If you do nothing else, place an initial 90 day fraud alert on your file. This is free and will require lenders to contact you if someone (including yourself) tries to apply for credit. Government info. You only have to do this with one bureau in order for the alert to be placed on all three, and it should take less than 5 minutes:
Funny, I just called to put a Fraud Alert on my credit report. I encourage everyone to do it - so this way reputable lenders are supposed to call you when they're trying to open an account in your name. An attacker would have to port your SIM card as well...
However, all the information I was providing to set the alert, or remove it, is the exact information that any lender would receive on their application. The system if so horribly broken security-wise, I am shocked there aren't more accounts being opened left and right by people who got them from applications emailed to thousands of lenders over the years.
Meanwhile, I can't get equifax to unfreeze my credit. Whatever answers they have on file are wrong and tell me to call - except you cant reach a human without answering those same questions. They've yet to respond to actual mail I've sent them too.
Oh well, the other agencies unlock so it just takes a little talking whenever I need to run a credit check explaining equifax is jacked up.
I think they're limiting the timeframe to thirty days so they can make money on people unfreezing and refreezing their credit reports in the future. This is sleezy IMO and I'm not having any part of it.
It's a creditor's responsibility to issue credit to the correct person. They are probably more worried about the data breach than consumers are. If a fake account is opened in my name, I'll send some scary letters [0] until it's resolved.
I put a fraud alert on my credit report through Transunion [1]. They communicate the fraud alert to Experian and Equifax and creditors must contact me at a phone number I provided before they issue credit in my name. Though this is only for 90 days, it was free and can be extended. It buys me time to make a decision in the future, Japanese general style
I just went through this stuff after an identity theft incident. While locking my Equifax file, I learned something surprising:
Locking your Equifax credit report prevents access by potential creditors and lenders, but there are exceptions. ... Companies that wish to make pre-approved offers of credit or insurance to you ...
Equifax maintains consumers’ credit reports and provides information to certain customers, including credit card companies and lenders, so that they may offer pre-approved offers to consumers as permitted by law. Consumers that prefer not to receive such offers should visit www.optoutprescreen.com, or call toll free at 888-5-OPT OUT (or 888-567-8688).
So I'd really encourage everyone to do that opt out thing, too.
The Equifax site appears broken in at least some browsers. Transunion wants me to sign up for an online account, and Experian charges a $10 fee in my state to place a freeze.
All three want to collect my name, DOB, SSN, etc. _again_ in order to sign up.
This is complete and utter BS. Credit reporting agencies are one of the greatest/worst rackets in the modern financial system.
Thanks for the tip, I've been waiting for the free Equifax credit monitoring (I haven't been able to log in, though they keep telling me I have a account). A free freeze is good enough. Here's the link for everyone else: https://www.freeze.equifax.com/
Recent fraud victim myself. To initiate a long term fraud alert on report you have to get a police report and send it along with copies of identification, etc. via mail seperately to each credit bureau company. That makes it so fraudsters can still try getting credit in your name but the business is supposed to call you to confirm it's you applying. If the fraud poster has an accomplice, say at the shady cell phone kiosk at the mall, they just ignore the warning. Best case is the detected fraudulent hard inquiry stays on your report for up to 4 weeks lowering your score in the meantime. All a big hassle. Guess what you can do instead? Instantly and online pay to have a credit freeze enabled. Then you pay again and again to lift it when you need credit. In some states you are allowed a free credit freeze BUT you need to have gone through fraud, hassled with the police report, and the kicker is, snail mail your requests in both for initial freeze and subsequent temporary suspensions. Obviously I took the instant paid route. What a racket! I should either start a class action lawsuit or perhaps just buy some stock in these jokers.
This service is fundamentally broken. You call them on the phone and someone who seems to be located in an overseas call center asks you about your credit history. If the information on his screen does not match the information you provide, you fail identity verification. If you try to escalate they instruct you to photocopy your driver license and social security card and mail them the photocopy.
Source, tried to get electricity in Tampa, Florida, after leaving the military. Was denied because TECO only was willing to “verify” my identity through Experian, and Experian <see above>.
I just tried to unfreeze my credit on Equifax and couldn't after several visits to their website and multiple phone calls. They are asking me to mail my SSN, address, birthday, etc..
Indeed and to putting a fraud alert on your credit profile is only good for 90 days. This is curious since one's identity - name and social security number don't change after 90 days.
The onus of protection is on the consumer - the very people who never authorized the companies to collect and sell their financial identity. The concerned consumer needs to call back every 3 months to continue a fraud alert.
For those who don't know the value in placing a fraud alert is that it forces anyone extending you credit to first call you and verify that you actually intended to open the line of credit in your name. This is something that should be standard operating procedure and not a special consideration.
I had this experience after the Equifax hack a while ago when something like 100M+ people's info was stolen. Until I froze my credit I was getting phone calls every few days asking if I had _really_ tried to open some line of credit I had never heard of. The people calling me explained that ever since the Equifax hack they had to do a bunch more due diligence because all they were getting was fraud. No lines of credit were successfully opened in my name, and the issue stopped completely once I froze all my credit.
I think the lesson is when bad stuff happens you really don't want to be in the small minority of people who it is happening to. Once it's happening to everyone then the problem actually gets solved.
And usually you can talk to your doctor’s office about putting a flag on your medical records so they have to call you before releasing them to a third party
You can also opt out of Visa, Mastercard, and AmEx sharing information (individual banks may vary). You can also ask banks about additional security for your bank account.
Our system is currently unavailable
We are currently unable to add initial 90 day fraud alert or active duty alert to credit file online. Please try again later or click here to print a request form. If you need to install Adobe Acrobat click here
Anyone know if there's a way to get your free credit report if you can't answer the questions for the free one?
The computer says no, and the phone number just sends a letter that says no. I tried to to buy one from my bank, but as far as I can tell they only sell subscriptions...
Equifax has the unique ability to collect the most private information available, even when they have never or will never interact with that person.
I think the entire credit system needs to be changed. If credit bureau's can't be responsible then citizens should get a choice in the matter. These companies have us by the balls and we have no recourse. It's a monopoly complete with price fixing and everything, except the price is privacy and you don't get any options.
It reminds me of an episode of Hotel Hell I saw where the front desk stored all guest credit card numbers, expiration date, and security code in a white lined notebook unlocked behind the counter. Gordon Ramsay walks up to an unstaffed counter, grabs the book, and walks off with it.
Now imagine that the hotel blatantly admits to not giving a shit about your credit card details, and you don't have the option of checking out and taking your business elsewhere.
The problem is that I have no choice but to use equifax when I need to do anything involving my credit rating. They have a bizarre monopoly on this vital aspect of life. When I go to the banks asking for them to give me my credit score that they have on file they defiantly refuse me.
There was such a product provided by Debix (http://debix.com). It relied upon a law called the Fair Credit Reporting Act which allowed consumers to place a fraud alert on their credit file, which the creditor was supposed to call. Debix placed the fraud alert on behalf of consumers, but directed the creditor to call Debix which delivered the credit request using exactly such an authentication mechanism that you describe. This was 2003.
Lifelock used the same mechanism (though without the phone authentication, IIRC). Experian sued Lifelock saying that the FCRA did not allow for companies to set fraud alerts on behalf of consumers, only consumers were allowed to set them. In May of last year, a judge agreed with Experian, and Lifelock later settled and stopped using fraud alerts. http://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=20078
Unfortunately, this ruling also meant that Debix could no longer set fraud alerts, so they had to cancel this product.
The truth is such a product creates friction in the instant credit market, which is a huge source of income for credit bureaus. So they have very little incentive to slow that process down and would rather just catch any exceptions using monitoring.
The credit bureaus are an industry crying out for disruption. These guys are dinosaurs and are living it large because there is no real alternative. Unfortunately, they also seem to have plenty of political capital to prevent any real legislative reform in this area.
Disclosure: I used to work for Debix and have ownership in the company.
Does it matter if you've applied for credit? They track everyone. The important thing to remember is that you are not and have never been a _customer_ of Equifax. You are their product. The banks, car dealerships, etc... that pay them for credit reports _about_ you are their customers.
You are their _product_. And, in my experience, they treat their product like shit when their product gets his identity stolen.
Suggestion, from https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/6yv4gb/off...
If you do nothing else, place an initial 90 day fraud alert on your file. This is free and will require lenders to contact you if someone (including yourself) tries to apply for credit. Government info. You only have to do this with one bureau in order for the alert to be placed on all three, and it should take less than 5 minutes:
Equifax https://www.alerts.equifax.com/AutoFraud_Online/jsp/fraudAle...
Experian https://www.experian.com/fraud/center.html
Transunion https://www.transunion.com/fraud-victim-resource/place-fraud...
reply