Equifax says that it will waive credit freeze fees for 30 days | Hacker News Reader

Equifax says that it will waive credit freeze fees for 30 days

techcrunch.com

25 pointsuptown15 comments

I think they're limiting the timeframe to thirty days so they can make money on people unfreezing and refreezing their credit reports in the future. This is sleezy IMO and I'm not having any part of it.

It's a creditor's responsibility to issue credit to the correct person. They are probably more worried about the data breach than consumers are. If a fake account is opened in my name, I'll send some scary letters [0] until it's resolved.

I put a fraud alert on my credit report through Transunion [1]. They communicate the fraud alert to Experian and Equifax and creditors must contact me at a phone number I provided before they issue credit in my name. Though this is only for 90 days, it was free and can be extended. It buys me time to make a decision in the future, Japanese general style

[0] http://www.kalzumeus.com/2017/09/09/identity-theft-credit-re...

[1] https://fraud.transunion.com/fa/fraudAlert/landingPage.jsp

They should pay for for freezes on the other major credit reporting services as well.

That is mildly interesting. However, since the leaked information can be exploited against the other two credit reporting agencies this doesn't provide much protection.

Not only will additional fees be required to freeze experian and transunion, the process of freezing and unfreezing credit is far too time consuming and onerous.

Not to mention that the mechanism for unfreezing your credit, if you lose the codes/pins/passwords that you established when you froze it, is to verify using the very same personal data which was leaked in the first place.

These fact that they see this as acceptable shows just how arrogant and out of touch these assholes really are.

I really hope that this incident is the end of these cartels and their shitty business as we know it.

How about credit profiles are locked by default and if I want to to unlock it to apply for a credit card then I will pay a fee?

Freeze/unfreeze is free for NC residents:

http://www.ncdoj.gov/freefreeze

Check whether your state has something similar.

Don't worry, they'll still charge you to unfreeze it later!

I can't believe that credit is not frozen by default. How can anyone argue against that?

Well the Credit Reporting bureaus would make less money that way, so they can argue against it. And since they're the ones who have to do it and pay lobbyists, they get what they want.

I just find it hard to believe that there is system where it's OK for a financial company to open a bank account or credit card in someone's name without verifying that person's identity and then still hold that person accountable. From whatever I know about identity theft it's up to the victim to prove that he/she hasn't opponent the account.

This cognitive dissonance comes from belief in a just, lawful, reasonable world. The sad fact is that the golden rule holds true - the people with the gold make the rules.

It's why a bank getting defrauded by someone opening an account in your name is not the bank's problem, but your problem.

My cup runneth over.

Truly :D

Here are the links and numbers for each agency. Keep your pin safe for easy unfreezing.

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0497-credit-freeze-faq...

Listed under "how do I place a freeze..."

Others will charge a fee depending on state $0-$10

Do you have to mail them like when you're correcting an error or is this available online or via phone?

It is available online or phone:

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0497-credit-freeze-faq...

Listed under how do I place a freeze... The link and number.

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