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.
I'd really like there to be a law that allows you to opt-out of credit reporting agencies. This would work similarly to the do-not-call list - I give them my social and they are instructed to disregard any data they receive that's associated with that number, and will destroy whatever information they currently have about it.
Doing this potentially locks you out of getting credit, but if you can do it on a per-agency basis, then it's a good way for individuals to punish bad actors like Equifax. If even 10% of Americans opted out after the breach, their business would be over, the remaining agencies would have proper motivation to improve their security standards, and it would open a gap in the market that a better run startup could move into.
It's worth noting, as far as I can tell, that product offering ("Lock & Alert") is not (legally) the same as a credit freeze.
Which means they aren't legally bound not to release your credit report to whomever they want (aka whoever pays them), and even in their own FAQ they admit they have far more exceptions for who can ignore the lock (plus vague wording) than a credit freeze legally allows (compare [0] and [1]).
Further, one should ask why they are providing this free and easy service, while their actual credit freeze system is awful (at least in my experience)? Perhaps to push consumers to the not legally binding option so that they can continue to sell your "locked" credit report without legal consequences?
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.
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.
Good thing you can opt out of your data being collected by Equifax, right.. right?
Seriously though, how did credit scores come about and was there any resistance at all at the time to peoples' financial information being collected en mass by private companies?
Remember, these companies are paying Equifax for your credit report.
The point isnt to prevent any credit reporting.. but to prevent equifax specifically from earning money.
And no one is "denying themselves the ability to get credit" by refusing to unfreeze an equifax report. If the lender doesn't want to use one of the other credit agencies, then most people can find another lender. Those businesses need to know they'll lose business as long as theyre loyal to equifax.
It is unfortunate we don't have more leverage... this does leave a lot of avenues open for Equifax to continue making money. But every bit helps.
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.
I didn't know what the difference between a freeze or a lock is, but the article mentions it about halfway down.
>Equifax’s new app offers a lock instead of a freeze. Locks works similarly to freezes — both restrict access to your credit file — but it should be easier to unlock your credit file since you can do it from your phone with a swipe, and doesn’t require a 10-digit pin or a fee.
>What is not clear, however, is what disadvantages may come with locks. Many state laws exist that govern freezes, offering consumers protection. By creating locks, the companies avoid them.
Looks like it's a nice end run around existing laws. I don't understand why they are allowed to do things like this without any consequences.
Seconding this. It's free to create accounts at the 3 agencies (Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian) and place an indefinite freeze until you need to apply for credit in the future.
Sometimes people sit on the data in these breaches for years before using it, after the dust has settled, assuming people have since let their guard down.
Unfortunately, it's also worth noting that you typically opt into allowing these agencies to sell your data during signup, so after be sure to comb through the privacy policies for opt-out links and submit requests to prevent the agencies from sharing your data with third parties for marketing offers, etc.
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/
Here's another industry that relies on aggregating your data: Credit reports.
Go ahead. Figure out how to opt out of Experian, Transunion, or Equifax collecting everything they can about you, including pretty much every piece of data needed for identity theft, possibly confusing it with someone with a similar name, and then putting it in a badly-secured database.
No, really, if you can figure it out I'd love to know. Every now and then I am reminded they exist and that they are silently creating these vast troves of data without anyone's consent, and all I can do is hope that if my identity information is included in a data breach, I am both small enough and lucky enough to not be impacted.
Post-breach, both TransUnion and Equifax now work with CreditKarma to let you view your score and whether or not your report is locked, and they both let you create an online account with them as well to view your score or easily lock/unlock your credit report whenever you need to. Experian refuses to work with CreditKarma and only lets you "freeze" and unfreeze your account in the legally required way, which requires filling out a big form and resubmitting your Name, address and SSN every time you do it. To create a similar online account with them to manage lock/unlock status and view your score they charge an absurd fee of $20/month.
The problem with boycotting Equifax is I also want to boycott Experian. And in the future, maybe TransUnion will have a major issue, who knows.
Is the bank going to be cool with me boycotting the 2 biggest of them, or even all 3? Obviously not, so let's not pretend that consumer choice is a real way out of this mess.
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:
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.
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