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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

#31

Post by heifer2822 »

yadongwen wrote: post #17
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..

Yeah, I tried that advice yesterday and none of the links work. They just give some error after you fill them out.

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

#32

Post by astura »

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.

We are not their customers. Average Joe on the street is not their customer. No individual is their customer.[1]

Their customers are other businesses - mainly banks/credit card companies/lenders as well as background checking services. They have no reason to provide customer service to individuals in their database - they are required to provide minimum services by law.

[1] Actually, now some offer "credit monitoring services" to individuals, which are a cash hog because these services are absurdly overpriced and kinda scammy.

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

#34

Post by pkulak »

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…

Just 90 days? I'd rather freeze my credit. I already bought a house and a car. I'm done with needing credit for the foreseeable future. Freezing all 4 accounts (including Innovis, which actually seems like the most competent of the bunch) is the ticket for me.

https://www.experian.com/ncaconline/freeze

https://www.freeze.equifax.com/Freeze/jsp/SFF_PersonalIDInfo...

https://freeze.transunion.com/sf/securityFreeze/landingPage....

https://www.innovis.com/securityFreeze/index

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

#35

Post by pm24601 »

micaksica wrote: post #3

Because I hate these clickbait titles: the author plays phone-go-round, calls four numbers, waits on hold a bunch, gets disconnected, and eventually gets transferred to an "agent" that ends up being a busy tone. All that was accomplished was that he placed an automated fraud alert, even though his original question was whether or not he was affected by the Equifax breach.

Not click bait at all. The article gives all the phone numbers including the "magical" phone number at the end to get the 90 fraud alert ( 1-800-525-6285 ) including the advise to not make any noise on this call.

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

#36

Post by bdibs »

rrauenza wrote: post #22
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…

So ... what happens if I list myself as Active Duty? They also have a 7 year extended plan. http://www.equifax.com/credit/fraud-alerts/& 3 Main Types of Alerts and Length of Effectiveness: Initial Fraud Alert: 90 days Active Duty Alert: 1 year Extended Fraud Alert: 7 years Extended Fraud Alert Request Form To place an extended fraud alert on your credit file please send to Equifax – via Fax or US Mail - a valid polic…

Active Duty means Active Duty in the military, so I'm assuming they'd require some documentation.

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

#37

Post by sushikokk »

paulgb wrote: post #28

> I could set up a 90-day fraud alert that would force creditors to call me — at a number of my choosing — before agreeing to open any new accounts in my name. This should be the default, for everyone, for free. If banks don't want to do the bare minimum to verify your identity, the liability for identity theft should be on them and not you.

What stops the hackers to do this first and give their own telephone number? They have all your details.

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

#38

Post by vlunkr »

pkulak wrote: post #34
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…

Just 90 days? I'd rather freeze my credit. I already bought a house and a car. I'm done with needing credit for the foreseeable future. Freezing all 4 accounts (including Innovis, which actually seems like the most competent of the bunch) is the ticket for me. https://www.experian.com/ncaconline/freeze https://www.freeze.equifax.com/Freeze/jsp/SFF_PersonalIDInfo... https://freeze.transunion.com/sf/securityFreeze/land…

They did say "if nothing else". Implying that you should do more. I got the 90 alert, it takes literally 2 minutes so it's a great first step.

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

#39

Post by josefresco »

This lines up with my experience with TransUnion.

Called the day after the news broke, and successfully setup a fraud alert on my account using a automated phone system in 3 minutes and 44 seconds.

So thrilled with this easy process, I call my Mom/Dad and instructed them to do the same.

About a day later I call again to do the same process for my wife. Got almost to the end (after giving them her SS#), but then something changed ... TransUnion started listing extensive documentation I had to snail mail to them - it took several minutes for this message to play out, after which I received no confirmation that the fraud alert was successfully activated. It seemed as though I was "kicked over" to the identify theft reporting line, because the documents they asked for seemed like something you would send to them, if your identify had already been stolen.

Called Experian immediately after, hoping their system might be working better. Their automated system failed to even start the process - I gave up.

Now my wife is convinced I gave her SS# to some random stranger. FML

TL;DR: TransUnion telephone fraud alert worked on Monday, but now is fucked.

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

#40

Post by pmarreck »

bdibs wrote: post #36
rrauenza wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So ... what happens if I list myself as Active Duty? They also have a 7 year extended plan. http://www.equifax.com/credit/fraud-alerts/& 3 Main Types of Alerts and Length of Effectiveness: Initial Fraud Alert: 90 days Active Duty Alert: 1 year Extended Fraud Alert: 7 years Extended Fraud Alert Request Form To place an extended fraud alert on your credit file please send to Equifax – via Fax or US Mail - a valid polic…

Active Duty means Active Duty in the military, so I'm assuming they'd require some documentation.

We're learning that making reasonable assumptions about Equifax is a shot in the dark at best. I wouldn't assume a damn thing with them at this point
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