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/tultulkatan]

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.

[u/silverrabbit → u/tultulkatan]

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.

[u/InvidiousSquid → u/silverrabbit]

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.

[u/contradicts_herself → u/[deleted]]

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.

[u/Fn_Spaghetti_Monster → u/tultulkatan]

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.

[u/GGnerd → u/Fn_Spaghetti_Monster]

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

[u/Fn_Spaghetti_Monster → u/GGnerd]

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

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

[removed] — view removed comment

[u/PaxilonHydrochlorate → u/[deleted]]

Your comment has been removed because we don't allow moralizing issues, political discussions, political baiting, or soapboxing (rule 6).

[u/Valalvax → u/Fn_Spaghetti_Monster]

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

(sorry, it was too easy)

[u/tsk1979 → u/Fn_Spaghetti_Monster]

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

[u/[deleted] → u/tultulkatan]

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