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Reported difficulties getting help on Equifax's phone lines

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Reported difficulties getting help on Equifax's phone lines

#11

Post by MJR »

voiper1 wrote: post #5

TL;DR: Equifax phone lines unhelpful for anything. Suggestion, from https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/6yv4gb/off... If you do nothing else, place an initial 90 day fraud alert on your file. This is free and will require lenders to contact you if someone (including yourself) tries to apply for credit. Government info. You only have to do this with one bureau in order for the alert to be placed on all t…

Hopefully saving people some time - Equifax is "unable to process" online requests - which they tell you after your submit the form. And Transunion's website for fraud alerts is currently "temporarily unavailable".

Re: Reported difficulties getting help on Equifax's phone lines

#12

Post by post_break »

voiper1 wrote: post #5

TL;DR: Equifax phone lines unhelpful for anything. Suggestion, from https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/6yv4gb/off... If you do nothing else, place an initial 90 day fraud alert on your file. This is free and will require lenders to contact you if someone (including yourself) tries to apply for credit. Government info. You only have to do this with one bureau in order for the alert to be placed on all t…

Transunion isn't working. The automated phone line sends you to a disconnected number. Enabling a freeze online with them does not work and 404's.

Re: Reported difficulties getting help on Equifax's phone lines

#13

Post by lightbyte »

g051051 wrote: post #9
voiper1 wrote: post #5

TL;DR: Equifax phone lines unhelpful for anything. Suggestion, from https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/6yv4gb/off... If you do nothing else, place an initial 90 day fraud alert on your file. This is free and will require lenders to contact you if someone (including yourself) tries to apply for credit. Government info. You only have to do this with one bureau in order for the alert to be placed on all t…

Yeah, I just tried to add this via the Equifax link, entered all of my info, and got an instant "the system is down" error. Edit: Experian displays a grey screen that says "Loading" Edit: TransUnion requires I set up an account.

For what it's worth, the Equifax link is now working and I was able to place the alert. Experian still is displaying the grey "Loading" page.

Re: Reported difficulties getting help on Equifax's phone lines

#14

Post by lightbyte »

MJR wrote: post #11
voiper1 wrote: post #5

TL;DR: Equifax phone lines unhelpful for anything. Suggestion, from https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/6yv4gb/off... If you do nothing else, place an initial 90 day fraud alert on your file. This is free and will require lenders to contact you if someone (including yourself) tries to apply for credit. Government info. You only have to do this with one bureau in order for the alert to be placed on all t…

Hopefully saving people some time - Equifax is "unable to process" online requests - which they tell you after your submit the form. And Transunion's website for fraud alerts is currently "temporarily unavailable".

Equifax processed my request OK and gave me a confirmation #. I'd suggest trying again.

Re: Reported difficulties getting help on Equifax's phone lines

#16

Post by lucb1e »

distantsounds wrote: post #7

Honestly, I would have expected it to take hours. 42 minutes is actually not too bad, I've been on hold with my ISP for longer than that. To be fair, he didn't get the answer he was looking for, so this could have dragged on much longer if he persisted in the phone-only route. I actually would have preferred that instead.

> I've been on hold with my ISP for longer than that

Sounds like it's time for a new ISP. I get impatient with XS4ALL after more than a minute or two, but then they've been spoiling me with sub-minute answering times for years. They scored extremely well in ratings, I figured they went "well we can do a little less well and save some money". Still great service -- but to come back to your situation, 42 minutes is ridiculous. Snail mail is faster at that point.

Re: Reported difficulties getting help on Equifax's phone lines

#17

Post by yadongwen »

voiper1 wrote: post #5

TL;DR: Equifax phone lines unhelpful for anything. Suggestion, from https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/6yv4gb/off... If you do nothing else, place an initial 90 day fraud alert on your file. This is free and will require lenders to contact you if someone (including yourself) tries to apply for credit. Government info. You only have to do this with one bureau in order for the alert to be placed on all t…

None of the 3 links work for me. How difficult to save data from a form? I'm appalled by the technical capabilities of these crucial service providers..

Re: Reported difficulties getting help on Equifax's phone lines

#18

Post by imglorp »

nafizh wrote: post #2

I am tempted to say I am appalled by the utter disregard these credit reporting agencies have for consumers, but I am not really surprised. Coming from a country with a tradition of public institutions, it is amazing to see private credit reporting agencies in US, because this should be a public service from the Government.

The reason they have such contempt for you is that you're NOT THEIR CUSTOMER. Their customers are lenders looking for dirt on you.

The only reason they talk to you, with overt disdain and reluctance, is the government says they have to.

Re: Reported difficulties getting help on Equifax's phone lines

#19

Post by lightbyte »

nafizh wrote: post #2

I am tempted to say I am appalled by the utter disregard these credit reporting agencies have for consumers, but I am not really surprised. Coming from a country with a tradition of public institutions, it is amazing to see private credit reporting agencies in US, because this should be a public service from the Government.

>I am appalled by the utter disregard these credit reporting agencies have for consumers

I think you're misunderstanding these credit companies. We (american citizens) are not their customers, we are the product. The customers are the businesses who use them to lookup our credit.

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