I just stick with Credit Karma for keeping up with my credit report. Yeah, they want to sell me loans and shit, but it's easy to ignore/block those ads and just get the data I'm looking for.
Tell HN: Equifax free credit report dark patterns
21–30 of 108 posts
Re: Tell HN: Equifax free credit report dark patterns
#22Banks and data companies are moving to biometrics for proof of identity and you may have hit this. At least 3 credit card companies I use are signed up/using a biometrics/information provider. (they wouldn’t tell me who, despite federal disclosure requirements — I only knew they were using someone because my current accurate info was replaced by info from 7 years ago) There are companies trying very hard to find out…
Their data is pretty much always wrong for me. I share my father's name, so whenever I do a credit check they ask me about the homes I owned before I was even born... Unfortunately, my family has moved a lot and I can't remember all the addresses.
Re: Tell HN: Equifax free credit report dark patterns
#23It is mind-blowing to me how incompetent the credit agencies are. I just tried to check my credit was frozen everywhere and I couldn't log into Experian. Tried "forgot my password"... oops, "can't find your username". Tried entering my email, "please verify with your phone number"... oops, "doesn't match our records". Tried "verify another way" and it asked for my phone number and last 4 of my SSN. Hey, that worked!…
You are not their customer.
Re: Tell HN: Equifax free credit report dark patterns
#24Banks and data companies are moving to biometrics for proof of identity and you may have hit this. At least 3 credit card companies I use are signed up/using a biometrics/information provider. (they wouldn’t tell me who, despite federal disclosure requirements — I only knew they were using someone because my current accurate info was replaced by info from 7 years ago) There are companies trying very hard to find out…
You’re forgetting about the KYC/AML laws that lets these companies do that. They can deny bank loans, auto loans, etc based on comment history and then hide behind KYC/AML laws. Under those laws, they don’t have to provide any reason whatsoever for the rejection and can operate without impunity. They are the judge, jury, executioner and the government gave them that power.
For those of us not up to speed on finance TLA's: KYC (Know Your Customer) AML (Anti-Money Laundering)
Re: Tell HN: Equifax free credit report dark patterns
#25> confirmed identity by asking knowledge based questions I'm not sure I feel good about this either. Isn't your mother's maiden name, the street you grew up on, your first concert, or your pet's name all information that is pretty much well known by now. Primarily by you (royal) for taking those stupid social media quizzes.
I actually prefer this over the other currently available options (Install our app on your phone so you can click "Accept" ... and give us access to scrape everything off of your smartphone!). I just select random questions from their list, and use the same answer for each of the questions. If they don't accept the same answer for each question, then I conclude I don't need whatever it is they're offering as badly as they think I need it, and move on to another entity or form of communication (if you won't make this convenient for me, then fine -- you can send me snail mail correspondence).
Re: Tell HN: Equifax free credit report dark patterns
#26It is mind-blowing to me how incompetent the credit agencies are. I just tried to check my credit was frozen everywhere and I couldn't log into Experian. Tried "forgot my password"... oops, "can't find your username". Tried entering my email, "please verify with your phone number"... oops, "doesn't match our records". Tried "verify another way" and it asked for my phone number and last 4 of my SSN. Hey, that worked!…
I'm completely blocked out of equifax ever since their hack. I've even sent them a certified letter and no response. Impossible to call them too. Just says sorry contact us... ok
Been annoying when trying to have a credit check run and the place uses equifax and they deny based on frozen credit. Like ya, I know. Could be worse I suppose, could be open and unable to freeze.
Re: Tell HN: Equifax free credit report dark patterns
#27The problem is, as you articulated, they are required by law to provide credit reporting information about you to you. They have no incentive to do this because they make their money by collecting and selling data about us.
They have every reason to use this reporting requirement to collect more information about you.
They have every reason to conflate credit freeze with credit hold, and confuse consumers in order to extract regular payments from them.
They have zero reason to keep sensitive data about you secure. In fact, they have every reason to promote fear and uncertainty in the public that their sensitive personal information is in the hands of criminals as a growth opportunity for their industry to sell credit monitoring services.
They have successfully convinced the public that identity theft is a separate and distinct crime done exclusively by one person to another rather than simply fraud that they are aiding and abetting.
Consumers and credit reporting bureaus have a fundamentally adversarial relationship that no legislation can harmonize. They exist because they do serve a purpose for finance, which is to give an indication of how much money they can make lending money to someone. Regardless, this reporting does not have to be done by for-profit corporations. This can just as easily be done by non-profits or government agencies. Although these are not perfect, they are free of the perverse incentives driven by for profit corporate structures.
Re: Tell HN: Equifax free credit report dark patterns
#28I continue to request my reports via certified mail to the annualcreditreport address, and this time for the first year Equifax just ... didn't reply. Completely ignored my request.
Submit a complaint via the CFPB. They most certainly will then respond.
I had a frustrating experience trying to obtain my consumer report from Early Warning Services, a less-known alternative to Chex Systems. Their process for requesting a report was unnecessarily complex and seemed designed to discourage users.
Initially, I had to navigate to a hidden webpage, which then directed me to a PDF form. This step alone was convoluted. After filling out the form, I discovered a line within the PDF that provided a link to a consumer portal, which looked like it hadn't been updated since the early 2000s.
The next step required me to create an account on this outdated portal, upload the completed PDF, and wait for a response.
However, my troubles didn't end there. For reasons unknown to me, my account was suddenly deleted. When I reached out to their IT support for help, they were clueless about the reason behind this issue.
Fed up with the lack of support and transparency, I decided to file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). To my surprise, this action prompted a swift response from Early Warning Services. Within just two days of filing the complaint, they sent me my consumer report.
Re: Tell HN: Equifax free credit report dark patterns
#29It is mind-blowing to me how incompetent the credit agencies are. I just tried to check my credit was frozen everywhere and I couldn't log into Experian. Tried "forgot my password"... oops, "can't find your username". Tried entering my email, "please verify with your phone number"... oops, "doesn't match our records". Tried "verify another way" and it asked for my phone number and last 4 of my SSN. Hey, that worked!…
I'm completely blocked out of equifax ever since their hack. I've even sent them a certified letter and no response. Impossible to call them too. Just says sorry contact us... ok Been annoying when trying to have a credit check run and the place uses equifax and they deny based on frozen credit. Like ya, I know. Could be worse I suppose, could be open and unable to freeze.
Try opening a new account with a different email. Worked for me when I tried after going through the process.
Re: Tell HN: Equifax free credit report dark patterns
#30> confirmed identity by asking knowledge based questions I'm not sure I feel good about this either. Isn't your mother's maiden name, the street you grew up on, your first concert, or your pet's name all information that is pretty much well known by now. Primarily by you (royal) for taking those stupid social media quizzes.
I actually prefer this over the other currently available options (Install our app on your phone so you can click "Accept" ... and give us access to scrape everything off of your smartphone!). I just select random questions from their list, and use the same answer for each of the questions. If they don't accept the same answer for each question, then I conclude I don't need whatever it is they're offering as badly as…
I used my password manager to fill in those questions with passwords, but that proved difficult when I had to provide the answer to the question over the phone to some rep.