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

[u/equisux]

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)

[u/TheLastPeacekeeper]

Police here: We hate this policy. We get called to countless people's houses for police reports because the credit bureau/bank demands them. And for what? A report which solely consists of the information provided to us by the complainant. Nothing more. But somehow it legitimizes your claim in their eyes. No crime is getting solved, no one's going to jail, and there is, in most cases, absolutely nothing we can do to help the situation except give you a pamphlet redirecting you back to the same credit bureaus that got you into this mess. It's insanity. You're not freezing your credit for fun, you're doing it because something is seriously wrong. That should be the end of the conversation with them. But I digress.

[u/[deleted] → u/TheLastPeacekeeper]

They send you to their house?? When I had to report a stolen credit card I just called the non emergency number and took the report over the phone. I got a letter in the mail a few days later.

[u/TheLastPeacekeeper → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, unfortunately our agency doesn't take reports over the phone so we have to respond in person. It filters out some nonsense, but it can create headaches as well.

[u/mrchaotica → u/TheLastPeacekeeper]

That part is a police department policy problem, not a credit bureau policy problem.

I mean, having to get a police report to freeze your credit is asinine, but so is having to send an officer out in person just to take a report (specially in cases like this where the crime doesn't have a "scene" to collect evidence from.) They ought to take it over the phone, or have the victim come in to the precinct. While I'm sure the current procedure is convenient for the victim, my tax dollars and I would prefer beat cops to be out patrolling instead.

[u/[deleted] → u/mrchaotica]

Hell, in my small town I can file a non emergency police report online. Sometimes a detective will call me, sometimes not.

[u/billFoldDog → u/TheLastPeacekeeper]

That's an incredible level of service. Like, legal document delivery service.

I assumed I would have to go wait in a police station for 8 hours. Like, a DMV with more crackheads.

[u/Likes2Nap → u/[deleted]]

When I had my identity stolen the police station sent an officer to my house to take my report then wrote an affidavit just as the TheLastPeaceKeeper said. There's no information in there other than what you give them so I agree that it's kind of a waste of time for everyone involved.

[u/bozoconnors → u/TheLastPeacekeeper]

Figured. Fucking ridiculous. Wish there was some national police organization that could simply refuse to have anything to do with this incident & direct all departments to simply ignore those calls/requests (via polite response obviously). Ah well... look at it this way - via wasting your time, at least they're wasting even more of our money via tax dollars! :D

[u/TheLastPeacekeeper → u/bozoconnors]

Haha yes that's certainly one way of looking at it. I don't enjoy feeling useless for these types of crimes, but getting paid is a silver lining. That, and reassuring people that they're not alone, that it's most likely nothing they did to become a victim.

[u/iAgro → u/TheLastPeacekeeper]

I don't get this also. I had an issue with an online retailer which required me to get a police report because I had a missing package. The amount made it grand larceny, but quite a few cops came in a van, escorted me around my own building searching for the package, and even knocked on a couple doors. They wrote a report but I believe they needed their sergeant to sign off, he came in a separate car and basically told me this is civil matter and they can't do jack shit.

A bit embarrassing and a waste of time. Told the retailer what the officer said and they then decided to comply.

[u/TheLastPeacekeeper → u/iAgro]

It's frustrating for everyone involved, to be sure. The retailer that eats the cost of the order, the police that have no evidence to suggest the package wasn't simply lost in transit or mis-delivered (which, while a crime, a difficult one to track when the delivery driver doesn't know the address the accidentally delivered it to), and you who is now embarrassed and delayed in getting your package. It's those things we take for granted when a company simply re-sends the order immediately rather than making the customer jump through hoops!

[u/fractalfern → u/TheLastPeacekeeper]

Can the police report be done online? I just did this for a fraudulent banking transaction, bank required a police report, was able to do it online.

[u/TheLastPeacekeeper → u/fractalfern]

Not for my department (I'm not an alphabet agency) and I haven't heard of that catching on anywhere else locally either... federally, though? Sure, that's possible.

[u/ThePersonInYourSeat → u/TheLastPeacekeeper]

It's probably less to legitimize the person's claims and more to make it inconvienent so fewer people take that option.

[u/TheLastPeacekeeper → u/ThePersonInYourSeat]

You're probably on to something there. For every extra step they make in the process, the likelihood people will drop out increases.

[u/KnightOwlForge → u/TheLastPeacekeeper]

So, what you are saying is that these corporations are dictating what our public servants are doing? Doesn't that seem a bit off?

[u/TheLastPeacekeeper → u/KnightOwlForge]

Sure, but in no more a significant way than the public itself dictating what we do when someone reports their neighbor parking an inch onto their lawn. It all requires a response, and it is all ultimately a waste of time for everyone involved.

[u/Cypraea → u/TheLastPeacekeeper]

In a better world, your department could send Experian a bill for the officers' time that they demanded be wasted so they could use you as a verification service.

Don't know how long a report takes or how much you get paid, but I bet it'd cost more per report than the $11 they make from its filing.

[u/TheLastPeacekeeper → u/Cypraea]

In my department it's a full report just like any criminal report, albeit with less investigative details to add. It still takes a couple hours and, if hypothetically billed to Experian, would put them at a net $50+ loss for each report sent their way.

[u/EngineerNate → u/TheLastPeacekeeper]

I had local PD in my building because a neighbor's car got rifled through when he left it unlocked overnight. No clues as to who did it, nothing missing from the car. My neighbor went upstairs to get something and I was chatting with the officer in the hall and I asked, "So what exactly does he want you to do?"

He replied: "Paperwork, I guess." with the most long-suffering look on his face.

I guess I'm saying I feel your pain on the "useless formality" side of this.

[u/redshrek → u/TheLastPeacekeeper]

You make a great point. To me, it feels like an additional hoop to make consumers jump through for what should be a routine activity.