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Equihax

krypt3ia.wordpress.com

81–90 of 209 posts

Re: Equihax

#81

Cool, this is good news as it means I might actually be able to find out my credit score. I recently sent in an application to Equifax to get my credit score along with all the security documents, proof of address, passport, drivers license, registered mail etc. and they rejected my application because I didn't provide a hydro bill. Unfortunately, I live in an apartment and I don't pay hydro, so I sent in a copy of t…

If its only the score you want, cant you get that from creditkarma for free?

You can get a "FAKO" score from CreditKarma.

Re: Equihax

#82

600 BTC = ~2,111,994 USD

Maybe by the time they get their 600 BTC and go to cash out they'll be able to buy a used motorcycle. Or else a small country.

One never knows.

Re: Equihax

#83
post #39

Cool, this is good news as it means I might actually be able to find out my credit score. I recently sent in an application to Equifax to get my credit score along with all the security documents, proof of address, passport, drivers license, registered mail etc. and they rejected my application because I didn't provide a hydro bill. Unfortunately, I live in an apartment and I don't pay hydro, so I sent in a copy of t…

Score or report? You're entitled to a copy of your credit report annually from each credit bureau, but not the score. I believe lenders typically use a score computed by s third party - often the "FICO Score," from Fair Isaac.

It is common for them to refuse to give you the legally required annual credit report because the data they use to verify your identity is wrong.

Presumably, if you had your record from the dump, you could type in the wrong answers they are looking for and get your free equifax report.

Usually, only one or two of the big three have a poison record that blocks access, so I guess this would only reliably unlock equifax reports.

Re: Equihax

#84
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, at best, that tool from Equifax is unreliable. People have put in fake users and SSN and still it's told them they were affected. At worst, it's just another way to get customers to sign up for a new service.

I put in the SSN of my family and it states we were affected, I put in fake names and SSN and it says we were probably not affected.

Maybe they've fixed it, but it has definitely been wonky. Some folks got different responses on mobile vs. desktop with the same info.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/08/psa-no-matter-what-you-wri...

Re: Equihax

#85
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I actually thought the same thing, which made me think maybe this isn't real? That number seems really low, doesn't it?

I wouldn't be that surprised that she would miss lots of consecutive payments. Not because she didn't have the money, but because she doesn't care. 3 late payments in a row on a mortgage, credit card, etc, drags down your score a lot. Or perhaps she had little credit history. I could see a scenario where most of her stuff is financed through an LLC vs her personal credit. If your business is solely "being popular", a…

I doubt she's sitting down once a week or so and paying any bills. I imagine somebody else does that for her.

Re: Equihax

#86
post #37

EDIT: see philipodonnell's reply to this post for an alternative explanation. I may have jumped the gun. As far as I know credit scores are not part of credit reports as they do not show up when you request your credit report. If they were storing "credit score" as part of your credit report but withholding that information when you request a copy that would seem to violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act. It wouldn't…

You're assuming this is a database dump. It looks more like logs from the service that creates PDF versions of reports for download. That would have a more simplistic data structure that might look like this.

Very good point. I admit, I looked at the JSON pretty quick assuming it was a database dump export (obviously the database isn't a JSON file) and thought "this doesn't make sense" and didn't think about it much more.

It still looks sorta "off" to me even as logs.

Re: Equihax

#87
post #9

Is those Donald Trump, Kim Kardashian and Bill Gates real SS numbers?

Dunno why, but just surprised that Kim K's credit score with Equifax is 643. Unrelated, sorry.

That makes sense to me.

Having zero debt (and no credit cards) can easily knock your score that low, even if you have a perfect payment record.

The whole credit score thing is an extortion game:

To the consumer: Want a loan? Buy everything on cash back cards.

To vendors: Don't like the fact that we're upping transaction fees? What percentage of your customers use credit cards again?

If they actually were worried about your ability to repay a new debt, the fact that you already have a pile of debt would not increase your score.

Re: Equihax

#88
post #37

EDIT: see philipodonnell's reply to this post for an alternative explanation. I may have jumped the gun. As far as I know credit scores are not part of credit reports as they do not show up when you request your credit report. If they were storing "credit score" as part of your credit report but withholding that information when you request a copy that would seem to violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act. It wouldn't…

Each agency has their own credit score. In addition they will compute a Fair Isaac score on demand because FICO charges a royalty to compute the FICO. The royalty is the reason they dont giveva FICO with the free annual report.

Re: Equihax

#89
post #66
post #42

I actually kinda hope all the data is made public, as that would (at least hopefully) force people to stop treating knowledge of someone's SSN as valid proof of identity, and lead to a better situation overall.

I really hope that's the outcome here. I also think this should pave the way for real legal consequences for moronic data security. Individuals are banned from using computers when prosecuted, what about "no internet for companies who've proven they can't use it responsibly"

> Individuals are banned from using computers when prosecuted

Who is banned from using computers? You mean, in prison?

Re: Equihax

#90
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder as well. I think we all forget how important credit reports are in giving banks comfort to lend (not that this is the only way to do it, but it seems that this is the current way). If people can default on a uncollateralized loan with no ramifications, no bank would lend and the credit engine would shut down.

People also forget about of rule of law. I defaulted on my loan? Sue me. Want to give me a loan? Search for me in public court records.

If you think about it from the bank's perspective though, why would they lend you any money if you were likely to default and they would have to sue you to get money back. That would mean that the cost of your loan would go up for them and therefore, your borrowing rate goes up tremendously.

Humans don't have an innate right to borrow money. It's a service provided by financial institutions for a fee. I don't think credit reports are the best solution (far from it) but they definitely improve your ability to borrow money, at least if you have a good one. :)

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