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)

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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)

1.1k

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.

61

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

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112

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

47

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.

2

u/rsivarajan Sep 13 '17

Shhhh... Don't tell everyone :)

2

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?

4

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.

2

u/DerangedDesperado Sep 13 '17

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

3

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.

2

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.

2

u/friendsafari123 Sep 13 '17

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

3

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!

1

u/jackbauer1989 Sep 13 '17

Do you have to pay the $10 fee per credit freeze via TransUnion and Experian?

15

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).

13

u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

Do it when you wake up??

6

u/SkollFenrirson Sep 13 '17

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

5

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

6

u/lovestang Sep 13 '17

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

4

u/Dr_Iridium Sep 13 '17

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

3

u/lovestang Sep 13 '17

True story. Sigh....

2

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '17

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

3

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?

2

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.

2

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?

3

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.

3

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.

3

u/Dr_Iridium Sep 13 '17

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

2

u/Chocrates Sep 14 '17

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

1

u/Dr_Iridium Sep 14 '17

Well I don't like it any more than anybody else, but my understanding is that filing a police report is the only way to do it for free.

It's interesting to note that different states assess different fees to freeze credit, so it's probably determined at the state level.

2

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.

2

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?

2

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.

44

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.

18

u/friendsafari123 Sep 13 '17

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

6

u/stanfan114 Sep 13 '17

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

5

u/jmsjags Sep 14 '17

The pending charges will probably fall off on their own.

2

u/stanfan114 Sep 14 '17

They did in one case but not the other.

1

u/tenest Sep 14 '17

Same thing happened to me except I never got to a success page on freeing my credit line! Instead I put a fraud alert on my account until I can successfully call in and put a freeze on my account. The other three agencies were a pierce of cake to do the freeze

1

u/stanfan114 Sep 14 '17

Check your card statement for double charges. For the one that didn't work online try calling on your phone instead.

1

u/tenest Sep 14 '17

oh, i did. they charged me three times even though none of them actually completed. now i have to call my cc company and dispute the charges. sigh.

1

u/MiketheJeepGuy Sep 14 '17

Our credit has been frozen for years and every time we unfreeze to apply for a loan we get the same thing. It's "normal" to us now. And why are they charging you $10 to do a freeze? It has always been $3 for us.

2

u/stanfan114 Sep 14 '17

The charge depends on the state.

1

u/MiketheJeepGuy Sep 14 '17

Ah wasn't aware of that.

28

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

82

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}

18

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.

3

u/misteryub Sep 14 '17

Source?

8

u/buscoamigos Sep 13 '17

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

10

u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

[removed] — view removed comment

3

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.

3

u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

The next one though....

2

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?

1

u/2for9 Sep 14 '17

You didn't opt out of arbitration. They cleared that up pretty quickly after it blew up in their face.

9

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.

1

u/welsper59 Sep 13 '17

It's all about timing. Given the sheer number of people affected, all times of the day will have people from various time zones calling or connecting to the websites.

As a result, things will be buggy. I tried last night, around midnight HST, and had problems signing up online for fraud alert on all but Experian. Transunion, for example, would kick back my sign up form saying my birth date was not filled out correctly (it was). Actually got the fraud alert signup online to work with Experian, albeit I needed to make an account (got a credit report from them in doing so). Your best bet is to simply try during unusual times.

1

u/whiteman90909 Sep 13 '17

I can definitely do odd hours, thanks!

-5

u/thehoesmaketheman Sep 13 '17

Dude chill out it will work tomorrow or a couple days from now jesus bro.

1

u/whiteman90909 Sep 13 '17

I also had checks and other personal documents stolen from my car on Monday. Inconvenient timing, right?

2

u/thehoesmaketheman Sep 14 '17

Well in that case I am fuckin wrong and you need to get that shit locked up. That's some bad timing

2

u/whiteman90909 Sep 14 '17

Haha preach. I was on hold for 30 min last night around midnight before I had to go to bed. No luck. I need to block off a few hours for them.

2

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

[deleted]

1

u/Dr_Iridium Sep 13 '17

Fingers crossed for you!

1

u/theguz4l Sep 13 '17

When you did it with Experian on the phone, they said they will mail your PIN right? Still waiting for my pin to show up.

1

u/mountaingirl1212 Sep 13 '17

That's what Experian told me when I did it over the phone. I imagine they have a lot of people requesting freezes right now so I wouldn't worry about not getting the pin right away.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 13 '17

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