Equifax has now frozen my wife's credit (good), but never supplied us with a PIN (bad). This is the gang that couldn't shoot straight.
4
The best thing to have, is bad credit. Easy for criminals to take good credit and use it to their advantage. They can't do anything if you have bad credit. They can't take out loans or open up credit accounts/cards.
4
:) that made me laugh.
1
Answers? These are not answers, they are evasions. All they do is validate the long-held belief of many that the system is rigged.
2
How about the reverse default? The credit bureaus should freeze everyone's account and mail a notice along with a PIN and instructions for unfreezing. That would unclog the web site and the phone lines. Then it would be easy for those who need an unfreeze to get through.
No website or phone bank can withstand 143 million hits at the same time.
3
Failure to promptly fix a known security flaw is nothing short of gross negligence. Anyone who has been damaged by Equifax's failure to act responsibly should sue them. The extreme nature of the incident should warrant hefty punitive damages. Small claims court in California can handle a case of up $10000. Do it if you've suffered any loss. But even if your damage is only payment of fees you've got a case for your fees and for punitive damages.
2
ABSOLUTELY TransUnion and Experian are attempting to disrupt people from freezing their credit reports. When I attempted to freeze my report at TransUnion - using exactly the same information I had used earlier in the day to successfully receive my credit report online - the site said it could not recognize me and then gave me a phone number to call. Calling the number and again, giving the exact same information, I was told my account was frozen and I would receive a PIN in the mail. I was given no reference # or any other verification that the account is really frozen. With Experian - exactly the same thing - freeze refused online with the same information used to obtain a credit report online earlier in the day. In their case, I was presented with a page in extremely small print telling me I had to use the mail, and all the info I would need to photocopy and send them. Don't let me forget that after I clicked on the "request a freeze" button - I was served up a page offering credit monitoring ads, credit lock ads, etc. with the freeze as the last option.
1
After finally getting two steps further on the Equifax site to freeze my credit, I was taken to a screen that said I needed to mail them the exact same information I had just submitted online (including SSN and DOB). WHY????!! What purpose does this serve? The more places and ways you have me send my SSN to you, the less confidence I have. It was super fast and easy to do this freeze on the Transunion, Experian and Innovis websites. I know you're being swamped, but you should be prepared for this and handling it better, especially by now. It feels urgent to me that I should be able to promptly freeze my credit but if I have to wait for a snail mail to and from you, that's not a prompt response. Will I have to do the same thing to "unfreeze"? Still unacceptable.
In case it has not been addressed in these comments, the 10-digit PIN numbers issued by Equifax in the first days after the breach was announced use an easily hacked algorithm. This was reported on the Internet very quickly. Instead of being a 10-digit random number, which is so easy to produce with computers, the 10-digit number follows the sequence mmddyyhhmm e.g. 09161034, with the time stamp based on a 24-hour clock. So there are 525, 600 possible combinations (less than the population of Nashville) for 2017 instead of 10 billion that a random number generator would produce. That number becomes far less of a challenge to hackers for recently issued pins in the month of September and knowing the date when the breach became public. Every competent hacker on Earth knows this fact by now. From what is said in this article, Equifax knows this too.
17
Not sure it is anything but over kill to feel the need to change a freeze PIN. I did my freezes 2 years ago after the Bureau of Personnel Management hack (the 2nd time the gov't lost my data, so in terms of SSN etc., for me that ship has sailed long ago).
The Equifax number is the one most tied to the date when I got the freeze (Trans Union not at all), but it has additional numbers. Thieves are opportunists. They are not likely to spend time trying figuring out a freeze PIN on one account (WHEN I got the freeze is a complete mystery to them so they are essentially trying to figure a 12 number PIN with no guidance) when they can try the other IDs they have, which may not have a freeze on the accounts at all...
2
Equifax stock price has only dropped 35% since the breach and is still at a remarkable 91$. Call your brokers and mutual funds! If there ever was an argument for the dark art of shorting this is it.
6
I bought a single short option Oct 115.00 @ 60.00, I've been collecting all the way down, until the short either peters out or, the file for bankruptcy, I'm sure that's coming.
I have been trying to place a security freeze on my account for two days now, but I can't get past the first screen: "We are currently unable to service your request. Please try again later." Well, Equifax, why AREN'T you able to "service" my request. And I HAVE tried again later ... again, and again, and again. Haven't you had enough time to increase your computers' capacity for handling consumers' understandable demands to opt out of your selling our private information to virtually all comers? And, by the way, as other commentators have noted, I don't remember ever giving you permission to accumulate a file of private financial information about me, and to sell it, in the first place. From past experience in dealing with Equifax about two previous identity thefts, I am convinced that they deliberately make themselves impossible to get ahold of. If their executives could just make their cell phones available to the innocent victims of their being asleep at the wheel of their corporation, their subordinates might be able to open up the company's computers to handle the traffic that the executives' own reckless disregard has created.
12
I put in a freeze with Experian who advised me they would see that ll three agencies would freeze my accounts.
Can I expect this to happen?
2
Yes. But it's called a fraud alert. I used it with Experian and just got a card from TransUnion that they put a fraud alert which is good for 90 days. So Experian notified them.
A credit freeze is different. Check on the two so you'll be better prepared.
No.
Thank you Rob Lieber for your amazing coverage. Without it, consumers are completely in the dark. I encourage everyone to make formal complaints with the Consumer Federal Protection Bureau, which was set up in 2011. They will submit your complaints directly do Equifax and require answers, and give you an account to monitor progress. Tell them your experiences, as they are working with the FTC to investigate this.
www.consumerfinance.gov
12
If anyone still works there, remember the GOP believes in smaller government, and that means no one will be there to help you. And if there is that one employee will be overwhelmed. The worst 8 words you'll ever hear. We're from the government, we're here to help.
Thank you Rebecca. This, too, is excellent information! :)
Bring back the Haggler please!
We need him again and this is exactly the type of topic he could have written weekly columns about for months.
His column was my favorite part of the Business Section.
6
Our favorite AFTER Ron's columns, of course. (I also miss the Haggler. Bigly.)
Have tried to use the Equifax website to freeze my report over 10 times now. Every time, I receive the same message "Your request could not be completed. Please try again later".
The hack wasn't even a fancy one - it was known, and patched weeks before the exploit took place. I can imagine the hackers glee when they found that Equifax hadn't bothered to install the patch. This is serious, serious negligence.
13
This day and age, with so much of our information in millions of databases, data breaches are guaranteed to happen to everyone. There is no way anymore to keep your information out of someone's database - even if you're 100% cash, don't have a cell phone, don't use the internet - at least your doctor, your DMV, the IRS, someone, has your information in a database.
Due to this, credit freezes and thaws should be mandated, by the government, to be free and easy to turn on and off. We should be able to choose to keep it frozen, and just call and get a free thaw so we can apply for credit, and then have it re-freeze again. This is the only way these days because EVERYONE is at risk for identity theft and fraud.
I'm going to write my congress people and ask for this, you should too.
https://www.congress.gov/members
20
Well maybe I'm the only one having a problem with your statement about not using the internet, well umm, how did you write this post. Which leads me to not believe the sincerity of the no cell phone either comment, since you clearly use the internet.
With that said, let's say for a moment you yourself don't use the Internet, and you don't have a cell phone. And even if you pay with cash, there is absolutely no way you cannot be a data base on a server somewhere in this and most likely every country in the world.
Every times you swipe your card, use your bank,assuming you walk in with cash. But they keep a database with your name and sensitive information about you on their systems. Rest assured, they too are cyber attacked everyday but 99% of the attacks are quarantined and destroyed.
But no, you're not that special that your information isn't stored somewhere, and depending on how much money that data storage company wants to spend to secure your information, is directly related to how secure their systems will be. Because there is nothing to force them to spend the money to secure your information, but they want your business.
No, they've made sure through "campaign contributions" that congress shall pass no laws abridging their right to rip off consumers. And face no penalty for getting no express permission of the owners of the personal information, and negligently storing it, for their financial gain.
All three credit agencies should freeze everyone automatically. Let us decide by written consent if we choose to allow sharing, when, and to whom. We need the strongest, most independent Consumer Protection Bureau possible. If Congress cared about its constituents at all, all members would be demanding free credit freezes for everyone immediately . Why are we being left alone to negotiate our way through this carnage?
29
Barb Lindores my thought exactly. We should not have to request a freeze. Equifax should do it automatically -- none of this millions of people trying to reach them to make the request. And snail mail the pins w instructions for unlocking as needed!
2
Hello, where have you been since our sad POTUS was plopped on us by gerrymandering.
1
This raises so many questions that need serious study:
1) What public purpose do these credit reporting agencies really serve? Who are their customers? Who pays them?
2) What is their responsibility to the public? Are they meeting their responsibilities?
3) How is all this currently addressed by existing law?
It certainly looks like they feel no responsibility to the public, who are basically their product that they use to make profits. We need Congressional investigations of all of this and either new laws or better enforcement of existing ones. Of course, the current Congress is totally uninterested in pursuing this. Too focused on tax cuts and Obamacare repeal while the public is used as a profit center.
13
So glad to see the question about those of us who live currently outside the US, but who still have an SSN and US credit history to protect. I was dismayed to see I couldn't use the website to place a credit freeze, because there was no way to input non-US addresses or phone numbers. And I'm not rich enough to pay for one more more 45 minute (or more) international calls while I wait for someone to answer my questions. Will check back in a few days to see if you've gotten an answer. Thank you for all your great work collecting this info.
7
Yes, this explains why I've been on the internet with Equifax all morning and have gotten nowhere. And not even an apology. Just a suggestion to try again later. How much later? When?
By the way, TransUnion was also a problem, with a large number of demands. Then after setting it up I tried to log into my account and was directed to a place to buy one of their additional services. Couldn't get into my account at all!
5
I've had the same problem with TransUnion!
1
Let's see an enterprising state attorney general—I can't imagine that Sessions is up to the task—compile a case and go after the leadership for negligence.
Oh wait, we never prosecute financial industry executives these days.
They can crash the global economy, commit untold amounts of fraud with mortgages and hidden bank accounts, and be reckless with crucial information, but what? They're "too big to jail"?
Welcome the United States of wealth and justice inequality.
16
Today, neither Equifax.com nor TrustedID.com could be reached after multiple tries. Both websites not responding. I had checked last week to see if my personal information had been disclosed and was directed to register today on trustedID.com for their monitoring service. This is completely useless as you can not even get through to the site. This company is clearly incompetent and untrustworthy! Congress needs to do more to protect consumers from them.
5
You'll have to wait for the 2018 midterm election, and 2020 until we can officially throw Trump out in the most humiliating way.
1
Equifax, Transunion and Experian "answer to no one"...
LET'S CHANGE THAT. These parasitic industries must be regulated immediately.
19
Any way to get more information on what "143 million" means?
Is this 10% of Equifax's accounts (you can hardly call them clients)? 50%?
Is it al the people who have applied for credit (or /haven't/) in the past X years?
is it all people with an account that has been open for more than X years?
A specific segment of the risk pool?
I believe that the minute you interact with any online system that demands a password your security become smore hopeful than true. Still, I'd like to have a better sense of how likely it is that my information is out there.
3
So now that hackers have all your personal information including ss#, dob, place of birth, occupation, etc,
WHAT STOPS HACKERS FROM UNFREEZING YOUR ACCOUNT?
Credit agencies ask the same questions and ask for same info for unfreezing.
How are credit agencies going to protect us from that?
10
Seriously Ron? Neither Equifax nor the other agencies will do what you suggest voluntarily and a GOP Congress will never limit any power hold these agencies have over consumers.
3
It took me a whole day to get a security freeze in place for my husband and myself. The next day we tried to make a purchase which required a credit check. I was unable to unlock the freeze. I assume many other consumers may face the same problem and I wonder how this will affect the economy. This may be a very poor Christmas season.
3
i never gave equifax permission to sell, or even gather information on me.
so can i sue them for compiling it and selling it?
14
You can be sure that Congress gave its permission to all of these agencies.
3
No. Whenever you take out a loan, apply for a credit card or any type of line of credit including contracts such as a cellular phone contract, you gave them permission to use your personal info for the purpose of credit checks. The 4 credit bureaus have been gathering information and selling it since before computers were available.
4
who on earth would give a someone PERMISSION to sell their personal info? i'm going to look into the merits of a law suit on this. maybe a whole lot of people should do the same.
at least - we can end this.
Your article mentions freezing your credit report online and by phone, but does not mention the possibility of doing it by paper mail. When a family member attempted to freeze her credit report online at Experian, she got a message that she couldn’t do it online and directed her to do it via paper mail. The top line of the address she was given was “Security Credit Freeze.” I was aghast. Anyone seeing that envelope would know that valuable information is within. Surely Experian could find a more subtle way to pre-sort its mail—such has having a P.O. Box dedicated to security freeze requests. Do you recommend that people ask for a credit freeze via paper mail?
17
Dear Editor:
At the Equifax website this morning, after finally finding the freeze link through a welter of opportunities to purchase expensive “products,” I entered all my ID information only to be told, “We cannot process your online request . . . please submit in writing the required items outlined below”--the information I had just given them. I then called their automated line, provided the requested ID information again, and got the same result. Grr. At the Experian website, the security freeze page would not load, in spite of repeated attempts at different times. TransUnion was the only site that actually allowed me to buy an online security freeze for $5.
Beatrice Gormley
Westport, MA
4
I think it is another slap in the consumer face that I will now be expected to pay any of these credit agencies to protect my personal information which I never once agreed they could collect or disseminate.
This is almost as bad as the predatory check cashing businesses i.e., legal usury.
4
Thank you, Mr. Lieber for staying on this. I wrote my senators about the malignant nature of these credit bureaus. In other countries, their inattention to security of sensitive data would be criminal. Equifax is using a legacy software framework with a security flaw that was exploited immediately. They lied about the timeline its discovery, and some of their execs sold stock immediately. This is our data that is being bought and sold for profit without our control. I looked at their leadership team online, and had a moment where I stereotyped them in anger. None of those middle-aged white male millionaire executives will suffer any consequences. Only the American consumer will. Our only avenue to affect their profits and greedy practices is for all of us to freeze our credit reporting at all bureaus. Maybe then things will change.
6
Amen brother, no what's needed is a realignment of congress meaning the firing of them all. Your comment about the white males is so accurate, those are the same attributes that the poor uneducated white males that voted Trump in have. Short on sense, long on talk.
1
We are all crashing the credit reporting agencies websites with our desperate attempts to freeze our files to no avail. And the sad thing is that there are so many people who have been affected who don't even know about the breach, or if they do, what on earth to do about it!
Ron, another commenter said this issue is so much larger than the effort you can put forth to get Equifax to do the right thing. Agreed. It will take an army to enact change. Would you be willing to list the agencies we should contact, congressional leaders, whomever so that we can start a campaign? While I wait for someone at Equinox to answer the phone or for their website to stop crashing, I have all the time in the world to make phone calls and send emails. Plus, it will save me from my waking nightmares about identity theft and perhaps assuage some of my rage.
3
I love how the auto-correct changed Equifax to Equinox. If only this was an Equinox breach...
4
Anne, I don't think you understand just how large and powerful credit bureaus are. They are one of the biggest contributors of PAC and have spread their money all over Washington, D.C. since before there were computerized databases. The very members of Congress you want to so something about this in all likelihood receive money from these bureaus.
4
Yes they do, it in that regard Equifax isn't any different from any corporation in America. Where else can a corporation rape, and pillage, steal from consumers, and more. All with the blessing of our wonderful elected officials who don't care one whit about you, or me.
This is the problem compounding that problem is the approval of the Supreme Court, and their ruling that a corporation is a person. In Canada, judges aren't appointed by elected officials, they aren't voted in either, they cannot give money to any political party, they cannot participate in any political fundraising.
They are appointed by a 13 member committee made up of professionals within the law and layman. The same is true of the 5 member board that does the disciplining, they have the power to remove from the bench, suspend with or without pay, Just ask the judge who stupidly wore one of Trumps hats into the courtroom, then professed his bromance for Trump. One of the other judges asked him if "he had lost his mind".
Maybe that's what we should look to do in this country, we need to wrest it back from those elected officials we made the apparent mistake of entrusting the power that we give them to use it in OUR best interests, not the interests of a few or a minority who want change, but want to supplant the government with radicals. Who would surely do nothing.
The credit reporting companies are a greater of the banking and financial system. The three major credit companies are not primarily consumer oriented companies. Their customers are the banks and financial servicing industry. I never submitted info to any of these companies. Who gave them the right to my financial info? My only contact with them was to correct their info because some bank received incorrect info from a retail store. The financial industry has been remiss in expecting these credit reporting companies to have the same level of security that is prevalent and expected in their business. Since we, the retail consumers, have no recourse to the banks or credit card companies for this omission the government must step in as a third party to assure the safety of our personal data
4
The Consumer (and their Info) is not the Equifax Client; rather they are the Product that Equifax is selling to multiple Businesses so those entities can then sell You their products. Follow the $$!
Here is another example of needed regulations, while our corrupt Republicans and Trump are rolling them back as fast as they can. Especially if those regulations have Obama's name on them. When will these so called members of our governing bodies realize that this country cannot function without regulations. The truth is that they want their regulations and not Obama's. But the rest of us may not want Republican choices any more than they want ours.
9
So Equifax is the unlucky goat this time. The other credit reporting bureaus are subject to the same risk. The industry should do what it should have done all along to protect its customers (subjects?) - make credit freezes free forever. As it stands, they will collect millions or even billions of dollars in fees for such protection. That’s a nice credit score you have there, Missus Jones, I sure would hate to see something happen to it! It's called extortion.
5
Why are banks and credit card companies not showing outrage over this?
If fraudulent lines of credit are issued to crooks, the issuers will lose. They can try to collect from defrauded individuals. Try! But won't be able to. It affects companies as well as individuals...... I have yet to see any comments from corporate entities.
5
The identity fraud issue would disappear overnight and permanently if creditors and everyone else would stop using private information to authenticate individuals.
Knowing everything about the Queen of England doesn't make me one.
I tried the 866-349-5191 number mentioned to talk to a live agent...it is automated. Would love to find a number to actually speak to a live agent.
3
At a certain point, we should consider a corporate death penalty. Equifax seems unusually well qualified.
15
Just tried the credit freeze site (https://www.freeze.equifax.com/Freeze/jsp/SFF_PersonalIDInfo.jsp) - the forms loaded faster than yesterday afternoon but they're still "unable to service your request".
Ditto to all the outrage expressed here.
4
I hate to say this but all of it is the logical end-game when we (societal "we") allowed our sensitive personal information to be vacuumed up for free by certain industrial types who had the wherewithal to place themselves at the nexus of all our consumer and life activities. We did not ask them to do this (they just started doing it in de facto fashion). We did not hold them to account when they began this process (were you ever asked for permission in using your personal data to begin with?), and now that the horse is out of the barn there is no going back. Your personal information, information you cannot change or effect, is out there in the hands of folks not intent on your best interests. This is the nightmare situation writ large by the 'Net. And it's not going away.
So maybe it's time to alter the dynamic since the horse is now out there possibly setting up to trample you. To date your personal data has been available to the Equifax's and their business model for free. Perhaps it is time to start holding them to account by demanding that they pay us, the source of their business, each and every time our data is used? You're using my personal data to further your business? Fine, in true Capitalist form I'm sure you can appreciate my response; PAY ME! Consider it rent due. Think that might alter this mess a bit?
John~
American Net'Zen
6
Wanna bet they didn't preemptively contacted every member of congress to make sure congressman "x" didn't get their data used illegally?
2
Wouldn't that be a great investigation? Would love to see politicians squirm over that tidbit. Any good investigative reporters up for that??
1
Want to see some real change? Print out this other NY Times article and mail it to your senators and congressmen with the word "unacceptable" in big bold letters across the top. It will take you less than 5 minutes and might push real change. I'm doing it right now.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/15/business/equifax-data-breach-regulati...
3
I tried to freeze my account at 8:30 this morning. After I had entered all of my information, I clicked "submit" and got a message saying my request could not be processed at this time.
3
Here's my question: how might a credit freeze impact my estate after my death? Do I need to have a "pin" paper trail for my estate, assuming there is anything left by hackers?
Thank you for your reporting.
2
If I was mugged and my wallet stolen and the perp used my license and credit cards but was caught by the TSA trying to board a flight to Belarus (Huh?) because he looks like Brad Pitt and I look like George Clooney...the dude would do serious time in the pen. OK, Efax took my identity info without permission and because of flimsy security facilitated its transmission to folks far more evil than my sorry Brad Pitt doppelgänger perp. And you really think that any E Corp (Hello!...Where are you when we need you Elliot?) exec will do jail time? For this to happen we need another dreamer deal!
3
The website message states:
'System Currently Unavailable - Error 500
We're sorry. We cannot process your security freeze request online at this time. Please try back later.
To make a security freeze request with the other national consumer credit reporting agencies, please contact Experian and TransUnion:
Experian,P.O Box 9554, Allen, TX 75013 (888)379-3742
TransUnion,P.O Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834 (888)909-8872
Thank you for giving Equifax the opportunity to assist you."
Now what?
2
I was able to get my account frozen but had that same problem with the PIN not displaying where it was supposed to be. I saved that page to my desktop and was relieved to see the PIN show up when I opened it from there. However, my PIN is ridiculously transparent. I'll wait a while to ask for a new one. They need to hire and train more people. I'm not generally vindictive, but I'd like to see Equifax go out of business.
2
Thank you for your help on this. Yesterday I was not able to get through via web or phone, so this morning I tried the website again about 6 am on my iPad. My freeze was successfully instated BUT as you warned, I was unable to print the confirmation and therefore the PIN. So I wrote down the pin with the date of the freeze--on paper. If I hadn't been forewarned about the print problem, I might not have done so. So thanks.
BTW, Transunion was fast and efficient on the phone, and Experieon easy on the web. Both allow you to choose your own pin. Transunion mails confirmation if you use their phone system. Equifax was the only one that was difficult.
2
Does anyone know with certainty whether or not this sensitive personal data stored by Equifax was strongly encrypted?
1
Considering that Equifax's operations in Argentina were using a publicly accessible portal with the ridiculously negligent username admin/password admin, I'd say there's a pretty good chance their encryption and security in the USA wasn't top-notch either.
All three agencies should have an opt-out, rather then opt-in, freeze, and then send the associated PIN numbers and instruction in the mail - after all, they have our information and know how to get ahold of us
7
If you are mailing a request for a freeze to Transunion, the zip code on the address they posted online is not correct. It should end in 22. My local postal person put in extra time to discover this when I was arranging to send letters by Certified Mail. We shall see how this works out if it does.
No one has yet answered another burning question, one that only Congress can answer: Why are companies like Equifax permitted to take my information without my permission, store it on their servers without my permission, sell it to other companies without my permission, and then charge me to keep it safe (and suffer no penalty when they fail to do so)?
10
My spouse and I had put a credit freeze on our accounts at Equifax several years ago, when our data was stolen from Anthem BCBS. Now our data from Equifax still got stolen, and they also provided our information to a few companies that did inquiries that we did NOT request AFTER the freeze was on the accounts. A new system of data protection is needed in this country that's a lot more foolproof than our SS# combined with various other random data points. An iPhone does a better job protecting personal data.
4
I haven't gotten through at Equifax yet, but I did manage to start their fraud protection. I also was able to initiate a freeze with Experian and Transunion. At both sites, I could either assign my own PIN, or have the company randomly assign one to me. I chose my own and the process was simple to complete. Does Equifax not allow people to choose their own PINs? If not, why not?
Couldn't get through to any of the credit bureaus yesterday but got up early this morning and was able to put a freeze at each bureau today. Didn't have to wake up in the wee hours - 6:30 am worked fine.
Still don't understand why I couldn't do Experian's online - the security freeze page never got past 'loading'. But the automatic phone system worked fine.
I have spent countless hours getting freezes from all 3 credit bureaus. I have had Equifax monitoring my credit for years. They are still charging me for my monitoring service!!! $20/month. They are offering another product TrustID Premier free for one year, then...it will cost? I can't get a straight answer as to whether it is the same monitoring. Also, the credit file freezes cost me $5/each person/ each bureau. Shouldn't Equifax be paying these fees?
2
How do we know that Experian and TransUnion haven't also been hacked? If Equifax is any example, they wouldn't tell us.
If I want to sue Equifax, and I do, for my mental anguish, the effort required of me to try to prevent damage from any possible future attacks, and any real theft of my resources or identity: what is the deadline for filing?
How will Experian handle the inevitable first wave of customers who report fraudulent use of their information -- be it identity theft, empty bank accounts, etc?
1
My husband and I were able to (fairly) quickly put freezes on our information on the Experian and TransUnion websites, free of charge. Equifax on the other hand just showed an error message asking me to try later, no matter how many times I tried.
I never willingly gave them my SS number so in a way they hacked me or anyone who's SS number they had. Legal versus illegal hacking?
1
I am very pleased that NYT is getting involved. Less than a year ago, I received a notification from Trans Union that my account may have been compromised. I called them and they basically said nothing except that I may purchase their credit monitoring services. Not sure what to think, I declined. I felt that this was a marketing ploy on their end. For better or worse, I signed up with Life Lock. I am unclear what they do for me (sad to say) and they are very expensive.
Has anyone else been notified by Trans Union of a breach. I can't remember seeing anything about it.
Putting a freeze on Inovis and ChexSystems was very easy to do online, perhaps because fewer people know of them. I was also able to request credit reports from them.
Putting a freeze on Experian via the phone was easy - when I did it at 4 a.m. AnnualCreditReport.com was able to provide an Experian report.
Putting a freeze on Equifax by phone was easy, but AnnualCreditReport.com wasn't able to provide a report for them.
So far, TransUnion has been unable to comply by phone or online and AnnualCreditReport.com can't provide a report for them.
No company has charged me a fee.
2
Warning about the identification information Equifax asks you to provide over the phone: it can be obscure. Do you know your credit limits on your various cards? Or the dates you opened accounts? What about the exact balances you're currently carrying (which is different from the amount shown on you most recent bill)? I didn't. My interlocutor moved on to questions about my past addresses. When you've lived in the same place for 30 years, those can be hard to come up with too.
1
It seems that whenever there is a security breach and data related to individuals are lost it becomes a problem, not for the companies that held the data, but for those individuals impacted by the breach. Why is it companies like Equifax are not held responsible for this data and any consequences resulting from the loss of this data? And yes, it is the 15th of September and I'm still unable to put a freeze on my credit reporting with Equifax and continue to receive the message "We are currently unable to service your request. Please try again later."
3
Mr. Lieber - your reporting on this issue has been stellar. Thank you! Of course, I've long been a fan but your doggedness on this one is above-and-beyond. You brilliantly showed the arrogance of Equifax with this:
I reached out to Mr. Adams at Equifax to ask whether he would be resigning in the wake of the lackluster response to victims’ outrage. He responded by email, using an exclamation point for emphasis: “No, but for the record I am considering dropping my NYT subscription and picking up the Wash Post!”
5
Don't you think Equifax should have live representatives available for LONGER HOURS than 9 amto 5 pm daily???
3
Why should we trust entering important information all over again? It seems the more times you enter things like your social security number, whether over the phone or on line, the more vulnerable it is.
How come the credit card companys, banks and other businesses that accept false identities in transactions aren't doing a better job of checking the validity of identities?
It seems the more this happens the less likely you are to be protected.
I do not admire the character of those executives who sold their Equifax stock knowing the ship was going down. Isn't that insider trading?
1
I appreciate the fact that Ron Lieber is also asking questions on behalf of people who don't have a U.S. address. But how far back should expats be concerned? Are you safe if you've live ten years overseas? 20 years? Should we still be concerned since most of us had some kind of U.S. credit history back in our past?
17
If you use credit or have applied for a loan you likely have a credit report. I suggest you go on the equifax.com website, enter your info and find out. If you have a profile on Equifax you likely have one on the other two credit reporting companies too.
It is high time for congress to enact strict privacy laws.
14
This is not going to happen unless you write to your congressmen and Senators and demand it. I've already sent letters to each of mine. I encourage you to do the same.
1
Conspiracy, fraud, and anti-monopoly prosecutions against the three companies would be very appropriate.
A R.I.C.O. prosecution would be very satisfying.
A couple commenters ask how to hurt these corporations financially. Pay cash and make your credit history irrelevant. And remember, when you use the internet, you are mostly a marketable commodity, nothing more.
16
What Equidax did was reprehensible. But credit reporting agency's make it easy and efficient for you to obtain credit.
Thank NYT for staying on top of this! I'll keep watching for a reply on what to do for those of us who live overseas.
4
There really needs to be a way to force these companies to purge your data completely. They're reckless, feckless, amoral greed-weasels.
11
What a nightmare.
15
In the past two days, Experian was the worst offender when it came to blocking my ability to initiate a credit freeze. All of the other credit reporting companies at least made an effort to provide customer service and apologize or explain their capacity issues. Experian seems to be the only company still charging for what amounts to a freeze (for my state). Thanks, Experian, for temporarily unseating the Trump Organization as the most callous corporation in America.
15
There has to be a better way with this. CFPB please help with the larger issues here.
OK Equifax. Prepare for the biggest class action ever for being such trustworthy guarantors of our mortgage/credit info.
10
Why do you have to go to a special web site to freeze your credit report? I got through to Transunion and Equifax and froze my credit. But Experian won't let you freeze your account on line. What's their problem?
6
I am asking this question calmly and in complete seriousness.
How do we as citizens hurt Equifax financially ? seriously.
Yes, I am in a inner rage over being fodder for Wall Street, corporate America and my government doing absolutely nothing to protect me. Rome is burning and the best thing I can do now is buy a gas can. Enough is enough.
27
By freezing your credit. That way all the data they have on you is useless to them. They can't make money off it.
Our society is fueled by credit. While what aqua fax did was absolutely inexcusable, and general credit reporting companies make it easy and efficient for you to obtain credit.
Where is the do-nothing Congress and President? They repeal regulations on dishonest companies and then pretend everything is OK. Why are these companies allowed to collect, store, and use my private information without my consent and any oversight? Drain the Republican-Trump swamp!
25
WI'll the NYT please post the names of law firms filing class actions against Equifax? I want to make sure I am included.
31
This is so obviously a company accustomed to operating without scrutiny, printing money with our personal information (which we never granted them rights to use). Now they're asking us for patience as we watch the stain of their incompetence spread. Hopefully this whole arena of credit data management will take a leap forward as a result.
13
I think what enrages me is that I did not choose to do business with this company. It's not like I shopped at a store and later my info was hacked--I have never wanted these companies tracking me or chosen to ever give them my info. Maybe some good will come out of this--no data should ever be released without the consumer's permission.
122
Actually I think we all 'release' that info in signing up for credit cards. Check the fine print.
1
They probably have your permission already. You have no idea what people can hide in a densely worded terms and conditions agreement. When was the last time you read one of those?
So our solution is to fork over $30, well $20 since now Equifax isn't charging to freeze. Nice business. 143,000,000 x $20. Why should consumers be on the hook for this? Automatically freeze everyone. Period. If you want to make something off it, charge for the unfreeze.
21
NO Charge the company asking for the credit info to give credit./ One always PAYS for a credit report when you seek credit
1
None of this will change until Americans demand the same rights to our data that people in Canada, Europe and Australia get.
When I lived in Canada, every company I dealt with could ONLY use the information I gave them for the purpose I gave it to them for. They couldn't sell it or share it or do anything else with it unless I gave them written permission.
There are lots of companies in this country that make more off our data than they do the goods or services they sell us. Time to put a stop to it. Write your Congressman.
45
This is a job for the Financial Product Safety Commission, to lead to Congressional action to actually protect our data privacy. 143 million Americans have obviously been harmed by Equifax's existence and carelessness, and beyond damages we deserve a permanent fix. Free permanent credit freezes and secure and free unfreeze processes should be an automatic right in America to allow these data sellers to sell services to their customers.
16
I agree. But don't hold your breath. You-Know-Who has his minions in there wrecking everything that Obama --- err, I mean everything that might be inconvenient for a business to face. I suspect their official statement, if such is ever issued, will amount to, "Oopsie. Accidents happen. "
I don't want an auto-freeze on my report, especially with the PIN problem many are reporting! The PIN is needed to unfreeze the report. With freezes being problematic, Fraud Alerts are another option in the meantime. They are free and can be completed at one of the other two agencies to cover all three.
2
I just laboriously entered all of my information on the Equiax website to obtain a freeze and got a message back that I needed to try again later. Inexcusable!
The whole for-profit credit system is not working well for many Americans. These 3 corporations control the ability of Americans to obtain credit and the interest they pay. SInce the 80's our debt driven "supply side" economy has made them more powerful than ever. Most credit reports have errors and the scores determine the mortgage interest rate home buyers pay and whether they qualify or not. At this point there should be a non-profit alternative much like the new The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Credit is too important for too many Americans to be left up to for-profit corporations. There needs to be more focus on accuracy and helping Americans in a debt driven economy.
16
Hey, Mr. Lieber, here's how this is gonna be solved: find out how many members of Congress and state governors had THEIR data compromised. I GUARANTEE you, when they know their identities are on the line, we'll ALL get protection.
17
Right now, right this minute: Freeze everybody's credit. Don't grant credit to anybody unless the person is personally contacted.
No PINs, no phone calls, no non-functioning websites. Just do it nationally.
Maybe the President, the minority and majority leaders of Senate and House, and the Secretary of the Treasury, should all announce simultaneously that the credit companies had better do this voluntarily - or legislation will do it for them.
35
Finally, after days of trying, I was able to place a freeze with TransUnion; Experian is still not accepting freezes online or via telephone, and Equifax has proven impossible to reach. Why don't they just freeze everyone's file for the time being?
20
I have been trying for the past 2 days to get my credit report freeze without
success on the Equifax website. No problems with getting a credit freeze with TtansUnion and Experian.
2
Wouldn't it be simpler just to legally compel a freeze from these firms automatically on all 143 million names? Then, those who need credit can unfreeze it if need be? That way, instead of the current chaos of 143 million people scrambling to secure their names, only the relatively few who actually need to apply for credit in the near future could unfreeze themselves.
35
I think that your solution makes a great deal of sense. I will predict, however, that those who are trying to obtain credit will be very unhappy with the extra step they will need to go through.
Signed up at 11am this morning as they claimed that I was at risk. have yet to receive an email from them confirming same. I did get a warning that they had high volumes- but 9 hours later- nothing?
8
I signed up as well. I suspect they told everyone of their customers that they were at risk just to be on the safe side. However I don't think that this sign-up is the same as asking for a credit freeze, which prevents anyone from adding to or changing your credit report.
Equifax should automatically freeze ALL compromised accounts and mail out PINs, reserving their phones and Website for those who want/need to UN-freeze their accounts. Equifax should share the list of affected accounts with Experian and TransUnion so that they can do the same.
23
Has anyone else tried to register for the "protection" that is offered and then received twenty e-mails saying that we had signed up? Further, did the e-mails have a phone number that if you called it sent you to another number to which you were supposed to orally over the phone give personal information. This sounded a little too much like the hackers had also hacked the alleged solution, so I didn't follow up on anything it was suggested I do.
I spent a few hours trying to call and write people yesterday to see what this was and ended up knowing the same nothing as before. Meantime, someone could be happily using my information to buy himself/herself a new mansion somewhere. This was hacked more than a few days ago, plenty of time to make a clean get away and to start using the information - my information.
I am really angry that the system now allows the alleged protectors to throw the real work and cost in time and money of protecting private income and identity back on the individuals who have been possibly robbed.
But, at least we know now that we need to spend plenty of hours and dollars trying to protect ourselves. When further deregulation occurs, everything will already be in someone else's pocket by the time we know anyone has even tried to stick a hand in our things.
9
My husband and I put freezes on all 4 credit agencies and were only charged for the one I did with Equifax early in this incident. Did they all suddenly decide not to charge people?
5
The following may have been said 100 times before but Equifax should be immediately shut down. Its assets, to the extent it has any other than the information it allowed to be stolen, should be liquidated, and the proceeds paid pro rata to everyone whose information they track. The culprits should be tracked down by any means necessary and jailed for life, for potentially ruining other people's lives with abusing their credit information. After all, one's credit status is very important in our society (ie. getting a mortgage, car loan, student loan, sometimes job application, phone and other utility service, renting an apartment and so on).
18
The point you forgot to include -- put the management in prison and throw away the code/ keys.
1
Equis fax his assets are the personal data of people who have sought credit. I don't think you want those assets sold! The other assets they have are computer hardware and networks.
I commented earlier, but I want people to understand that this breach affected me this summer, and as soon as that happened, criminals around the country created super professional fake ids with every bit of my personal information. They opened credit and charged on my existing credit all over the country. It's unbelievable what happened, and I have to fight it every day, and still have to work and take care of my family. I never touched Equifax after it was discovered. I wouldn't call them, I won't email them, I will not touch Equifax on the internet - nothing. Stay away. Equifax should be put out of business. Equifax should go the way of Enron. Equifax didn't do the only job it had to do. It leaks, and it can't prevent or help with fraud after the fact. Why would it be trusted to freeze or fix anything?
38
The correct way that credit information should had been handled by ALL 4 bureaus is to default to a frozen state until the individual ask for it to be unfrozen before they apply for credit and limit the credit check to only that one check. The information should NEVER have been open to anyone to view at all time. Furthermore, the proper and smart way for Equifax to handle this crisis was to freeze all 143 million records when they realize the security breach occurred and leave it to those affect to contact Equifax to unfreeze their record (if ever) at a future date. Instead we now have 143 million people trying to freeze their records which is over taxing Equifax's website and personnel. I suspect the reason Equifax did what they did was because some jerk in the company thought they could make money from charging 143 million people $10 each to the tune of $1.43 billion for the company.
21
1.43 billion PER MONTH FOREVER
We need some whistleblowers to come forward to let us know what's really going on here.
I bet the servers that provide credit reports to the financial industry are operating just fine.
12
Maybe I have missed this:
Where is Senator Warren now? She was plenty outraged regarding Well's Fargo. This affects a lot more people.
And it will affect the US economy once people who have frozen their accounts start getting their purchases denied and big purchases (like cars and homes) are put in jeopardy by this. Equifax should step up and so should the US Congress.
4
If we ALL freeze our credit at all three companies, we give the entire industry a monster migraine. This could cause bankruptcy or could possibly force the industry to evolve a secure, consistent, factual, consumer friendly business model. Everyone knows there are endless mistakes in our credit records, that it is nearly impossible to get the errors corrected and that none of them agree on a scoring methodology.
Equifax should pay for our credit freeze/unfreeze transactions in perpetuity at all 3 companies. Hacked data goes to the dark web where it lays dormant, possibly for years, until we have all forgotten what happened. Then the phishing emails, fraudulent web sites and phone calls commence. Free or not, one year of identity protection is a joke.
13
I want to congratulate Ron Lieber, the author of this piece. I think he has produced a tremendous piece of writing. Sir, you hit the "just right" tone by balancing outrage with useful information. You have helped me both practically and emotionally. Thanks. Keep asking those questions.
13
This has been described as "criminal" and "irresponsible" but I've yet to hear anyone refer to it as treasonous which is what I think it is. Isn't Equifax part of an unholy trinity that has usurped our social security numbers and has betrayed us all in the name of American democracy and its economic policies?
7
Equifax should freeze everyones accounts now. Then the small number of people who want their accounts open could get through. We have millions in a log jam for no good reason other than the arrogance and incompetence of failed leadership.
Additionally credit reporting agencies should be required to straighten out peoples issues occurring through no fault of their own. The agencies have had it their way for way to long.
7
I guess this is a really good time to be. incredibly overextended and for my credit to be in the dumper, huh. One of the few advantages of being poor. Reminds me of how a few years ago thieves used a skimmer to get my debit card number, and apparently were dumb enough to try withdrawing $500 three times before checking my balance, which was about $7.50 at the time. Fortunate that Chase did not allow overdrafts on ATM withdrawals.
4
The best way to report on these credit reporting agencies is not to ask general questions. Look at what's happening here, 'We've changed that policy,' 'it's your web browser,' 'we're working on it' , 'some people may'... They can, and will, keep this nonsense going forever. Find some people like me who've for years, tried to straighten out clearly bogus and contradictory information these agencies have put on their files that they refuse to do anything about. How does one prove they never did business across the country with a company they've never heard of, using a credit card they've never had..... $1 fee? I once paid Experian a $1 one time fee. (When you try to get your annual 'free credit report' they put up so many diversions and delays that when the option to pay $1 is offered a person shrugs and pays it.) This turned into a hidden automatic monthly $21 to 'protect my credit.' $252 a year? Really? I guess I was using the 'wrong browser' or 'acrobat wasn't up to date,' because I could find no way though them to stop this extortion scam. I had to get my bank to stop the scam. These companies are incompetent scams, they've always been incompetent scams and I see nothing to indicate they have any intention of improving. The other thing that is hidden in all the online hoops is getting people to 'agree' to densely worded nonsense that disguises giving up the option to sue them.
8
Credit reports should be frozen by DEFAULT and ONLY accessible with our consent given or withheld case by case! It's high time we put a stop to this criminal practice!
7
I managed to get security freezes from Equifax and TransUnion, but the Experian website seems to have crashed. I have even been unable to get my Experian credit report. What a circus!
4
Thank you for your diligence and hard work, Ron. Thank you.
7
When the Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, they infuriated 133 million Americans.
Equifax has infuriated 143 million Americans.
3
I just this moment attempted to freeze my credit with the link given in this article and was given an error message that said my request could not be completed to try back later. That's just great. 9/14/17 6:42 pm PST
1
I think the situation is so serious that all three agencies should freeze all credit reporting by default for at least 30 days, and offer an easy, reliable system to unfreeze on demand. 99% of us don't need our credit accessed on any given day, so why not commit to an abundance of caution until safer, more secure systems are put in place?
11
If the Equifax breach is indeed real and not just fake news to try to get people to sign up for their monitoring service (I've seen that scam before on a small scale), then it seems to me that the problem should be addressed by an immediate, across-the-board freeze of everyone's credit on the part of Equifax. They should also work with all of the other similar companies to freeze credit, allowing it to be temporarily reinstated by an individual, as needed, at no cost. Any expenses involved in this mass-freeze process should be borne by Equifax. If this debacle drives Equifax or all of these companies out of business, so be it. Maybe a whole new system is needed.
3
Let's assume we eventually get freezes on our accounts. I am afraid this may not be the end of the story. A friend had to freeze her account three years ago and did so without any problems. She triple-verified the pin with the phone rep, wrote it down and put in her home safe. Ten months later she needed to unfreeze the account temporarily but the pin would not work. She called Equifax only to be told she would now need to submit her request for an unfreeze to them via certified mail. It took over 10 days to resolve which was a major inconvenience.
2
Just tried the freeze process. It failed at the third step. Told me to try again later.
Crucial point: "These companies don’t think of us as customers. They think of us as products."
The customers of credit reporting companies are lenders who use the information about us to make decisions.
The idea that consumers could have access to their own credit report is a relatively recent one.
6
Equifax knows which accounts were compromised. Why doesn't Equifax auto-freeze all accounts that were hacked for x months? From their perspective it reduce calls, reduces website traffic, calms angry voices their customer service folks are surely enduring. Any interest in positive PR would suggest doing the right thing might turn this around and save the company from what many hope will be its downfall.
128
If companies had this sort of common sense we would not have an asinine problem like this one. They know which accounts have been compromised, they can freeze them. Nope, they want to profit from even this massive failing on their part. Their charter or whatever it is that allows them to operate should be frozen and their executives should give up their salaries and bonuses for 5-10 years, starting retroactively.
I think the answer is, they don't know which accounts were stolen.
What if they actually do not know? They have been so incompetent I would not be surprised. And what outsourced security expert did they hire? People report getting through on the phone only to be talking to an agent in the Philippines. Part of my information got out a few years ago through an outsourcer in the U.S. Other countries laws won't help us in India or China or wherever.
Tonight, I could not get through to Experian or Equifax, but TransUnion's call center did work. After a wait, I was able to implement a freeze. While on hold, I signed up for Life Lock as a backup. After I reported identity theft when someone fraudulently tried to open accounts in my name last year, the local police recommended it. I did not get it then. I hope it's not too little too late.
In regard to the Equifax online freeze site, I was one of those who posted a comment about the blank PIN screen. I discovered later that the PIN was in a PDF that had been saved on my phone. So I have the PIN, but no thanks to Equifax for the way they delivered it.
The situation is absolutely inexcusable! A company that controls so much personal information about U.S. citizens should be rabid about security and, considering their profits, should have the best money can buy. The fact they didn't adhere to basic security procedures is mind-boggling. Even my grandmother knows to download security patches immediately! I'm sick to death of being at the mercy of incompetent businesses controlling everything from my money to my credit ...and that the consumer is one to pay the price for their inefficient, mismanaged, fraudulent practices. The fantasy that business will regulate itself is just that ...a fantasy!
185
Torches and pitch forks. Tar and feathers. Are we so she'll shocked that we can no longer mount a resistance?
You are not understanding the scope of the problem The credit bureaus are multi-national companies. They have credit information on people from more than 6 countries.
I have called this number:Equifax equifax.com
800-349-9960
Automative service after trying twice I thought I had succeeded, but I got a pin # that supposed to have 10 digits mine had 11 I kept asking fot the information to be repeated but the same 11 digit came up with a confirmation number.
Where to check if this in fact is legitimate.
2
Call 1-866-349-5191. State agent when prompted. The agent will ask for your confirmation number. They should be able to verify the digits, or send you another in the mail.
1
Equifax's website claims my info wasn't part of the breached names... but can I trust them? Regardless, all three agencies now are frozen. I have enough credit already, and if they can't sell access to my account, and make money off my data, oh boo-hoo, I just feel so badly for them. Fines, immediate remediation of security vulnerabilities, serious prison time for executives, and lifetime free services (e.g. freezes, unfreezes, monitoring) on all major agencies, for all affected individuals (since their credit is at risk for the foreseeable future) seems like an equitable settlement of Equifax's liability, to me.
11
“Our technology team is evaluating this issue. We will communicate with you as soon as a process has been defined,” Mr. Jefferies said.
Lemme guess: um, senior executives of Equifax (including the technology team) are not among the 143 million of us schnooks whose personal data has potentially been exposed by this breach. Gives new meaning to "honored more often in the breach than the observance." And now we're supposed to trust the fox guarding the hen house to, um, guard the hen house.
7
Surprisingly, I had no problems getting a freeze on both Transunion and Experian. Easy and fast. But Equifax will not accept my request even after I put in all info. Grrrr. Now I'm beginning to think they were fake sites.
5
The CEO doesn't care about the Equifax being sued--it's not his money.
Ah, but the stock price is down by 30%. Now, that hurts!
2
You forgot the executives sold off their shares before they announced the security break-in. The executive of Equifax, short of a federal fine, are not going to lose any money.
1
That of course is the very definition of insider trading. It will be interesting to see if anyone is actually prosecuted for it. Unfortunately, I think I know the answer.
1
So far, I've managed to freeze Equifax on-line for free, and set up a credit lock, also for free at Trans Union. Experian remains a stumbling block.
I hate them all, and it's way past time for legislation to regulate these companies on the behalf of their products, aka us.
The big question for now and the future is why don't we own our own data? Why does our personal information belong to a corporation that never asked us for it?
25
It's part of the price we all pay to have a national credit market. If you don't want to be part of the data base, cancel your credit cards, pay off all of your loans and pay cash for everything. Even if you cancel a credit card, the old information remains on the data base of the credit report companies for 10 years or so I've been told.
Credit report freezes have been available at a low cost for years, over 12 years in California. Too bad so many Americans chose not to take advantage of these freezes.
Again, not that anyone is listening to me, but other countries have already solved this problem. Instead of just Googling people you meet on match.com, try googling to see how Sweden does it. No one can trash your credit because the government is the credit reporting agency, and the only way to get negative info added to your credit report is through the courts.
11
Equifax Customer Service told me that an extended fraud alert simply creates a red flag in my TrustedID account, and does not prevent someone from opening a new line of credit in my name. However, looking on the FTC's website [https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0497-credit-freeze-faqs#difference], they say something different: "A fraud alert allows creditors to get a copy of your credit report as long as they take steps to verify your identity. For example, if you provide a telephone number, the business must call you to verify whether you are the person making the credit request."
If someone provides a new phone number (nothing hackers might already have, and say create a new Google Voice number just for this purpose), could an extended fraud alert be a viable long-term protection?
There seem to be many advantages to this option: 1) it's free; 2) it lasts for 7 years; 3) the extended fraud alert happens across all 3 credit bureaus automatically and doesn't involve the labor of unfreezing and refreezing across 3 bureaus each time you apply for a new lease or a new job and need a check.
I'm concerned about the advantage Equifax gains by coaching the millions of affected people to freeze their accounts when their freeze/unfreeze fees will go back into effect after November. They are clearly not a disinterested party. Any websites to check to find out more about fraud alerts would be much appreciated!
I've said it before, but I'll keep saying it.
We all need brand new social security numbers.
I want a new SS# for me and all my fellow citizens that will only be used by my payroll company and the US treasury to track my social security payments.
If we want some other national ID number to use in other ways we can have that conversation as a country.
If I need a loan I am quite happy to gather up the last 2-4 years of all my glorious on time payments to utilities, other lenders, etc so that a lender can decide how credit worth I am for my next loan.
That is really easy and that is the way it used to be.
15
NATIONALIZE credit reporting because time and again, and in every case, private enterprises have shown themselves to be profiteers and incompetents. YOUR PERSONAL DATA is not mere raw material for some private company to monetize.
14
Did or will Equifax notify the people whose drivers license and credit card information was stolen? Equifax customer service said they did not know.
[See Equifax General FAQs "What Information May Have Been Impacted?" https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/frequently-asked-questions/ ]
1
I think they should change their name to Equilax. Has anyone ever tried to reach these bums, much less understand the assortment of cockamamie outsourced accents once you do? They have the "apology" thing down to a science, but that is all. To think people actually entrust their personal information with them blows my mind. Please name those who are accountable? And when they will be summarily shot at sunrise?
6
A couple of days ago, the Los Angeles Times presented some detailed reporting on the politics behind Equifax's infuriating unaccountability. It won't make you happy... but it *will* make you vote.
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-equifax-arbitratio...
1
If you live outside the States, think of using a family member's address.
Equifax is now charging a $1.00 fee to let you know if you are among the persons whose data was stolen. Tried this afternoon. Unbelievable.
59
They are not charging a fee as of 9:35 pm EDT nor were they 2 days ago when I first went there. I would guess that you were at a bogus site.
1
I just checked equifax directly. There is no charge. You may have ended up at a malicious url trying to take your money and/or personal information.
1
!! if that's true, the world would be a better place without them.
Despite raising my BP, getting immensely ticked off, digging in & taking defensive actions -- freezes* -- it all feels pretty pointless.
I mean, this is 3 months+ after hack.
I expect enormous damage already done, or laying in the weeds ... what happens when one finds out their home has a mysterious 2nd or 3rd mortgage on it?
The whole tax filing nightmare, just months ahead.
Health insurance fraud ... with open enrollment periods just around the corner.
Banks and investment agencies ... what is their relationship to these credit behemoths? Is all THAT at risk for all Americans?
And I don't know about 'freecreditreport.com'. One certainly has to give them a LOT of info online. Does now really seem a good time for that on top of all else? Especially with this barely functioning administration?
Also still unclear, and god knows, there's no one to speak to about this at any agency ... can you have a freeze plus a fraud alert(s)?
Very unsettling!!
~jazz one spouse
4
Do not use freecreditreport.com !!
Use annualcreditreport.com
1
Thank you, Daphne. Thank you very much for replying.
I haven't been to that -- or any site -- like it. The whole idea spooks me out, actually. But 'they' you should go and see what's going on with things, so I know soon, I have to take that plunge also.
I would have gone back to FTC site, just to see what is the right one ... they seem to have things fairly clearly spelled out ... but in all this confusion, this shows again how easy it is to 'get it wrong,' and really, why is this all on the victim to clean up Equifax's mess?
Just disturbing.
But again, thank you so much for reaching out and correcting my hastily -- and erroneously --typed label/site name. I only hope I didn't trip anyone else up.
Here's what I got after filling in all the information that Equifax requires to place a credit freeze:
System Currently Unavailable - Error 500
We're sorry. We cannot process your security freeze request online at this time. Please try back later.
To make a security freeze request with the other national consumer credit reporting agencies, please contact Experian and TransUnion:
Experian,P.O Box 9554, Allen, TX 75013 (888)379-3742
TransUnion,P.O Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834 (888)909-8872
Thank you for giving Equifax the opportunity to assist you.
same here!
Pay cash!
1
It's way more complicated than that. Once all of your information is stolen, criminals create entire identities based on your personal information that then seep into worlds far beyond credit cards.
1
Website still not working......
I understand that may hurt some Equifax profits but the right thing for the company to do now is to freeze ALL credit records. Then people who want it unfreeze will be required to contact the company. This is by far a more secure procedure, and it will motivate Equifax to get its communication up and running a lot more efficiently.
13
Mr. Lieber, since you have become our spokesman, I'll reiterate an earlier comment: the default mode should be our credit files are frozen. They should have to get our permission to release information to anyone other than the police or FBI.
18
When these companies cause people to have problems with their credit, why aren't there penalties/fines. Where is the government. Why aren't there regulations.
Why is personal data a commodity that can be sold, without the person's permission. Without compensation to the person.
4
You should be calling your Republican senators and representatives and demanding an answer in writing about what they are immediately going to do about it. A Senate hearing with the CEO will garner no reaction from the Senate. And note, not one word from Mr. Big Mouth Tweeter about this. Not one word. Do you wonder why????????????
1
A question which needs to be asked and answered. Why was this very wealthy company which was aggregating very sensitive information using open source software? I doubt if most major corporations would use software they found on the web as a portal. I would just guess that they buy proprietary software with active support. The negligence is shocking.
8
For the record, from here in NM I was able to get credit freezes and PINs (for my wife and me) through the Equifax website very quickly, within a few minutes. That was on 09/09/17. When we found out that the PINs were merely time/date stamps, we changed our PINs on 09/11/17. Again, we could do that relatively quickly: by first removing the freeze on the credit file and then immediately establishing a new freeze. Following this procedure produced a new PIN that appears to have been randomly generated.
The entire process has been an eye opener. It seems like the big three, Eqifax, Experian and TransUnion all seem to be working hard to push those 19.99 a month services over a simple credit freeze. Don't forget to freeze through Innovis as well.
4
By collecting and storing everyone's personal data into a single database with lax security, the consumer credit reporting industry actually makes it easier for criminals, a single point of failure.
Maybe if consumers were able to for example, examine and understand openSSL source code, or follow CVE's, et al, it is enough to scare anyone to avoid using the internet for anything beyond reading wiki or nytimes articles.
Can somebody tell me why we need the credit reporting industry collecting and storing way more data than is absolutely necessary?
3
Here is an answer you may get from a large corporation when you ask them WHY? ... the answer is 'You wanna know why? I'll tell you why. Cuz, that's why!!
Demand an answer to this question from your Republican Congressional representatives who want less government interfering with business.
1
If one was able to copyright their life then one could seek legal recourse for having their private data used without their permission (because that data is unique to you and an argument could be made that you created a unique work in living your life). In this manner you could license use of your data and, perhaps, keep control of where your data goes and whether licensees can keep your data in storage.
5
Thanks for your efforts to make things better. Setting up a freeze with Equifax was a breeze even in the middle of the day. Just had to wait a bit for the .pdf file with the PIN to download. It was confusing that they mentioned about a button to push for download when there was none, and the phone downloaded the file automatically.
I was able to do a credit freeze on the Equifax site in under 5 minutes. The process went very smoothly, faster than signing up for the fraud protection. Now I need to do it for the other two, and I agree that Equifax should pay for this. Any information stolen from them can be used with the other agencies.
And what about the fourth agency, Innovis? Is it necessary to freeze them?
We did. It was easy and free.
1
It is outrageous that we have to pay for something that makes us vulnerable, specifically because the credit agencies provided/approved/confirmed our credit information.
My state (Washington) allows for a $10 fee for each freeze and unfreeze (during normal times). If we are the victims of Identity theft, the credit agencies are always somewhere in the equation, and they are always making money off of it.
Its OUR credit report and information, WE should be able to control who gets it. Credit requests should ALWAYS be approved by the consumer.
Write your congress-person now, the momentum is building.
6
This is why Bitcoin looks so much more appealing. Sure there's money laundering but there seems to be more security. Even if China is cracking down on it. And no one is profiting on your data as far as I know.
after getting nowhere the first few days, i'm supposedly getting an email from equifax 'within a few day's for their 'trusted ID premier' package. we'll see if it shows up. i'm not having any luck with experian, though, applying for a fraud alert. apparently i need a credit report so i can have a report number(why?) for the fraud alert. but after multiple attempts at filling out their questionnaire failed, i thought i'd finally gotten the credit report processed, but suddenly i had a screen telling me i couldnt get a credit report online after all. then on top of that was a window with a spinning wheel saying that my credit report was coming any minute. it spun for an hour and i gave up and closed the window. back to square one. i havent even tried tackling transunion yet...
Joan,
It took two tries, but I was able to set up a fraud alert through Experian without a credit report. The problem is the stupid design of the web page. There are two options for applying, with a credit report number or without one but that is not obvious at first glance. The 'with credit report number' option is shown first, but scroll down about half a page and there is a place for applying without a report number. Bad, bad, counterintuitive design that was probably tested only by the designers of the page, not by actual potential users of such a page. Stupid, arrogant, clueless.
1
I've never once given Equifax, TransUnion, or Experian permission to store my private, personal data. Why must I ask and pay them to keep it private?
7
It took me several tries on the Equifax site, but finally was able to submit the freeze successfully. The Experian freeze was very fast , almost too fast, we'll see, and no charge. Also no charge on theTransUnion and Innovis sites.
The public is NOT Equifax's customers. We don't buy anything from Equifax. The public is the victim. Our data is supplied to Equifax by others, mainly banks. The public gets nothing in return. (Don't mention the data disclosure fine print that no one reads. Only lawyers accept that as true disclosure and knowing consent.)
The public should hold the suppliers of our data accountable. The banks gave it away (sold it?) Why did the banks betray us, their (banks') customers? How do we hold the banks accountable?
8
Somebody needs to do something! about Equifax! Is there a class-action lawsuit yet? I was told on Monday that my information was compromised, but each time that I log on to Equifax to freeze my credit, it cannot be processed. I called their "upgraded" call center tonight and was directed by the operator to use the website. When I asked why she could not process a freeze, she said that they are only a call center and they have no authorization to implement a freeze. When I asked what the use is of a call center that directs you to a website that does not work, she just said, "Sorry." Can you believe that they hired people to answer the phone to direct customers to their website?
Equifax is probably going to go under, but not before selling our data.
5
Timing may be the answer. I had no trouble freezing my credit with all three bureaus, online, this past Sunday between four and five in the afternoon. Perhaps there was a lull in requests at this time because most of the country was watching TV. Those not watching the Weather Channel were watching some lousy NFL game.
1
If the other three credit reporting agencies are not going to let people freeze their reports for free, why shouldn’t Equifax pay for those freezes, too? Who gave these companies the right to collect all that information without permission in the first place, not mention charging for access to it? They should all be sued.
4
The websites at Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax do not give clear instructions on how to accomplish a credit freeze via USPS. In the case of TransUnion, its site even seems to be pointing users to its paid credit-monitoring service. I ask Mr. Lieber to add this to his list of unanswered questions: Is there a clear step-by-step guide for requesting a credit freeze by mail?
2
I've been trying for days to get through. There is no response from the website so I don't know if the request for freeze I put in has been activated; assuming not because I haven't gotten confirmation. Now it's impossible to get through on the phone. If anyone can get through, I'd like to know how.
I froze my credit reports almost two years ago at all three credit bureaus. I did not know that freezing my credit reports would make it harder for these parasites to make money off my personal information. Now that more people will be freezing their reports I’m sure the companies will come up with some other way to turn a profit off my information. Along with doing away with social security numbers as identifiers, I think it is time to redefine what constitutes privacy and the consequences for those who violate it.
36
"...the consequences for those who violate it."
Or those who mishandle, or handle it recklessly.
1
It pays to have some pull. Thanks for your efforts. I have burned hours of battery time trying to get through to Experian. Let's not forget they had a massive breach in 2015, too. Their customer helpline (ha!) has been an instant disconnect since the Equifax breach. Their website will not offer me a freeze (or a credit report) and states I need to send them even more identifying information via snail mail! Why would I trust them enough to provide them with a copy of my driver's license! Freezes should be instant. Who the heck wants to wait another couple of weeks while they fumble around with paperwork, meanwhile some cyber-crook is booking their vacation on my dime?
32
In my experience Experian has been even worse than Equifax in customer service handling. Experian tells me they froze my account over the phone, but they never sent me a pin or mentioned it. They refer me to their website for a pin and the website, like you say, asks for more information plus payment to be sent via snail mail. I am so far stuck on this one. Only Trans Union was easy.
I am shocked that they actually disclosed this breech. Someone must have leaked the news this time.
6
they sat on it for 3 months though :(
1
I've been trying for days, at random times, to accomplish what should be simple tasks: freeze my credit and place a fraud alert. No dice. Their website, which promises to "Empower" their customers is a dismal failure. I hope heads roll.
22
It's not enough that the heads roll. They must be imprisoned.
3
Beware, I tried to put a credit freeze on the TransUnion web site. I had to "join" and I was asked for my info including credit card info. I assumed it was for a freeze charge. There was no indication of any charges and I was not able to implement a freeze. I received an email from TranUnion thanking me for joining and charged $19.95 which would be a recurring monthly charge, THANKS!
I had to go back and cancel the "membership" and I reported the fraud, to my CC fraud department, for current months $19.95
So much time wasted and still nothing accomplished. All 3 need to be forced to add a simple check box that allows you the option to opt out of the "service" they fail to provide.
24
I had the same experience and had to go through the same steps. It seemed to me that TransUnion appears to be intentionally misleading users into signing up for a $19.95/month service. You have to search carefully to find the page for the mandated freeze offer. Be sure to search for "credit freeze" and ignore all TransUnion offers for "Credit Lock".
1
The technical press (ZD Net) is reporting that Equifax has admitted to having failed to install a critical security patch released in March of this year. In short the web site vulnerability was known, ignored, and compromised ...
31
What kind of clowns are running these companies?
Frozen should be a default state for all accounts at all times in all three credit reporting companies. Especially now, given the hack.
Let anyone who wants a new line of credit or have their account thawed (?) temporarily. Then their account should be automatically frozen again.
64
I agree and wrote to Ron Lieber about this issue. The freeze should be the default and they should do it for us automatically since the hacking occurred.
3
Experian has been refusing online freezes for my wife and I, but one of us could get a credit report so there is no issue of entry error. I believe this is deliberate. Transunion allowed a freeze. Freeze them all!
15
For my wife and ME.
1
the "freeze" fees vary by state because they are set by state law. "freeze" is no-charge in South Carolina and Indiana; but Ohio law allows a $5 freeze transaction fee.
write your state representative, state senator, and state governor requesting your state mandate no-charge freeze transactions like South Carolina and Indiana
19
I'm in total limbo... I thought I'd submitted a freeze request when I first signed up for the new 'free' services. I was advised to check my email (and SPAM) for a PIN- which never came. I also had no communication at all so don't even know if it went through. Tried again, and got a message that one type of freeze had been applied, but referenced another (something to do with state-mandated v ?) and asked if I wanted to add that? I didn't understand what that meant so tried to call. Good luck with that. Busy on 2 different numbers. Eventually got a recorded menu and spent time getting through it... only to reach another busy and get disconnected. Could find NO info on how to determine if your account is frozen; or what to do if you haven't gotten the promised PIN. So, now my credit may- or may not- be locked. If it has one level of lock, which it seems to, I have no PIN to unlock. Glad I'm not in the middle of buying a car or negotiating a mortgage!
10
Anything sent to you through email (PIN) can be assumed general knowledge. email is not encrypted.
1
at 0400 last nite, I was able to log in to the Freeze website and did receive a PIN. No credit card was needed.
3
I want Congress to get involved but when I call my reps they are either focused on passing tax breaks or reversing Trump's repeal of DACA. I guess capitalists with an oligopoly ripping off and holding hostage almost the entire citizenry isn't worth a hill of beans in this country. I guess that's just business as usual, on all their parts.
75
I thought I Had actually succeeded online, but at the end I get a message that all of the personal information would have to be *mailed* to them.
8
Same thing happened to me. I just went back and re-entered my data. The second time it worked.
1
It's my impression that credit freezes will address only a very small part of this enormous problem. My husband was a victim of identity theft (which is what we are really talking about here), and criminals used his stolen information to: 1) engage in insurance fraud; 2) create false IDs which they used when arrested, creating a "false" criminal record which he had to go to a real court to get expunged; 3) attempt to change the addresses on our already opened accounts, to use them for purchases (all current accounts had to be closed). Credit freezes protect you from none of these actions, nor will it protect you from false tax filings; health insurance fraud; false deed transfers; and myriad other types of financial mischief.
Rather than waste time on credit freezes, I suggest setting up a systematic method of monitoring your financial information (rotating free credit reports, for exmaple); filing a police report at the first sign of information misuse (you'll need it!); and being aware of signs your information is being misused (mail showing up in the name of someone else; address changes; creditor phone calls).
Equifax just signed you up to a lifetime game of Whack-A-Mole....
43
Equifax’s negligence has in fact caused Identity Theft for 143 million of us. We are all being told we need to freeze our credit reports. This means we need to submit freeze requests to all credit bureaus, not just Equifax.
It appears each State sets the “rules” and costs associated with freezing and unfreezing credit. Reference https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze/credit-freeze-information-by-state and http://www.experian.com/news/security-freeze.html as examples.
Why then are the States not getting involved?
I would think they would all consider this Identity Theft, and automatically waive the fees across all credit bureaus for the victims. Do I really have to file a police report so I can submit it with my freeze request? Imagine how impactful that would be to all local police departments if they had to handle Identity Theft reports for 143 million people. Do we really have to wait until actual damage is done before we can freeze our reports at no cost?
Maybe, in addition to holding Equifax accountable,we can also raise the awareness of each State’s responsibility in this matter and hold them accountable as well. I believe all we need to be eligible for no-cost credit freezes is for each State to label this is as “ Identity Theft” and waive the requirement for a police report for 143 million of us.
15
Thanks to Equifax, "Your Money" will need to be retitled "Someone else's money."
13
Sorry Ron, Equifax is not he big bad wolf.
@Ben: Excuse me, but do you work for Equifax? Equifax is one of the THREE big bad wolves of "credit reporting agencies."
1
Where is congress?
Oh yeah, I forgot for a moment.
17
I've been trying for a couple of days to put a freeze on my Equifax account. Neither the call center or the website works. I've managed to successfully freeze my account at the other three bureaus, but the one that started this mess can't even get that right.
1
I've read in the Verge that their credit freeze service comes with strings attached, where your legal recourse is limited. if that is the case, everyone would be better off joining a massive class action lawsuit that would put Equifax out of business. This would put the other credit agencies on notice, and, if they continued to do nothing to manage the risk of using our personal data, would result in an overall discount in their stock valuation. Investors would be motivated to require them to do a better job.
8
Why not put ALL three out of business and find another way to verify credit?
1
Yes social security numbers should be gotten rid of. They were good before computers and the internet. Now they are just a very weak link that allows anyone with a computer to commit a crime, take your identity anonymously .
We need to make it law that all information collection companies keep their data on computers not linked to the internet. All requests for information on a person Must be accessed and then typed in to another compute or outgoing response onlyr to be sent or verified by a merchant. Next Social Security needs to add more numbers or symbols that only Social Security knows to add to the social security number you give them which must be done by an employee at a social security office.
7
Why don't they just freeze _all_ accounts immediately until things are straightened out and more capacity is added? It takes time to increase capacity. Servers have to be purchased, delivered, racked, wired up, configured -- software loaded, configured, tested, etc. Add to that increasing network capacity, adding VLANs, more configuration, and what not. It can't be done in a day. Maybe they could speed up things by using cloud services? I don't know. And what about cloud security? Not sure about that, either.
14
Never mind credit freezes. I never asked to have my data collected, stored and sold for profit in the first place. Why isn't this a violation of my 4th amendment rights? It's time for Congress to make some serious and significant changes to the financial credit industry, and to start looking at personal data rights across the board (Google, Facebook....), as well as internet security.
32
Carole--alas, the Bill of Rights limits the government, not private enterprises. That's what laws are for. The essentially unregulated credit agencies need regulation!
3
Given that many of us do not trust Equifax, Equifax should be required to delete the accounts and records of all who request so. and that new accounts and records not be established until the consumer requests so via snail mail.
19
The Credit-report request website is overwhelmed and not responding. The All three Credit Bureau sites are overwhelmed and not responding, so I cannot place a "fraud alert" protection on my credit.
I am stuck.
Meanwhile, I get to stew in anger contemplating the possibility that executives within Equifax used the information about the breech to sell off company stock BEFORE it plummeted. Isn't that "insider trading"?
60
Tpday's Chicago Tribune says that there was a fix for the problem available in March, two months before the Equifax breach began but it was not applied. The problem is, and always was, that we are the product. Does a shoehorn care who buys it or if it's stolen? Then why should Equifax care about our problems? Until Equifax's files are actually destroyed by hackers, nothing will change. If Equifax wanted to display good will they would arrange to pay for new driver's licenses and new state id's with new identifying numbers to be sent to each and every of the 143 million of us. That would be a first step.
11
Though there are 3 firms, for the purpose of consumers, they function as a monolith, a monopoly. A consumer can't choose to have their credit information handled by or excluded from any one of them. In order to participate in the daily necessities of life, consumers are forced to be dependent on these firms. They must be regulated, & very strictly. This has be come as essential a service as electricity, water, heating fuel, & phone service.
Want to avoid more government regulation, & have a "free market"? Fine, make it a *really* free market: Require the 3 firms to compete for consumer participation: Allow consumers to specify a particular reporting firm to have exclusive (or no) access to their credit info, & on a customer's request (accomplished by checking a box on an online form, not by being required to submit a written letter by mail), banks & other businesses that require a credit check must use only the firm(s) specified to obtain the customer's credit report. Watch how quickly & effectively they'll straighten all this out if they each actually have to *earn* our participation with them.
7
Where are our representatives in Congress on this? All of these credit history companies should be required by LAW to provide individuals to free or lock their accounts without charge.
15
These three corporations, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, should be stringently regulated and their current leaderships told to go away. Not regulating the financial industry was proven to be folly, in 2008, and letting these corporations do whatever they want is yet another failure, not of too much government, but of far too little.
10
The Company collects private information without people's permission, and then turn it into a commodity to make profits that they never share with the actual owners. To add insult to injury, the Company charges the actual owners of the private information for problems the Company causes. The question arises, Why are these practices not criminal?
16
I apparently "got lucky" and got my credit freeze, but no mention of a pin. So now I don't know if the freeze really went through or not. Ugh.
4
WorldCom, Enron, Arthur Andersen were forced out because of fraudulent business practices. Will that happen to Equifax? I doubt it. Equifax, Experian, TransUnion like the big banks and Wall St are the darlings of a misguided head long push into financial services. Congress, 20 or so years ago without realizing it, made financial services above all else, the prime driver of US economy.
And so the same scenario repeats: a financial crisis; a middle class bailout; congress gets all huffy; its forgot in a few months; and then repeated.
It seems to me this did not happen when we were a manufacturing based economy. BRING BACK MANUFACTURING.
4
Just tried the web application. after hitting submit, got message that it wasn't available, try later. But, they give the phone numbers of the other two actors and suggest calling them...
1
And to make this even worse...
Equifax was hacked in May because it hadn't fixed a web application vulnerability for which a fix has been available since MARCH.
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/09/massive-equifax-b...
15
And there is a simple reason for this incompetence: Equifax's IT provider is Infosys. Infosys uses H-1Bs, who are routinely incompetent hacks. They are hired because they are cheap, not because they are competent.
10
No doubt there will be calls for Congress to tighten regulation of credit bureaus. But with Congress in dysfunctional Republican hands, the response will surely be "Government is the problem, not the solution. Let's just let the Free Market fix the problem."
If the Free Market actually did what Republican ideologues insist, Equifax would already be out of business. If the breach leads to widespread fraud and identity theft, banks in particular would be on the hook for most of the cost, thanks largely to laws that limit consumer liability. Banks would thus refuse to do further business with Equifax.
But that won't happen. Banks and other companies that incur costs from Equifax's failure will just pass the costs (and more) on to consumers through new and increased fees. For that matter, the breach is an opportunity for banks and credit bureaus (including Equifax itself) to profit from selling monitoring and "protection" products to the hundreds of millions of "impacted" consumers. So none of this is a problem for Equifax's customers. Or even for Equifax shareholders, who will eventually recover from the current dip in the stock price and even profit when the free credit monitoring expires next year and "impacted" consumers start paying monthly fees. For Equifax and its customers, those "impacted" consumers are merely nuisances to ignore or dismiss.
We must demand that our elected officials set standards and hold the industry accountable. There is no other way.
27
Ron, I tried what you suggested in your article today, and alas, they still can't get it right. I called the 866# you suggested, and went through all the automated prompts for a credit freeze. I got all the way through, and then the automated system stated it could not process my request. What a surprise...the automated system still does not work. I called back, waited for the prompts to take me to live representative, and then when I got the that prompt for a live rep, I immediately received a fast busy signal. The ineptitude of the leadership and IT staff at Equifax is simply astonishing. In addition to the company leadership, where is the Board of Directors oversight in this fiasco. Maybe you should publish the names of their Board Members in one of your follow-up articles. Finally, thank you for being an advocate for the 143 million of us who were impacted. You are doing great reporting here!
25
Here's a thought, why don't they automatically initiate a mass credit freeze & fraud alerts then we don't have to play these games of trying to contact Equifax and their feeble attempts in managing this mess. How missteps can they make?
48
You don't want credit freeze on all three it would jam up the system and be problematic to obtain instant credit decisions.
Just tried Equifax credit freeze on line- TWICE.
Unlike the other two agencies, Equifax has you fill out several steps of information and then says try again later and you have to re-type to get the same rejection.
Emblematic of this company's discourtesy and public relations skill deficits, if not its generic incompetence!
15
Can a person opt out of providing information to a particular reporting agency? Could I say - yes, list my info. on TransAmerica but not Equifax? I doubt it but why not ask. Right?
8
"They're going to be investigated until kingdom come." Say what? I'm sorry, but have you been bing-watching Netflix since November? Trump has made it clear that when it comes to anything to do with business, the consumer is not a part of the equation. Except when it comes to paying. Make no mistake: the Chairman of Equifax will be in the Cabinet as soon as Cohn is gone.
20
Shut Equifax Down. Prosecute to the fullest extent of the law. Equifax is not protecting the people of the United States they are placing them in harms way. The executives should not be prosecuted as "White Collar" criminals and sent to the executive country club jails... they need to be prosecuted as the real criminals they are. Send them to the worst prisons in the country to put the credit and banking community on notice. Weve had enough of corrupt banker, enough of corrupt Wall Street, and enough of negligent businesses that provide data to world criminal organizations. The citizens of the United States will no longer tolerate corporate corruption and negligence. The citizens of the United States demand the offending business pay for the damages they have caused.
27
I just tried to place a security freeze with Equifax online and then by phone - no success with either method. How about automatically freezing EVERYONE'S credit and then allowing people to opt-out if they choose? Seems like it would expedite the process since it is likely that more people will want the freeze than not.
26
Why are you freezing in the first place? Even if you credit was stolen you have protection under the law.
Talk to a victim of identity theft sometime. It can years and thousands of dollars to restore your credit under those legal "protections".
Ironically, at the same time Equifax knew of the hacking of its accounts it was lobbying Congress to ease regulations on credit reporting agencies as reported Tuesday in the NY Times:
"The Wall Street Journal also reported that Equifax had been lobbying lawmakers and federal agencies to ease regulation of credit-reporting companies before the data breach. It had lobbied to limit the legal liability of these companies, among other issues."
I believe that is called, "Chutzpa."
27
With 143 million files likely compromised why doesn't Congress or the
president pass an emergency law that forces Equifax to freeze all accounts.
If they are unable or seemingly unwilling to provide consumers assurance of the safety of data lawmakers must step up to consumers defense.
I wasn't ever given an option to keep my information out of Equifax's clutches and now I can't do anything to protect it.
21
It took several hours today to accomplish a freeze through the Equifax site, but I was successful - I did receive a PIN, and I did not have to pay a fee. I also successfully froze my credit files at both Experian and TransUnion as well; neither charged a fee to do so. In fact, TransUnion offered free, lifetime access to their TrueIdentity program, allowing me to set up a user account and turn access to my file on and off through the web site (instantaneously, it seems). Experian allowed me to choose my own PIN, but I don't know the process for unfreezing my info. Good luck to all - keep at it.
4
Gee, am I someone special? I went online Sunday and was able to freeze my account with all three credit agencies pretty quickly. It frosted me no end to pay $30 to one agency and $10 to another to freeze my accounts. And they charge again to lift freeze and yet again to re- freeze my account. That made my decision about the iPhone pretty easy - I will pay the full price so no credit check will be needed. And that means it will be an iPhone 8 instead of the new iPhone X.
3
It would seem to me that the logic of forcing consumers to place the freeze is backwards. Instead Equifax should be required (Congress I am looking at you) to immediately place a freeze on all leaked numbers - unfreezing only when inquiries have been verified. That places the burden on the Company. Conceivably, there is enough risk of imminent harm to all those whose details were leaked that a Court could issue an order to show cause/injunction - forcing the Company to explain exactly why a freeze is unnecessary. Further, Congress could/should and or individual states could/should reverse the burden of proof for all lawsuits against these companies arising from leaked data - the Company should face a prima-facie assumption that the its leak caused the identity theft and be required to show on clear and convincing evidence that the leak was not the cause in order to escape liability. You could apply this across a number of industries that seem to be cavalier about cyber-security.
24
absolutely agree. this event reveals many things about why we need national identity cards and not social security numbers. Why is America so afraid of having national identity cards? the entire system is broken and Equifax fiasco has helped to reveal that.
1
My Social Security Number will never change. There's nothing preventing someone from using it 5 years from now. I still have 20, 30, 40 years left to live. Equifax should arrange for Credit Freezes and Credit Monitoring to be free for the rest of our lives. If not I'll have to payout thousands of dollars over that time period. Where is there a class action lawsuit so that I can be reimbursed for that?
17
What are Transunion and Experian doing to insure a breach does not happen with the databases they hold? Have they been offering any assurances that the same kind of hack can't or won't happen to them
2
I spent an hour yesterday waiting for an equifax operator to answer my call, only to be told that the phone operators didn't have the ability to do anything. When I complained the operator promptly hung up on me. Then tried online with equally frustrating results. When I finally connected to the website it asked me to sign up for a new service and required me to give them a whole bunch of personal information. A pox on that. These people endangered millions and should be sent to jail for criminal negligence.
12
Equifax has made a real mess of this. Sue, sue, sue. And Freeze at least Equifax. They owe the country big time. Hopefully Senator Warren will come down on them.
8
I got an email from my Congressman yesterday with a same list of things to do that has appeared everywhere. In order to prevent the thieves from filing a fraudulent tax return, the Congressman advised to file tax returns early. That's it? IRS, Congress, the entire federal government has no plans to prevent fraudulent tax returns other than "file early"?
Thanks for turning up the heat on Equifax. Can you please work on the feds next?
3
Organized crime: Collect and sell personal information without permission, provide it to thieves, charge the victims for "protection" from said thieves.
232
Think RICO. That would focus the minds of senior executives.
Jeff Sessions could be a popular hero if a US Attorney did that.
1
When I was growing up in NYC this was called a 'protection' racket.
Yup. The very definition of a "protection racket".
I am able to access my FICO score each month via the Citibank website (I am a Citibank account holder). Will placing a security freeze with Equifax prevent me from doing so in the future?
jasper
7
If Citibank is using Equifax data for that score, then very probably a freeze would prevent them getting it. I emailed Discover to ask if the score I get from them would still be available if I froze *all* my credit bureau records; they confirmed that the score would no longer be available. -DHB (spouse of RNB)
1
Jasper, that should not effect your access to the FICO score. From what I know, the freeze basically stops anyone from using the system to conduct a detailed inquiry that are used in making credit decisions. The FICO score check should not count as an inquiry. If anyone has heard different, please let me know.
2
You'll still be able to see your score. I've had security freezes through the 3 bureaus for the past couple years and, I can still see my score with the companies I already have accounts with.
5
"In the interim, people who want to receive a new PIN must call 1-866-349-5191, speak to a live agent and provide identity verification information to receive a replacement PIN."
the same identity information that's been compromised?
23
Exactly! What could go wrong???
2
I spoke with Equifax regarding changing my
Pin. I was told it would take up to 10 business days to generate a new pin and during that time my account would not be "frozen". Seriously?
4
What a wonderful feeling to be sharing SSN, credit lines, credit institutions, addresses and the like with someone in a foreign call center. This is what you have to do in order to get your replacement PIN. Oh well, I guess all that info is floating around on some dark corner of the web anyway. What, me worry?
1
Just tried the Freeze Website and got a 500 Error after filling out my information. Obviously still not fixed.
Equifax knew of the hack issue months ago and some of their executives sold their stock before the press release. Big issue... and 145 million people is probably ALL of the adults in this country who have credit histories.
17
I just want to know if my, or my family members', personal information was exposed.
10
Given the numbers, the odds are pretty good that your information has been compromised.
2
Why do we have to request a freeze? Shouldn't they freeze for security reasons?
91
All credit agencies should immediately freeze all files until they are asked by each individual to lift the freeze.
11
If Equifax froze all credit report accounts, they receive no $$$ for providing reports to legitimate organizations (e.g., mortgage companies, retailers, etc.). They'll never do that.
4
Yeah, though, thing is: how will they make $$$ off brokering your vitals and data if lenders, employers, landlords can't purchase it? That is what they sell... our security is incidental.
For those investigating, the timing of the "confession" just before Irrma hit seems awfully suspicious.
15
Guess what? all three bureaus will not allow you to freeze online, "due to extremely high volume". So now what, try to do it by snail mail? Like that's secure or fast. This fiasco is obscene.
16
I was able to add new security freezes online for my mother this afternoon with Transunion and Experian... no problems, no slow-downs.
Naturally, Equifax allowed me to COMPLETELY fill out the form but was unable to close the deal and threw an error screen. Comforting, right? Three little words to keep Equifax execs up at night: CLASS. ACTION. SUIT.
1
You don't want to freeze it would jam up the credit system, if you needed credit you would have to go through a process.
1. They have known about this for MONTHS and haven't done anything.
2. Executives profited.
THOSE TWO THINGS SHOULD BE CRIMINAL.
Shut this company down, as they have shown to be irresponsible but publish the home addresses, SS and phone numbers of all of the top tier execs.
This is maddening during an insane time!
98
Perhaps I've missed it, but I've not heard any senators or representatives calling for hearings into this mess.
Maybe we should ask Congress to pay the same amount of attention to the 4th Amendment as they do to the 2nd.
21
Senators Orrin Hatch and Ron Wyden who lead the Senate Committee on Finance have asked Equifax for preliminary information which they would presumably need to determine the scope and nature of future hearings. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/09/11/key-u-s-senators-want-an...
At the end of that story is a mention of a letter from 20 D Senators led by Masto and Franken urging Equifax to end forced arbitration.
5
my thoughts exactly!
2
FROZEN should be the default state of credit reports. The consumer should have sole power to easily unfreeze and refreeze all or parts of their own report for whomever THEY choose and at no cost.
193
I agree. All reports should be frozen, and available only to a lender who has been given the borrowers secret code or password. The current system is stupid. I just this week received a credit card from Bank of America in the name of my husband, who has been dead, his estate completely probated and closed, for three years. When I called B of A to tell them about the card and get it shut down, I was informed that they couldn't act on my request because I'm not the card holder! Whatever fraudster is using that card is racking up god knows how many charges because B of A can't be bothered to contact me or look for proof that the person they gave a credit card to is dead.
3
Yes!
This is appalling. You're in Massachusetts, have you tried contacting Elizabeth Warren's office? She has a lot of clout.
Kudos to Ron Lieber and the NYT for this reporting. It is such a pleasant surprise to read an article which is unabashedly on the side of the consumer.
Please continue with this uneven approach! Large companies such as Equifax are very well represented both by their lobbyists and, seemingly, by their Congress. The 143 million individuals who have become their victims really need you as advocates - especially as class-action-lawsuits become more and more difficult.
27
I agree, Ron Lieber, whose column I read regularly, has become my go-to person for clear and as up-to-date information as I can find. There is so much confusion and mis-information circulating I really appreciate his staying on top this situation and given his readers exactly what he can discover/figure out.
11
I wish they would stop say "affected half of all Americans.' That's wrong. It is ALL OF US. 143 million people is every meaningful credit report in the nation. Every single person affected should sue individually for the maximum small claims amount in their State. NO CLASS ACTIONS. Equifax should now be considered persona non grata in all business circles. Anyone still doing business with them should be doxxed accordingly and held to account. These companies do not have some irrevocable right to our data.
16
want to add my voice to the chorus of people who have signed up for the free protection from equifax (with great worry about filling out information online), being told an email would come to complete the process and then not receiving anything.
and a big thank you, mr. lieber, for your reporting and for being more responsive than all the credit unions combined
11
I was able to freeze my credit with Experian quickly on-line without a problem. Transunion flashed a message that they could not freeze my credit because were overloaded because of Equifax. Incredibly, I have been paying Equifax $20 per month for several years to monitor my credit accounts -- and was not able to freeze my account either through the website or by telephone. Unbelievable.
15
I have also been paying Equifax for many years for ID theft monitoring and protection--and they couldn't even send their own PAYING CUSTOMERS notices of the breach. We all had to find out through news reports.
7
I had the opposite result. Transunion freeze was easy but struck out completely with the other two.
1
"The company is aware of this and believes that it has to do with some people’s browser settings."
In my case, that is not true. Soon after the data breach was reported, my wife successfully froze her credit. A few days later, using the same computer and same browser, I attempted to do the same. However, I was unable to complete the freeze, and I was informed via the automated phone system that I already had a freeze. So now I am among those with a freeze but no PIN.
6
I just put a freeze on my account. The process went off without a hitch.
1
Sadly, the Board is protected--I believe- by liability insurance, so they will suffer little financially. Though, with a 30% drop in share price and denigration of the brand, it seems fair to say they have failed in their fidiciary responsibilities.
There is no justice!
8
You knew this was coming - we have no choice and no control over credit agencies, which are far too often rife with mistakes and inaccurate information for many. Now we have what appears to be the largest breach ever, compromising nearly half the population in America and, of course, WE will, no doubt, have to pay for THEIR breach and lack of oversight protection. This makes me sick to my stomach to think about what lies ahead for those of us who have been compromised.
This is the perfect example of bad things have gotten for ordinary American consumer-citizens. Experian should be required to pay for any and all expenses incurred by those of us who have now lost our private personal information to hackers, and there should be a civil lawsuit filed on behalf of everyone whose information has been compromised, the effects of which will haunt the exposed and create incredible financial and damaging nightmares for the rest of our lives.
21
Well said, except that the failure was at Equifax.
5
Yes - my mistake. I didn't realize it until I'd sent it off. Thanks.
1
Freezing is no solution to a hot mess. Equifax should be required to pay for subscriptions to a comprehensive credit monitoring AND identity theft protection and repair service for the millions of consumers who were affected by this breach. No sympathy
108
This Equifax breach affected me this summer, and it's unbelievable what I've had to do to fight all the fraud that has since occurred. I wouldn't trust Equifax to right anything. Equifax should not be in business.
95
My understanding is that Experian or other bureaus may also have contracted with your bank and other institutions to hold the three secret answers to questions you provide to access secure sites when you have forgotten your password. Which, if true, would leave us with no way to prove our identity as distinct from the thieves. So now it is possible they know my kindergarden teacher's first name and where my maternal grandmother was born meaning they know more about me than my best friend. I have seen no reporting on this save one article so am trying to verify if it is true - as it is our fail-safe, more even than the demographics. I'm bloody furious.
31
Years ago I stopped answering the security questions with true or even logical answers. It's safer than using information that can be looked up anywhere, and as long as you keep track of what your answers are, you still have access.
What is your maternal grandmother's first name? yabbadabbakaboodinger.
Color of your first car? yahsomeonesindeepherexox
Favorite movie? isurehateequifaxdontyou
10
You gave real answers to the security questions? At the very least you should have said the kindergarten teacher was experianMrsBlah (presuming the name is actually MrsBlah). Then Macy's could be macyMrsBlah; choose your algorithm and be consistent. Not ideal, but will throw off the least common denominator criminals. (I use an encrypted drive to hold data like totally made up security answers, as the data is rarely needed. Mount when needed, remember only one passphrase for the encrypted drive, which is naturally backed up but not to the all too frangible cloud. Encryption with today's techniques is not forever, the data is too long lived to risk even theft of the encrypted data.)
So basically Equifax says pretty much nothing except, "We are aware of the issues." If they had competent leadership that actually cared about something other than squeezing the last possible dollar possible out of people through hook or crook, they would have "been aware of the issues" leading to this current problem. They would have addressed these issues proactively. Unfortunately their business model doesn't actually seem to include reasonable competence in the service they are purporting to provide. Yet another horrible example of our financial industry gone awry.
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Equifax's business model is to sell your information to Banks and issuers of credit. You don't pay for their services, you are not their customer, so they don't care...
5
DSS you crystallize the issue perfectly: We are NOT customers of Equifax.
Our credit data is their product. If security freezes become easy, free, ubiquitous and default (as other comments wish), Equifax no longer has a product to sell to their (not us) customers.
4
Thanks for staying on top of this for us. I am just about set-up with fraud alerts and freezes, except for TransUnion. I am unable to place a freeze online or over the phone and when I try and reach a customer "service" representative, I get a busy signal. Five attempts, five failures.
5
Ron, we appreciate what you're trying to do for us, but this is well beyond the individual efforts you are suggesting. This is a breach of fundamental trust in our entire credit reporting system, and requires a solution from our political system--the Congress, the FTC, the CFPB, or all of them together. "Equifax and Transunion should be more forthcoming". No, they should be required to provide free lifetime freezes upon request, and their use of data strictly regulated. You should be using your column to help demand real changes that help all of us, not just seeking to help us individuals navigate a completely broken system
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IMO, Ron should keep helping individuals navigate this infuriating mess. We need his insights. I'm sure the New York Times can assign additional reporters to cover the BIG PICTURE aspects of this story - at least for now.
Right, New York Times?
p.s. Someone should look into the reliability of AnnualCreditReport.com, too.
After submitting ID info there, a friend waited for many hours to get credit reports. None ever loaded. Maybe the site should be closed until it can be upgraded to fully process the requests it receives...and not leave people hanging.
4
Ron Lieber’s persistence in holding Equifax’s feet to the fire is so important. If Equifax is allowed to emerge from this epic evasion of responsibility unscathed (or even profit from it, as seems to be its intention) it will signal to our corporate giants that they can treat us not only like products, as Mr. Lieber astutely notes, but openly regard us as beasts led to the slaughter, to be dismembered for our constituent data, personal wealth, and sense of security. What’s astonishing is that in corporate America Equifax’s unconscionably indifferent, arrogant response to its own gross incompetence seems to be pretty much business as usual.
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Ron, did you get an answer as to whether Experian will still be charging to put temp halts on credit freezes? You had this question in your earlier article but I haven't seen it addressed.
Thank you
3
Ask them about the rumor that those who previously froze their account would have to unfreeze in order to reset a PIN - not a good idea
12
North Korea? Russia? Nope. What keeps me up at night? Pitiful execs running companies like Equifax.
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Good job! Please keep it up. I esp like that you asked him if he would resign!!
8
This data breach is criminal. Heads should roll. And when they do, let's just consider whether we need a consumer credit reporting industry at all.
Despite trying to sell consumers products like credit monitoring, the fact is, Equifax et al work for creditors, not me. I don't need Equifax, and I don't like Equifax. I say, shut them down or allow individual consumers to demand they stop storing our information.
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There's nothing criminal according to the laws of our land, which have not kept up with the march of technology.
1
That's great, but say good bye to credit. No one is going to loan money without these agencies or something like it.
Not just the data breach. A very very close look at those executives who sold the stock before the news went wide and the price tanked is absolutely necessary. 'Innocent coincidence' just doesn't pass the smell test, without a real deep investigation first.
Show the head executives of all 3 credit unions the same respect and due process that ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio and ICE show to suspected illegal immigrants. I'm totally serious. We have to hold individuals at these corporations accountable, starting NOW.
And we should publish their personal credit information now, let the thieves ruin THEIR lives first.
If corporations are people, then corporations can go to jail. However, trials take years, and these folks will hire expensive lawyers to get off scot free. I'd put them away starting now, without bail. Let them wait in jail for their "fair and speedy trial". Make them use public defenders.
I would also like to see some in-depth investigative reporting into what actually goes on inside these credit bureaus. How do stupid decisions get made that might cascade into a disaster like this only years later? My feeling is they cut costs happily for years, fired senior staff who raised difficult questions, made cheap junior staff take on all the extra work, without adequate supervision, drove them nuts with "performance metrics", then outsourced all their customer service to the stupidest of offshore agencies.
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As of 2 PM ET, website still returning an error code after submitting freeze request.
7
Equifax has taken the brunt of the justified criticism this past week, but my experience trying to freeze my TransUnion report convinces me that TU is at least as hostile to ordinary consumers. TU's site discourages you from freezing your report at all; if you insist, the next page offers you a "lock", which as described sounds ideal -- until you realize that this is a come-on for a TU product which I assume is essentially its credit-monitoring service (and which, as far as I can tell, puts the onus on YOU to approve or deny each request). If you persevere you're finally given the option to freeze your credit online, but only if you first create a username/password. There is no information on how to accomplish a freeze except online.
I finally dug up the address to which to send a U.S. mail paper request for a freeze (via a "Contact Us" link), only to discover that the USPS cannot verify that the P.O. box exists. TransUnion's phone tree gives exactly the same address, so I sent my mail anyway and am crossing my fingers it doesn't bounce.
Whatever their other shortcomings, Equifax and Experian at least didn't make me feel like a deficient trained seal leaping through fiery hoops when I sent my credit freeze requests. (Did I mention that TransUnion's phone tree never offered me the chance to speak to a human being?)
If we could crack open these black-box agencies I suspect we'd loathe what we found.
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G, you are right about Transunion. And it's pretty loathsome to have to plow their product pitch for TrueIdentity product when clearly folks are in no mood to help further enrich this opaque industry.
But for others hoping to freeze online today, you can get to the Transunion security freeze page directly (https://freeze.transunion.com) and set up an account without cost online.
"... set up an account without cost online"
Except that setting up an account would create an ongoing direct relationship with the company, something I have zero interest in doing. It would create an additional, likely easier path for bad actors to access the data TransUnion has acquired about me.
I had assimilate experience with them. Transition was the only one that I had problems with. I had to go through some sort of registration process which included setting up a password, then I did get a message with a PIN included (which I wrote down). When I tried to print the page I got some sort of error message that said I should call. I tried the number later and it was not functional! however, I now get messages from them trying to sell their services, treating me like a member and my $10 chargenformthenfreeze went through. I can't write now because I left for several weeks in Europe.
I have a question.
Has Equifax removed all language related to legal waiver from their terms and conditions yet? I'm not removing myself from a class action lawsuit in exchange for a one time credit freeze and a year's worth of fraud alerts. I should sue for billable hours alone just sorting through this mess. Please advise.
83
Not 100% sure but I believe I saw that on their website i.e. the legal waiver did not apply in this instance. I'd sure appreciate a detailed letter from them outlining everything I need to know and do to unravel this mess.
I was on the phone and computer for over two hours yesterday. You go through all the hoops, only to be told that the system cannot help you. Major headache from this company, who should be making it easier, not harder, to initiate a freeze on all accounts. It seems like they are deliberately making it a gruesome experience, so that one would give up trying to do this simple task.
16
A few years ago, someone who had somehow stolen my identity attempted to file with the IRS to get my tax refund. The IRS picked this up and stopped it before they were successful and notified me of this issue. After speaking to the agent and asking many questions, I later realized it was inevitable that every American will most surely have their identity stolen within a few years.
16
I got through on line and was told my information was not compromised. Do I still need to freeze anything? And if you freeze with one of the three agencies, are you frozen with all of them?
I really don't like the fact that any of these "agencies" have my social security number and other information. I never gave them permission to have it. This should be an opt-in system and I for one would want to opt out!
16
Whether your own information has been compromised yet or not, it has always seemed like a good idea to freeze credit searches (unless you're just about to try to get a mortgage, credit card or loan of course.) But one has to request a freeze on credit information separately with EACH of the three main credit agencies. However, if you request a Fraud Alert with Equifax, they claim that they'll notify the other two companies.
To your second paragraph: TOTALLY AGREE! I was surprised to hear from my friends over 60 that they hadn't realized there were companies holding all our personal information...
1
Freezes have to be done with each credit bureau. I think they're a good idea, even though they can be a pain to set up.
3
FWIW, I would still freeze. Just in case they gave you inaccurate info and/or for future possible security breaches. I believe you'll need to freeze with each agency separately.
3
Here's my question. What kind of comprehensive substantive legislation is Congress going to pass to protect Americans from data breaches going forward. The Secure Act introduced by Democrats is completely irrelevant to the Equifax breach. The Secure Act only makes it easier to read and understand your credit report and dispute things on it. I won't have a dispute if someone didn't use my data from a breach to commit fraud. Senator Brown's legislation might give us 10 years of free credit monitoring. Again. I don't need credit monitoring if the data breach doesn't happen in the first instance. It seems all congress wants to do is give consumers a few tools to help clean up the mess companies will be allowed to continue to make. This (and the upcoming congressional hearings where witness will get "grilled" or "hammered") is not enough. We Americans should write to our senators and congressman and demand more.
19
I've found TransUnion particularly frustrating for the freeze issue. I was unable to place a freeze online (sent to a phone #), then unable to do it via phone, only after going through the phone tree was I told it wasn't able to do the freeze via phone and I have to send a letter.
11
Try again ... and again. I got booted off the automated option (I'm not comfortable sending more stuff to any of them online) and was told would have go snail mail, with tons of documentation. Well, that's not happening. Tried and hour later and was able to get through via automated. FWIW.
Transition was the only one that I had problems with. I had to go through some sort of registration process which included setting up a password, then I did get a message with a PIN included (which I wrote down). When I tried to print the page I got some sort of error message that said I should call. I tried the number later and it was not functional! however, I now get messages from them trying to sell their services, treating me like a member and my $10 chargenformthenfreeze went through. I can't write now because I left for several weeks in Europe.
Why not freeze everyone's credit account, with notification and instructions/ability to "unfreeze" when desired? The government should issu new social security numbers across the board as well.
In other words, start over.
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I agree with your suggestion; however, that would effectively put these credit companies out of business since their product is selling our information to others and making excellent profit from doing it. Information we never gave them permission to use in the first place. The larger question is whether these business will be able to continue as they are currently constructed and whether Congress will have the will and grit to demand change (let's not hold our breath....).
It's impossible to get information about whether or not one was affected by the data hack or to request a freeze via the Equifax site.
Congress must act immediately to severely restrict these companies that own OUR information and sell "services" to us to keep it out of the hands of criminals.
7
After reading your article, I made note of all the phone numbers. I had previously tried to freeze my account at Equifax online. Didn't work. So then I called. Still didn't work. Was told to call back later AFTER I entered all my info because my request could not be processed. I called the other three and got through with no problem. Doesn't it stand to reason that ALL the credit reporting agencies are experiencing an increase in the volume of freeze requests, but Equifax is the only one who can't process my request. Hmmm....
5
Andrea - With Experian, could you reach a real human being? The phone numbers I've seen all go into an automated system.
I went on the Equifax web site yesterday to sign up for the free protection. I filled out the online form and was told I would receive an email. Still waiting. The Transunion web site gave me an error message and the Experian site froze when I tried to place credit freezes on them. So far not so good.
4
Equifax and all the other "businesses" who have appropriated my personal data without my consent are in my eyes wholly responsible for any misuse of it due to their negligence, bad/lax security, etc. The idea that I should try to fix *their* problem is insulting, and the idea that I should call the other similar companies and *pay* them to freeze my data is beyond insulting.
It is absurd to allow companies to collect, sell, and store personal data with absolutely no responsibility in protecting that data. If there is a rise in identity theft issues, Equifax and the others should all be held collectively responsible, properly sued, properly fined, etc.
Ideally, such companies should not exist to begin with since most of that data collection was achieved without direct consent.
159
This is an industry perfect for a member owned co-operative. Maybe America's 20,000 credit unions, which are owned by their members, could get together and develop a credit bureau.
5
I just called the freeze number, and after a long introduction and selecting the freeze option and stating that I'm in New York, the recording said "I'm sorry, our system is unavailable."
I also called and spoke with an agent earlier, since I never received that email they promised after I signed up for the monitoring 3 days ago. She basically brushed me off and said she can't help.
This whole thing is going to be a huge windfall to Equifax, Experian and TransUnion - people are going to sign up in droves for their "monitoring" products, often with "first year free" teasers with oh-so-convenient auto-renewal features ("Don't worry, we'll just charge your credit card each year so you don't have to remember!"). Even without using that, I'm going to have to pay to unfreeze, freeze, unfreeze my credit reports.
Equifax, you've got a nice little racket going - you collect sensitive info on people without permission or compensation, then you give it to criminals, then you use your "mistake" to extort your victims.
79
Thank you for pursuing this and passing along the information you've received!
7
Thanks for your repeated follow ups and for sharing this information. I've had no luck on the website or the 1-800 number but will keep trying. I plan to freeze at the other two agencies as well and I plan to sue Equifax in small claims court for the costs associated with all of this.
5
Yep, can't get a credit report from any of the agencies. Was up around 1:30am last night and watched everything bog down and fail - which is further than I have been able to get up until now.
BTW the Equifax freeze phone line is....busy!
Thanks for keeping us informed
5
Try phoning the automated system instead, when most people are asleep.
1
These agencies should be shut down. They operate in opacity - though apparently not in secrecy - and provide no real useful service that a bank or government cannot already offer. More often than not their information is partially or substantially incomplete or incorrect. They subject the entire populace to their whims and offer no benefit but cost us all money. Like private health insurers, they are a self-serving middle man creating inefficiency for their own benefit.
12
Tried both web and phone with ZERO success on either. Can't talk to a human either. This company should be shut down with all their servers nuked. Period. Sloppy programming led to a cheesy hack. Higher up's sold stock after finding out.... and not alerting the public on either hack nor sale. Now we're at a critical point to freeze credit and you can't. I'm literally at the mercy of the hackers. Hopefully when they try to open lines of credit they'll go through Experian or Trans Union.
7
@SBaylor - Try calling at 1 AM, the lines are a lot let busy. Worked for me.
Thank you so much!! You're a sane voice in this chaos.
Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion should grant free credit freezes for as long as those of us affected want. Outrageous that they are so slow and miserly in making adequate, responsible reparations.
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and should do the freeze automatically, and only those who need to unfreeze it can contact them. It would lower the demand for service and provide immediate protection.
Just tried to the security freeze. And got the error 500.
4
Just called the freeze automated system:
"I'm sorry. Our automated system is currently unavailable."
7
Maybe it's time to rethink our reliance on Social Security numbers.
8
This is a level of negligence that is clearly criminal. We need a DOJ investigation, and if found guilty, these guys need to shut down.
11
I was advised to sign up for "Credit Karma" - an online credit monitoring service. I've done this and it seems to be doing exactly what it says it will do - track credit scores, credit accounts, and notify clients when there is activity or change on any account. This advice came from both Clark Howard and my nephew who's been using CK for years. The only problem appears to be that CK is monitoring Equifax and TransUnion, but not Experian. Do you have any advice or info about this?
5
I've had Credit Karma for years, and rather than deal with all this hassle about "freezes", I just check my Credit Karma account every other day. Much easier and FREE. Frankly, I'd be happy to pay Credit Karma for all their aggregating of my information.
The inability to manage this crisis and flippant attitude from PR teams and execs shows what an amateur operation these companies really are - unbelievably scary given the amount of sensitive information they possess. NYT, thank you for your continued focus on this issue. Few, if any, other publications have this level of clear, succulent reporting that is attempting to keep these three corporations accountable. As the hearing, litigation and fallout ramps up in the coming weeks, please keep us posted.
28
I thought the Instapundit had a great suggestion--Equifax pays $1,500 to every person who has had data compromised. Plus damages if an identity theft occurs.
41
I think you answered "Why exactly do you hate freezes so much?" earlier in the article: " freezes make it harder for the company to make money off your personal data"
Based on that, if EVERYONE froze their account, these guys might actually go out of business :-)
8
Actually, anyone requesting a credit verification (new bank account, credit card, landlord, loan. mortgage etc.) pays for the reports, so they'd still make money.
1
So, when you go to the Equifax website for freezing your account, it immediately asks for your complete SS number. Is this safe? How do I know the website is real and not compromised? I never like to give my SS number via internet.
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Re Emily R's comment: This is my issue as well. If I am not one of those affected, will entering all my personal information to freeze the account make matters worse?
7
Yes, I experienced this, too. And once I swallowed the need to give them my SSN, I was told "We're sorry, but we are overwhelmed at this time and ask you to try back later."
The web sites for all three companies are overwhelmed and non-responsive.
I did not even vaguely consider calling. My blood pressure just can't take the strain.
3
And Equifax doesn't in any way mask your SSN.
At least, Transunion and Experian mask your number and give you the option to reveal it. After all, it's Equifax's carelessness that got us all into this mess in the first place.
Technically they responded, but being fluent in Corporate Weasel, they're all variants of the phrase "please stop asking me questions I can't answer or don't wanna answer, here's a non-answer in the hopes you'll go away."
22
It beggars belief that there have not already been major civil lawsuits brought against the three major credit checking bureaus. Having to forfeit property, cash, and government contracts (such as the identify verification service that Equifax provides for the SSA, unbelievably) would be a good start to making these rent-seeking companies accountable to the public, from which they make their profits.
4
A. Am I effected?
B. Setup free identity protection
C. Setup a credit freeze for ALL three reporting companies.
All of these should be on Equifax's home page.
73
Any company using Equifax services should be boycotted. Let's put them out of business!
3
I emailed my bank (Chase) asking them to do this. They said they will continue to share my data with the 3 credit agencies because that's what's required for our credit ratings to be accurate. It was basically a "go away. We do what we want and you can't make use change).
7
Lawyers with free time: How about a class action suit against Exifax?
15
You might ask them this additional question:
Why wasn't the people's information in their databases encrypted?
Equifax (and all the other credit rating companies) should store all this info in encrypted form and decrypt it only for authorized processing or retrieval. In this way anyone who gains unauthorized access to the databases will only see gibberish.
59
The Equifax disaster is a perfect illustration of what happens when government does not regulate the free market systems and should be a lesson to anyone who thinks deregulating businesses benefits ordinary citizens.
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Agree.
The people who want less government regulation, work under the (often correct) assumption that the market is more efficient at keeping businesses in line and accountable to their customers.
This is a prime example of a case where the market is working perfectly between a business (Equihax) and their customers (banks, lenders, car dealers, apartments, etc.), but is failing the average citizen. It's a perfect case for regulating this industry to protect the populace.
You would think people of all political tribes should see the need for government regulation in this case. The fact that Rep Loudermilk of (R-GA) was just last week pushing for an Equifax friendly bill (HR2359) is a perfect example of corruption, and people acting against their professed ideological values.
6
Did you ask Equifax how consumers can be protected from them? In between loosing customer data, having a conflict of interest due to the fact that the Bank or credit issuer pays for their service, and refusing to allow their credit rating methodologies to be validated by a third party (claiming "trade secret") the consumer comes up on the loosing end of every interaction with them. At least if they do harm a customer they can bring Equifax, oops maybe not with binding arbitration....
4
Perhaps it might be a good idea to not waste time trying to get through to Equifax by phone or their website, but to instead use snail mail.
I used a new DIY service that provides an entire Credit Freeze Kit with pre-printed freeze request letters, stamped envelopes, complete instructions on filling out the request form, and even a manila file folder to keep you credit info in. They're at www.FreezeOutCrooks.com
There's a processing fee, but then no monthly charges for the rest of your life. And I would also suggest getting a Discover card. They offer a Social Security Number scan that's free to card-holders: It searches for unauthorized activities.
3
If you carry a balance, don't get a Discover card. You'll pay more interest, because of how they charge it.
Of course, now that all the files are frozen, how would one qualify for new credit card, be it Discover or anything else?
We're all now in a commerce/identify 'Catch-22.'
Why do hackers always wear hoodies?
1
I do not like entering my social security number on their website
10
I see that the Equifax CEO is testifying before Congress 10/3. I wonder about the other two CEO's. I also wonder if there are financial penalties for this breach. If there were a substantial penalty per SS# some action might result. At that point we would stop being the product and become clients.
6
10/3 not nearly soon enough!!
1
It seems that this problem should be the responsibility of the credit reporting industry to fix, and the bill should go to Equifax. I don't see much of an option besides putting freezes on EVERYONE's credit as the default, and then having a secure process for unfreezing credit when you apply for new credit. That would require working out a new secure system for authenticating people's identity. But the alternative, leaving everyone's credit unfrozen, seems extremely dangerous and unworkable.
16
Their web site is slow or appears throttled because of the volume of traffic. Presumably they run their own own data center; if they were with one of the big cloud providers, they'd have flexibility to expand the number of (virtual) servers, etc.
2
Be careful what you wish for: outsourcing data storage and processing also outsources your security. Equifax hasn't covered itself in glory on that score, but I don't trust Amazon or Google or Microsoft to have all that information either.
3
I tried to sign on for the free monitoring with Equifax. Got a notice that I made it through the first step, that the second would be today. So far no email conf on what to do today.
1
I tried to freeze my Esperian account online today, got all the way through entering payment info for the freeze, then was told I could not do it online---would have to send a registered letter.
Don't do their (Equifax) free monitoring.... there is fine print that relinquishes your ability to sue them. Use someone else's.
Hi Ron,
Thanks so much for excellent updates and advice. I've tried repeatedly to place a freeze on Equifax and even when I can begin the process the site will freeze or tell me that it is not possible at this time. This is after I've entered all my information.
Any suggestions?
2
It takes more than a self-inflicted disaster to get a credit agency to change its ways. Equifax never has been communicative, helpful, or responsive under normal conditions. Right now, management is far more worried about 143 million potential lawsuits than customer service, so don't expect any changes for the better.
6
Got my freeze years ago...only problem is, once your credit report is frozen you can't apply for credit of any kind: car loans, new credit cards, mortgages, etc. The minute the credit issuers run your history, it's not there. Credit-wise you don't exist, and you are consigned to an all cash world.
So set up the credit you need, and then freeze. You might be able to unfreeze for those occasions you do need credit, but it's a nuisance and, given the opacity of the system, it just might not work.
1
Temporary unfreezing is actually quite easy.
1
I, too, have had a credit freeze for years, and I sleep better at night for it. The biggest downside for us is that when GEICO figures out our homeowners insurance premium, they get all bent out of shape about the freeze. They have told me that it is as if my credit score is 0. My husband has not had a freeze, so we switched the policy to have his name first, so they use his credit score. He is part of the Equifax breech, and he is planning on freezing his credit too. I dread what GEICO will do when they see that both of our information is no longer available to them.
I know we can temporarily thaw our freezes, but I won't know when they will be preparing our bill so I am anticipating a sky-high bill, and then a long phone call to straighten it out.
1
Mr. Lieber, please ask Equifax the following question:
Why doesn't the company use direct authentication from the affected individual for information requests being used to open new accounts? In other words, why can't I be asked directly, via a separate channel like my cell phone, to authorize release of my information for purposes of authorizing a new account?
8
Yes this website is generally not processing freezes; tried twice. My husband was successful in getting the "credit lock," but I'm still unclear how this service works and if it gives optimal protection compared to the freeze. Was able to do Transunion and Experian's security freeze option easily, but with $10 cost for both.
It's time to unleash the most savage, brutal lawyers in the nation against these people. How many horror stories have we all heard of good people who have had their credit trashed for doing nothing or making a slight omission that was later corrected? How many people have spent thousands trying to get their credit reestablished from a minor error or an identity theft? How many people have had their lives ruined because of a bad credit report they didn't deserve?
Once a person gets listed as a bad risk, you might as well die and hope to be reincarnated to get your credit straightened out.
But when they are careless and leave the gate open to thieves to steal your most sensitive information, it's don't call us. In fact, we won't even tell you until we absolutely have to. We are too busy making money and protecting ourselves to be concerned with you.
Don't wait for the anti-regulation Congress to come to your rescue either. Go straight to the courts. Maybe we should outsource credit ratings to a Russian firm. They are going to get your information anyway, the way things are going.
255
I'm surprised Equifax hasn't started a new subsidiary company to sell you data protection like Life Lock. So they make money both ways!
The courts can't help you if the laws are written by congressmen that are owned by these financial institutions.
5
@Dr. Mesmer - They already have one - Trusted ID, which is a subsidiary of Equifax. It's what they're offering free for one year if you sign up (as if 1 year is enough, when the thieves know they can just wait out a couple years before using your stolen information).
3