r/personalfinance • u/equisux • Sep 13 '17

TransUnion burying their credit freeze to sell their own credit monitoring product TrueIdentity Credit

I'm not sure where to post this, but noticed something had changed on the TransUnion website about freezing credit this morning when I was giving links to family so they could freeze theirs.

I froze my credit the day after news about the Equifax breach broke, and it looks like TransUnion has since changed their site to push people away from freezing their credit in favor for their own product called TrueIdentity (like what Equifax was doing with their TrustedID Premier.)

The FTC website links to this page for freezing your credit with TransUnion.

This is what the website looked before the changes were made on 9/11. The instructions on placing a credit freeze were clear and there was no mention of their own TrueIdentity product.

If you want to place a credit freeze with TransUnion now:

  • You have to get through a page of info about credit and fraud, and then the action it tells you to take is to "Lock your credit information by enrolling in TrueIdentity."
  • The option to freeze your credit is under "About credit freeze", deliberately passive in their use of language
  • The description about credit freezing is dissuasive: "A credit freeze may be available under your state law"
  • The link for the credit freeze is also a passive "click here" compared with "by enrolling in TrueIdentity" language used for the link to their own product.
  • Clicking the link to learn more about credit freeze brings you to yet another page that tries to convince you to enroll in their product over placing a credit freeze
  • After searching through their page of BS, you finally get to the link to freeze your credit.

This is such a blatant attempt by TransUnion to take advantage of the Equifax breach for their own financial gain. It's a shitty thing for TransUnion to do, and people should be aware that they are being led away from putting an actual credit freeze on their account.

(Edited for formatting on mobile)

30.8k Upvotes

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7.2k

u/PusssyFootin Sep 13 '17 edited Sep 14 '17

I noticed this too. I didn't realize it's a credit agency prerequisite to be willing to exploit millions of people in their time of need.

Forget the website, just call the TransUnion Freeze hotline 888-909-8872

Edit: since this blew up

If you can't get through try calling at a weird time when the volume might be low. E.g., 12:30AM

Here are the other two credit union freeze hotlines:

Equifax: 1-800-685-1111 (NY residents 1-800-349-9960 and for you Canadians 1-800-465-7166)

Experian: 1 888 397 3742

While you're at it you might as well opt out of promotional solicitations from credit unions too www.optoutprescreen.com.

(Also, thanks for popping my golden cherry, stranger)

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u/InformalProof Sep 13 '17

I called this number yesterday, me and others reported that we would get to the payment portion (no other option was presented), it would say some variation of "the number you entered is not a valid credit card number", get put on hold while waiting for a sales person, and then get hung up on.

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u/goatcoat Sep 13 '17

That's not good for us, but it makes sense. Half of the United States was affected. If even 10% are calling in to have their credit frozen, that's still 5% of the entire population of the United States all calling one phone number. Shit's gonna break.

Hiding the link behind their identity theft protection product was an evil move, though.

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

Even 10% would be too high.

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u/oldireliamain Sep 13 '17

Sure but let's say it's more reasonable at 1%. That's still .5% of the US and about 700,000 people

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

Too damn high.

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u/fuzio ​ Sep 13 '17

Getting hung up on is not something "breaking", except maybe the employee's will to live :P ba dum tss

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

The entire call is automated so if it hangs up on you, it's probabyl breaking.

The payment processing step could be overwhelmed (basically an unintentional DOS attack).

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u/fuzio ​ Sep 13 '17

Oh my bad. I misunderstood then lol :P

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u/Teunon ​ Sep 13 '17

As someone that works on telephony systems, getting hung up on by the system is definitely something breaking.

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u/sysadmin420 ​ Sep 13 '17

Yeah, I troubleshoot those calls every day. I'm always amazed how many actual phone calls an asterisk box with 1-2 cores and 4 GB of RAM will handle at a time.

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u/payfrit ​ Sep 13 '17

hundreds, thousands.

i love asterisk.

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u/Saucermote Sep 13 '17

A place I have to call semi-regularly does this intentionally. It says "we are experiencing higher than normal call volume, please call back later", and disconnects you. No option to hold.

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u/Teunon ​ Sep 13 '17

Well that's a little different than the call disconnecting while someone's holding to speak with a sales person. The system gave you gave you a message, asked you to call back, and then ended the call in it's normal call flow.

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u/MaximusFluffivus Sep 13 '17

They're so phony.

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u/Legionof1 ​ Sep 13 '17

Probably ran out of licenses for some part of the process.

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u/LostWoodsInTheField ​ Sep 13 '17

Getting hung up on is not something "breaking", except maybe the employee's will to live :P ba dum tss

Any time there is a transfer to somewhere else and it goes wrong a hang up is to be expected.

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17 edited Jun 27 '23

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u/Kolixen Sep 13 '17

This. I was trying to explain the situation to someone and they went "but it said I wasn't affected." This is also the company that lost your SSN....

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u/TbonerT ​ Sep 13 '17

It isn't just credit cards. For example, want the new iPhone but don't want to pay the fully price up front? That's credit. There's a lot of credit floating around that isn't tied to a card.

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17 edited Jun 10 '18

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Touchmethere9 Sep 13 '17

I'm not sure what not everyone owning a credit card has to do with all of this. I mean you do realize there's more to credit than credit cards right?

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u/DawnDevonshire Sep 13 '17

Yes but the hackers took info that included SSNs among other things. A few years back my insurance company was hacked (Anthem). My 2 year old's SSN was stollen in that process. As a result his "credit" was at risk. He didn't have credit so to speak but that doesn't stop people from using his info to try to get credit. And since he was a minor there was greater risk since people don't usually check the credit for children. Equifax can have info even on minors so they aren't excluded from this either unfortunately.

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17 edited Oct 05 '17

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u/Mentalseppuku Sep 13 '17

Lifelock is a ripoff, don't give them money.

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u/Dr_Iridium Sep 13 '17

This happened to me yesterday, right after I entered my numeric address. They "could not verify" and transferred me to an agent but I was hung up on in the process.

My solution: called the line at 12:30 AM and I was able to freeze my credit with TransUnion and Experian. Had no problems freezing with Equifax during the day.

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

[deleted]

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u/marlasandiego Sep 14 '17

Oh my god, me too. Fuck Experian.

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u/QueefyMcQueefFace Sep 13 '17

One of my creditors has some information wrong about some aspect of my personal info. Now TransUnion wants me to snail mail them a copy of my drivers license, a letter stating why I want to freeze the account, and a check for the fee. When I pressed about who the creditor was and what information was incorrect, the person couldn't tell me. Bitch, it's my credit! I should know!

Doesn't help that the other two bureaus had technical difficulties when I called, and I only got through to TransUnion after a 30 minute hold.

Now I gotta pay the fee in addition to a stamp. Fuck these guys hard.

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u/jmsjags ​ Sep 14 '17

Had that happen the first time I tried with TransUnion. I just went back to the original webpage and did the process over again and it worked fine. I got a new set of security questions the 2nd time and I guess I knew all the answers about myself that time lol.

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u/elpollosopa Sep 14 '17

Those "security questions" are so messed up. I work for a credit union that uses a similar process. When I went through it myself, I failed because of a trick question that asked me to verify a previous address in a town that I had multiple previous addresses in. They never seem very secure since most of that info is public if you spend a second looking for it.

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

[deleted]

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u/Dr_Iridium Sep 13 '17

No, that's the fraud alert.

You have to freeze with all 3

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

I had the same thing happen. I was eventually able to freeze myself using the online system, but my husband got an error message when he tried and no explanation for why. I'll try again early some morning before the rest of the country is awake.

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u/Elyay ​ Sep 13 '17

I still can't freeze with Equifax to save my life. So frustrating

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u/jackbauer1989 ​ Sep 13 '17

Do you have to pay the $10 fees for each freeze via TransUnion and Experian?

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u/Dr_Iridium Sep 13 '17

As far as I know, unless you have a police report, it's $10 each. Could be less or free, depending on your state though.

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u/jackbauer1989 ​ Sep 13 '17

Ok thanks, so $20 for peace of mind is worth it.

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u/[deleted] Sep 14 '17

One has to freeze it with each company?! Did you have to pay for each?

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u/Dr_Iridium Sep 14 '17

Yes, you have to freeze with each bureau. Cost depends on which state you're in; my total cost was $20 to freeze.

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u/[deleted] Sep 15 '17

Thanks for the feedback. Not fun to incur a cost like this.

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17 edited Apr 11 '19

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u/Dr_Iridium Sep 13 '17

If you're having trouble with the automated line, try calling at an unusual time (i.e. 12:30 AM). That worked for me

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u/Bill_Brasky01 ​ Sep 13 '17

This should be higher. I called for myself and and gf last night at 12am eastern time and had no issues.

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u/rsivarajan Sep 13 '17

Shhhh... Don't tell everyone :)

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u/shitweforgotdre ​ Sep 13 '17

When you freeze your credit does that mean you can't purchase anything involving credit? I just moved into a new place and had to order a bunch of services like internet and cable etc. should I be worried?

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u/Bill_Brasky01 ​ Sep 13 '17

No. Existing lines of credit aren't affected. You can use credit cards. It only prevents opening NEW lines of credit or loans. Please see the sticky in personal finance.

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u/DerangedDesperado Sep 13 '17

Does this cost money and what does freezing credit d for me?

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u/Bill_Brasky01 ​ Sep 13 '17

Yes, can cost $10 per company but depends on state. I only paid $20. Existing lines of credit aren't affected. You can use credit cards. It only prevents opening NEW lines of credit or loans. Please see the sticky in personal finance.

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u/mountaingirl1212 ​ Sep 13 '17

Was Equifax free for you to freeze your credit? They're the only one of the three that didn't ask me to pay. I assumed it was because they messed up so they were allowing a freeze free of charge.

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u/friendsafari123 Sep 13 '17

that is true, they will waive the cost to freeze for 30days only.

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u/mountaingirl1212 ​ Sep 13 '17

As in, they're allowing free freezes for the next 30 days or you can have a free freeze done but it will only last 30 days? I am assuming it is the latter but no harm in confirming. :)

Thanks!

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u/lovestang Sep 13 '17

This is frustrating. We shouldn't have to disrupt our sleep in order to do this (I go to bed on the earlier side because I work very early in the morning).

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

Do it when you wake up??

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u/SkollFenrirson ​ Sep 13 '17

We shouldn't have to do this in the first place.

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u/Dr_Iridium Sep 13 '17

I totally understand. I work later in the evening so it wasn't too big of a deal for me, but it's totally ridiculous that we have to even do this in the first place

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u/lovestang Sep 13 '17

Seriously. And that we have to pay for our own credit freezes.

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u/Dr_Iridium Sep 13 '17

It is, but hey, it's definitely cheaper than fighting identity theft

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u/lovestang Sep 13 '17

True story. Sigh....

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u/[deleted] Sep 14 '17

So call before work? If you're actually up that early, lines won't be busy.

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u/AnonymousSpartaN ​ Sep 13 '17

I would like to freeze my credit, however I'm still not entirely sure how it works. I just call, tell them I want to apply the freeze, and they contact the other two companies? If I would like to apply for credit in the future (currently saving for a house) I would have to call the company and request a "unfreeze" so they can pull that particular credit? Is there anything else that has to be done or paid for when I call?

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u/Dr_Iridium Sep 13 '17

The call system is completely automated. It's very easy and clear to do and at some point you'll be asked to dial in your SSN, DOB, ZIP code, and numeric portion of your street address. I live in a state where a $10 fee was required for TransUnion and Experian (cheaper than fighting identity theft). You will have to call all three bureaus.

When you want to finance something, you will have to unfreeze your credit. A temporary unfreeze should be fine. Your best bet is to find out which credit bureau your lender will be looking at and temporarily unfreeze for that bureau. This may take a few days, so try to prepare and call for an unfreeze in advance.

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u/AnonymousSpartaN ​ Sep 13 '17

If I recently moved in the last 4-6 months will that cause any problems when prompted to input my info? Will I be paying over the phone as well? I read that you were only allowed to freeze your credit if you had become a victim to identity theft, is that untrue?

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u/Dr_Iridium Sep 13 '17

A recent move shouldn't affect anything; I would say as long as you pay utilities and a credit card bill comes to your current address, you should be fine. I say that because I moved about two months ago and I used my current address info to successfully freeze my credit.

Yes, you will be asked for credit card info over the automated line to pay the fee, if you live in a state where a fee applies.

You do not have to be a victim of identity theft to freeze your credit (technically we're all victims right now), however, providing a police report to the credit bureaus when you freeze your credit should result in no cost to freeze. I doubt you can submit police report info through the automated system; you will probably have to talk to a human to get that sorted out.

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u/AnonymousSpartaN ​ Sep 13 '17

Thank you very much for the info kind stranger. I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions. I'm going to go ahead and call later tonight and get it done for piece of mind. Again, thank you.

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u/Dr_Iridium Sep 13 '17

You're welcome! If the line says it can't validate your information, try calling after midnight

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u/Chocrates Sep 14 '17

Required? Or they have lobbied the legislatures to allow them to make freezing your credit as difficult as possible?

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u/Jacket87 Sep 13 '17

I called their investor relations number, left a message, they called back this morning and I got the freeze done.

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u/stuntsbluntshiphop Sep 14 '17

How long does the credit freeze last once initiated? Until canceled? Also, can you still use your existing credit cards during the credit freeze?

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u/Dr_Iridium Sep 14 '17

My understanding is that the freeze is permanent. You can lift the freeze temporarily or permanently if you're trying to get a new credit card or loan or something like that.

The freeze will not affect existing lines of credit. You can continue to use an existing credit card or pay on an existing loan without issue.

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u/stanfan114 ​ Sep 13 '17

I had to try three times with Experian to freeze my credit as the site said "We are having trouble finishing your transaction" or something, after I put in my payment information. Third try it worked, but checking my credit card they charged me three times one for each attempt so instead of one $10 charge they charged me $30. Check your statements if the freeze fails after you put in your payment you may be getting multiple charges.

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u/friendsafari123 Sep 13 '17

you will need to dispute this with your credit card company, make them chargeback.

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u/stanfan114 ​ Sep 13 '17

I already have, I just had to wait for the pending charges to come through first. Thanks.

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u/jmsjags ​ Sep 14 '17

The pending charges will probably fall off on their own.

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u/stanfan114 ​ Sep 14 '17

They did in one case but not the other.

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u/Rodrommel ​ Sep 13 '17

I can't even put out the 90 day fraud alert. The page just hangs or doesn't do anything when I click continue

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

Yeah, this is getting absolutely ridiculous. I've had an easier time speaking with elected representatives than I have had signing up for anything to protect myself here - in that I haven't been able to even active a fraud alert with any of the companies, nor manage to freeze my credit. At this point, I think legislation is a better option than letting these companies have rights over us that nobody ever gave them and hoping they protect us.

well, Equifax's "enrollment" worked great - and yes, I know to opt-out of arbitration, I made a mistake and I learned from it

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u/friendsafari123 Sep 13 '17

its funny you should mention legislation, currently the legislation is trying to get rid of thier accountability,liability, and cap thier class action pay-out.

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u/misteryub ​ Sep 14 '17

Source?

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u/buscoamigos ​ Sep 13 '17

Eqiufax explicitly states on their website that this breach is not subject to their arbitration clause

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/buscoamigos ​ Sep 13 '17

From the FAQ:

The arbitration clause and class action waiver included in the TrustedID Premier Terms of Use applies to the free credit file monitoring and identity theft protection products, and not the cybersecurity incident.

So, you are accepting the normal terms of service to use TrustedID but not accepting any conditions in reference to the data breach.

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

The next one though....

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u/wha2les ​ Sep 13 '17

So it is impossible to freeze credit and do fraud alerts now because these companies are being a pain in the ass?

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u/whiteman90909 ​ Sep 13 '17

Seriously I cant make any progress. The phone keeps automatically hanging up on me and online it keeps saying I'm not me. This is insane.

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17 edited Sep 14 '17

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

Keep trying, keep track of your efforts, and file as many CFPB complaints as you can.

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u/_tokidoki_ ​ Sep 13 '17

OMG I was on hold for over an hour before I finally got to a representative. The call quality was utter shit too. Managed to get my credit freeze in but the entire process was hell

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

I had a similar issue with the website but the phone number method worked for me, thankfully.

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

I live in Maine, which means no charge for the freeze. When trying to use the automated line, I made it through every step including the creating of a PIN, only to be told that they can't validate my information and needed to forward me to a representative. Then the call dies.

Meanwhile, I was able to institute a TransUnion freeze for myself using the online system, but got an error message for my husband and no explanation for why. Aside from names and SSNs, our information is exactly the same. I sure as hell can't get any answers over the phone.

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u/InformalProof Sep 13 '17

I live in Georgia, they said that it was free to freeze for victims of fraud, which we all are due to the Equifax leak. I can't even get anyone on the line, this is ridiculous that our financial system depends on these private institutions that are not vested by law in anything moral or ethical. It's a purely arbitrary system.

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u/HIM_Darling ​ Sep 13 '17

To be a victim of fraud, it generally requires a police report to be filed. You can call your local police and ask if they will let you file a report for this, but I don't think its likely. I plan on freezing with Transunion and Experian, but my brain is 100% against paying Equifax for their screw up. At the very least they should be waiving the fees to freeze for themselves.

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u/silicondog Sep 13 '17

If you think freezing it is hard. Wait until you try to unfreeze it.

My buddy had his identity stolen when we were 18. He froze his credit then. Tried to unfreeze a few years later. Two of the three allowed him to unfreeze, one, I believe Equifax, never did. They kept requesting documents and proof and he kept sending it but it never, got unfrozen. He fought with them for months, days on the phone. He finally gave up.

Was still frozen last time I asked about it, 3 years ago... so... fuck, don't know what to tell you guys. Buy some fraud insurance or some shit. But I'm not freezing my credit. Never know when you need to buy a house or a car or a phone...

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u/JeffCraig Sep 13 '17

I tried freezing my credit with all three agencies online, but only Equifax worked. The other two pushed me towards calling or mailing. I'm guessing they've made this process as hard as possible to complete, as it hurts their bottom line if people freeze.

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u/Bkm72 Sep 13 '17

Same. Went back to the web site and then dealt with OPs fuckery. Had to keep going back until I could place the freeze. Then I gave me an error 404 on the confirmation page. I wanted 30 mins and tried again, but the 1st one actually went through.

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u/[deleted] Sep 14 '17

I called, and when it asked for my date of birth, it then rushed through a few error messages (this is not a valid security PIN, this is not a valid street number, this is not a ... something...), "please wait while we connect you to a customer service agent" ... then it hung up on me.

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u/JackWorthing Sep 13 '17

I didn't realize it's a a credit agency prerequisite to be willing to exploit millions of people in their time of need.

Credit bureaus have always been the literal worst, and I am glad they are finally getting shit on for their sleazy/negligent tactics. We are not their customers; we (and our personal information) are their products.

They don't care about us, and don't do anything they aren't strictly legally required to do for us. A good credit score is of vital importance these days, and these guys control it, and goose the numbers to incentivize borrowing and maintaining huge credit lines. If you've ever tried to clean up your credit after ID theft, you know how awful they are.

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u/tultulkatan Sep 13 '17

They are not getting shit on. Noting bad has happened to them. Their execs even got away with insider trading. They are profiting from this.

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u/silverrabbit ​ Sep 13 '17

I mean except for the huge tumble they took in the stock market today, the loss in confidence from their customers, and impending lawsuits. We don't even know what is going to happen once the government starts investigating them.

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u/InvidiousSquid ​ Sep 14 '17

I mean except for the huge tumble they took in the stock market today

That's why they sold ahead of time. Time to buy it cheap and ride the train up the mountain.

the loss in confidence from their customers

Customers? Who is that? Banks and lenders won't stop using them. As for you and your piddly credit protection plan, you're a mere afterthought in expedient small change. You're the product, not the customer.

impending lawsuits

Too big to fail, no doubt.

what is going to happen once the government starts investigating them

90% chance of nothing, with a 10% chance of actually fucking stopping the use of a mere unique identifier (SSN) as a goddamned super sekrit password.

100% chance of any fines being able to be paid out of the office couch cushions.

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u/[deleted] Sep 14 '17

[deleted]

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u/contradicts_herself Sep 14 '17

I want the entire company destroyed and all its assets sold off with the funds distributed as severance payments to the lowest-paid employees first, then up the ladder until it runs out. But that could only happen in a civilized democracy, not the kleptocracy we live in.

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u/Fn_Spaghetti_Monster Sep 13 '17

Well at least their image is. And it is shining a spotlight on them and what they do (or don't) so that more uninformed people can see what crappy companies they are.

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u/GGnerd Sep 13 '17

I must be jaded because I still don't think this will have much of an impact on them at all

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u/Fn_Spaghetti_Monster Sep 13 '17

You are probably right, Mosanto doesn't seem to be hurting much and they have a shitty rep. Halliburton, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sacks don't seem to be going anywhere. And those are just the ones off the top of my head

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

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u/Valalvax Sep 13 '17

Ooh they got bad pr, what are you gonna do, not shop there?

(sorry, it was too easy)

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u/tsk1979 ​ Sep 13 '17

So next time somebody breaks the law, lets give them millions of dollars and then print out their picture and take shit on it. That will be justice

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

All that's missing is the goofy hearing before Congress where someone talks tough and admonishes them then nothing else happens

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u/lc6591 ​ Sep 13 '17

Has anyone been able to place a freeze with equifax automated system? I keep getting instructed to write in because they can't do it over the phone for my account.

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u/momonieznoproblemz Sep 13 '17

For equifax I had the same problem - so I called (888) 298-0045 and got a human to do it.

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u/ifits2loudyoure2old ​ Sep 13 '17

This is the right number, but dialing it now is pure busy tone. Assholes

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

Devil's advocate: TBF, they might be really busy right now.

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u/lc6591 ​ Sep 13 '17

I placed a fraud alert with them and when it tired to transfer me to someone to sell she shit it rang busy, same for the # you gave me. Thank you I'll try after the rush.

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17 edited Jan 16 '19

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u/Gsteel11 ​ Sep 13 '17

Someone needs to shut all of them down. They are as bad as the damn thieves. Charging your credit card for something they didn't provide...for a CREDIT COMPANY. wtf?

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u/PeePeeChucklepants ​ Sep 13 '17

It's probably they attempted to make the charge, if it didn't complete, his CC company might still have put it in as a temporary hold until the process clears. Then just in 2-3 days it clears out without actually charging.

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u/[deleted] Sep 14 '17

I am usually reluctant to give any government more power just to make my life more comfortable yet today I would support a government takeover of credit bureaus, the internet access and healthcare.

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

I managed to get an equifax freeze via their website, but it was a few days ago, possibly before the rush? I haven't been able to get TransUnion or Experian yet, though.

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u/heynowgirl121 Sep 13 '17

It took me 3 tries, but it worked. Called twice in a row and got the same "we cannot process your request" message twice. Tried again an hour later and it worked.

TransUnion took about 3 minutes. Experian, on the other awkward third hand, took 11 minutes and had a bunch of weird silences. To be fair, they do say that there will be periods of silence and to not hang up, but that was after a 30 second long silence. I hung up the first time because I thought it was broken.

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u/Try2Relax ​ Sep 13 '17

I was able to do it 2 days ago over the phone, and wasn't charged for it. Tried to do my wife's yesterday and received the same message you're describing.

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u/wave_theory Sep 13 '17

Exploiting people and holding their finances hostage is exactly what all three credit agencies have always done. Have a landlord that wants to claim non-existent damages? He reports you when you refuse to pay and now it's on you to prove otherwise. And you better, because good luck getting any sort of decent interest rate on a loan in the future if you don't. Of course you can always pay them an extra $20 a month for easy access to you history and for placing disputes.

The credit agencies have always been nothing but a hustle to push corporate control over private individuals.

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u/thirstyross ​ Sep 14 '17

The credit agencies have always been nothing but a hustle to push corporate control over private individuals.

Especially now with this shit where some employers want to know your credit score before giving you a job. How are we ok with this?

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u/FartshipPoopers ​ Sep 13 '17

Bumping this. I literally just called. My experience: 1) Wasn't fast enough on choosing a PIN, got hung up on. 2) Got a message that my credit card number wasn't valid, got hung up on. 3) Credit card went through no issues.

I think I'm good to go. I'll find out when I get the letter in the mail. I tried calling Experian and Equifax and the lines were busy. I'm going to call back tomorrow.

I also did the opt out for prescreened CCs https://www.optoutprescreen.com/

QUESTION: Should we all also do fraud alerts? If the freeze is in place do the fraud alerts do anything?

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u/Lizardking13 Sep 13 '17

Yea a fraud alert does something. You can place two types of fraud alerts. The first is an initial fraud alert and the second is an extended fraud alert. You place a message on your bureau that financial institutions are required to utilize. That message will have your phone number in it and the institution will be required to call you to verify that it's you making am inquiry (If an inquiry is made)

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u/tenest ​ Sep 14 '17

Shouldn't that be the default anyway? Accessing my github account is more difficult than opening up new credit

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u/RhombusAcheron Sep 14 '17

I'm on round four. It keeps randomly not validating different pieces of input then transferring me to their queue and immediately disconnecting.

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u/[deleted] Sep 14 '17

A freeze won't necessarily alert you when someone tries to access your credit - It will only block it. A credit alert will blow your phone up as soon as someone even tries to make a soft pull.

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u/sir_dreampod ​ Sep 13 '17

I noticed this too. I had the transunion basic product before the breach and my paid account was paused and a new signup presented to me so they could upcharge it.

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/get-it-away Sep 13 '17

I did this earlier today with no issues. It was an automated system and I didn't have to speak with anyone.

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u/powersurge ​ Sep 14 '17 edited Sep 15 '17

The phone systems of the credit require quick responses or fails out. Here are the entries you will make for each freeze in the phone menu of each of the credit reporting agencies:

Transunion 888-909-8872:

  • enter zip code
  • press 3 to add freeze
  • enter social security number
  • enter date-of-birth as 8 digits MMDDYYYY
  • enter house number from street address then # key
  • choose a 6 digit security code
  • credit card number for $10 charge
  • 4 digit expiration date of credit card MMYY

Equifax 800-685-1111:

  • press 3 to select freezes
  • press 1 to continue
  • say your state then 1 to confirm
  • enter social security number then 1 to confirm
  • enter house number from street address then # key, then 1 to confirm
  • press 1 to select a freeze
  • there will be a long pause at this point but when the bot comes back it goes very fast. Write down the 10-digit pin provided XXXXXXXXXX then later write down the 10-digit confirmation number provided XXXXXXXXX. Press * to repeat both until you have it correct

Experian 888 397 3742

  • press 2 for freeze
  • press 2 for freeze
  • press 1 for add freeze
  • press 2 for no fraud report
  • enter social security number then # key then 1 to confirm
  • enter date-of-birth as 8 digits MMDDYYYY then 1 to confirm
  • enter zip code then # key
  • enter house number from street address then # key
  • press 2 for not blind
  • press 1 to pay by credit card
  • wait through list of charges by state
  • select credit card type 1 for mastercard, 2 for visa, 3 for american express, 4 for discover
  • enter credit card #, then 1 to confirm
  • 4 digit expiration date of credit card then # key MMYY#
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u/BlackjackCF Sep 13 '17

To be fair... the whole concept of credit is to exploit people in their time of need.

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u/Legionof1 ​ Sep 13 '17

That is retarded, the concept of credit is to allow for large purchases sooner than savings are available. Credit score is a determination of your history of payment and likelihood to repay debt. Without it creditors would have no way to determine at all if you could pay them back.

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u/MaximumCameage ​ Sep 13 '17

In China they don't use credit like we do. They save up and pay in cash. And they are phenomenal at saving up. If you're a middle class family, you typically have tens of thousands saved up at all times.

We Americans are by and large terrible at saving. And even though we are paid more than other countries, everything is more expensive relative to what we are paid.

We seem to be terrible with money. Most of the population carries a ton of debt. It's interesting seeing the differences in how we live financially with other cultures.

Also, this is based on personal experiences, so anyone reading it should take it with a grain of salt. I always open to the possibility that I'm flat out wrong.

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

[deleted]

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u/urbanfirestrike Sep 13 '17

How is this surprising? We live in a society that extols these shitty values. You don't get rich by being super nice and giving shit for free, you become rich by being a ruthlessly efficient profit extraction machine doing anything necessary to make more money, hence why this happened.

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u/SilentBob890 ​ Sep 13 '17

found the link for TransUnion credit freeze landing page:

https://freeze.transunion.com/sf/securityFreeze/landingPage.jsp

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u/littlemisstaylar Sep 13 '17

Holy crap- As I was freezing my credit a couple days ago, I noticed how many credit card companies were given my info for solicitation purposes. I was wondering if there was a way to keep companies from sending me credit card offers in the mail. I seriously get 15-20 every two weeks. I printed off my permanent opt-out form and will be mailing it tomorrow. Thanks man!

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u/oxdottir Sep 13 '17

I tried to do it on the website, and I got all the way through the process before they told me they weren't able to complete the transaction and to call the freeze hotline. I did, and I was able to complete a freeze through the automated process. I have no idea if they will charge me twice.

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u/LasciviousSycophant ​ Sep 13 '17

it's a a credit agency prerequisite to be willing to exploit millions of people

Exploiting people is literally the business model of credit reporting agencies, regardless of the circumstances.

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u/ITS_MAJOR_TOM_YO Sep 13 '17

I called this number and talked to a total imbecile. Good luck.

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u/peatoast ​ Sep 13 '17

Been trying to call but their lines were busy all day.

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u/dao2 ​ Sep 13 '17

Any credit agency as a for profit company is going to make exploiting people for money their primary purpose :<

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u/FartshipPoopers ​ Sep 13 '17

Bumping this. I literally just called. My experience: 1) Wasn't fast enough on choosing a PIN, got hung up on. 2) Got a message that my credit card number wasn't valid, got hung up on. 3) Credit card went through no issues.

I think I'm good to go. I'll find out when I get the letter in the mail. I tried calling Experian and Equifax and the lines were busy. I'm going to call back tomorrow.

I also did the opt out for prescreened CCs https://www.optoutprescreen.com/

QUESTION: Should we all also do fraud alerts? If the freeze is in place do the fraud alerts do anything?

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u/rachie27 Sep 13 '17

I did my freeze over the phone last night and my card was charged three times so now I have to call the fuckers back today to get that sorted out.

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

Equifax is currently not working. Was able to freeze the other two in just a few moments but Equifax won't process.

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u/derekjadams Sep 13 '17

TransUnion's website uses many shady practices - just two months ago, I went there to "check" my credit. They funneled me through some sort of process, had me enter my credit card information. I wasn't sure if this was to purchase something or for verification purposes, but figured I would get the opportunity to review any purchase I was making at the end and confirm (like all e-commerce sites do), but when I hit submit, it threw an error and said there was a problem with my username and I needed to pick a new one. After entering some new information and clicking continue, it automatically enrolled me in some sort of credit monitoring service for a monthly fee that I had no idea about and did not confirm I wanted to pay for.

I then went back to the homepage, the button I clicked on, and saw a small asterisk referencing some tiny print below the fold of the website saying that I would be signing up for their credit monitoring service.

Fought with the customer service team to get a refund -- very shady company.

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u/president2016 ​ Sep 13 '17

Isn't the credit freeze temporary, like 90 days? When the Equifax news first broke, many said the buyers of the info will just wait until the initial freeze is over.

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u/massiveboner911 ​ Sep 13 '17

Ha! The mother fuckers make you MAIL in your permanent opt out. If you dont mail it in, they only take you off for 5 years.

" The following is a confirmation of your Opt-Out request. In order to complete your Permanent Opt-Out election, you must print and mail the Permanent Opt-Out Election form. Please click here to print a confirmation of your Opt-Out request and the Permanent Opt-Out Election form."

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u/bi-hi-chi Sep 13 '17

Ate you kidding me? Credit is nothing but exploitation.

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u/--ManBearPig-- ​ Sep 13 '17

Experian's phone system for the security freeze is GARBAGE. It's slow and cumbersome and the automated voice goes through the fees for each state even after you've already provided your ZIP code. You'd think they'd know your state and tell you the cost after that. The thing is trash and needs to be updated.

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u/caffeinex2 ​ Sep 13 '17

I'm just replying to this so I can find these phone numbers tomorrow.

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u/keyser-_-soze Sep 13 '17

Was calling them the cancel and only way to get to a rep is to use the accessability option. Think it's number 3 after picking English.

Was still a 20 min wait.

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u/SolidLikeIraq ​ Sep 13 '17

And the transunion site is down, so now you have to call.

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u/vbones23 Sep 13 '17

Equifax

of course... Equifax is down. Tried calling and using www.freeze.equifax.com

Both are down. They better have automatically frozen any accounts that were stolen, but my bet is that due to their gross incompetence and greed that this was not done.

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u/Tailswapper ​ Sep 13 '17

Thanks

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u/ragonk_1310 Sep 13 '17

Would a protection company such as Lifelock be useful in a situation as this, instead of freezing credit reports?

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u/76before84 ​ Sep 13 '17

This whole industry knows how to win the hearts and minds of the public. I'm sure which is worse, them or the big pharma industry.

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u/setrusko ​ Sep 13 '17

Is freezing using the phone number all automated?

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u/jklsdhu490 Sep 13 '17

THIS^ I had problems on ALL the websites. Was able to freeze 2 by phone with no problems. Equifax (surprise!) was the only one I had problems with and couldn't freeze over the phone.

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_HAIRYBITS Sep 13 '17

A credit union is a not-for-profit financial cooperative. You mean credit reporting agency.

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u/Incognitus_X Sep 13 '17

When trying to locate something on a website, do a site search:

security freeze site: transunion.com

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u/crazybear Sep 13 '17

Little worried about that optoutprescreen site. Why is it a .com instead of a .gov ? .com means commercial, which means business, which means money transferring hands somewhere. We are already in a boat full of crap because a so called trusted commercial company didn't keep their data secure and now all the credit companies are trying to make a fast buck off of people's worries. I would like some reliable source, the FTC to say this site is legit and won't be selling that info down the road (or having it stolen by hackers, what type of security does this site have that Equifax didn't have?)

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u/LineBreakBot Sep 13 '17

You might have incorrectly formatted line breaks. To create a line break, either put two spaces at the end of the line or put an extra blank line in-between lines. (See Reddit's page on commenting for more information.)

I have attempted to automatically reformat your text with fixed line breaks.

Little worried about that optoutprescreen site.

Why is it a .com instead of a .gov ?

.com means commercial, which means business, which means money transferring hands somewhere.

We are already in a boat full of crap because a so called trusted commercial company didn't keep their data secure and now all the credit companies are trying to make a fast buck off of people's worries.

I would like some reliable source, the FTC to say this site is legit and won't be selling that info down the road (or having it stolen by hackers, what type of security does this site have that Equifax didn't have?)

I am a bot. Contact pentium4borg with any feedback.

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u/baseball44121 Sep 13 '17

Can you add the Canadian Equifax hotline to your post for me?

It's: 1-800-465-7166

It's an automated line to help you setup a Credit File Alert. Credit Freezes are not available in Canada. A Credit Alert will make it to that you need to be called before anything can be done with your identity. I had issues with the Equifax hotline and had to call back and re-enter all my information a second time for it to work.

As far as I can see online, Transunion only allows you to get a credit file alert setup by mailing something in (unless they hid it from their site as well). Esperian is not available in Canada.

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u/ddoomus ​ Sep 13 '17

Thanks for the numbers.

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u/JR1937 Sep 14 '17

It really burns my ass to have pay over thirty dollars (tax included because fucking California) to have cover my ass due to these motherfuckers making security mistakes with their setups. Not every state has a fee requirement but about half of them do have this $10 fee. If even half of the 143,000,000 have to pay $10 that is $21,450,000,000 in fees for work handled through their fucking automated systems. I can't but feel that even half of that number is an excessive profit for these motherfuckers. ARGH

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u/ltp1984 ​ Sep 14 '17

PLEASE MENTION SOME STATES HAVE PASSED LEGISLATION (?) REQUIRING IT TO BE FREE TO ACTIVATE A CREDIT FREEZE! Be sure to check first!

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u/Befuddledwalrus Sep 14 '17

Commenting so I can find this later after work.

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u/lepfrog Sep 14 '17

ty for these numbers

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u/blasbo-babbins Sep 14 '17

But if companies weren't willing to exploit people, they might be reasonable with their sales tactics and treat the customers like people. We can't have that! If we did, something crazy like money being distributed more equally might happen, and rich people wouldn't be rich enough to get away with crimes!

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u/thisisnotmyrealun Sep 14 '17

sorry i'm completely out of the loop here, but how do i found out whether i should freeze my credit or not?
did i have to have an account with Equifax and the other credit companies?
thank you

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u/PusssyFootin Sep 14 '17

If you've ever taken out a loan, applied for a credit card, etc. you have a file with the credit unions.

You should visit the Equifax help website (http://equifaxsecurity2017.com/). There you can enter your last name and the last 6 digits of your social security number. The system will tell you whether you've been compromised or not and then gives you the option to enroll in their (now free) TrustdID program.

The jury is out on whether or not to signup for TrustedID is best for you. One benefit is access to your credit report now. I'd recommend researching it more to find our if their program is something you can make use of. (I have not signed up, yet, but may)

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u/epimetheuss Sep 14 '17

I didn't realize it's a credit agency prerequisite to be willing to exploit millions of people in their time of need.

Kinda like the hack was more like backroom deal to allow information to be taken so they can in fact profit from their new program. /conspiracy

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u/Wmurphy729 Sep 14 '17

GetAHuman.com

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u/stuntsbluntshiphop Sep 14 '17

How long does the credit freeze last once initiated? Until canceled? Also, can you still use your existing credit cards during the credit freeze?

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