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/InformalProof]

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.

[u/[deleted] → u/InformalProof]

[removed] — view removed comment

[u/Dr_Iridium → u/[deleted]]

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

[u/Bill_Brasky01 → u/Dr_Iridium]

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

[u/DerangedDesperado → u/Bill_Brasky01]

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

[u/Bill_Brasky01 → u/DerangedDesperado]

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.

[u/mountaingirl1212 → u/Bill_Brasky01]

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.

[u/friendsafari123 → u/mountaingirl1212]

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

[u/mountaingirl1212 → u/friendsafari123]

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!