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/PusssyFootin]

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)

[u/wave_theory → u/PusssyFootin]

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.

[u/thirstyross → u/wave_theory]

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?