EQUIFAX, INC.

2017-09-13

MI

Improper use of your report

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Reporting company used your report improperly
Complaint: According to Equifax, my personal information was accessed by an unknown third party in the security breach that occurred on XXXX XXXX, 2017.
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2017-09-13

Ocean City, MD

Improper use of your report

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Reporting company used your report improperly
Complaint: It is unbelievable that Equifax waited so many days to acknowledge and make consumers aware that their security had been breached and the information of millions of people, info they have no control over nor say in most cases without paying them, was stolen. Lest anyone be confused, it took them a considerable amoutn of time to even realize their security had been breached. Equifax 's lack of a meaningful initial response, unpreparedness for dealing with the problem and having meaningful solutions with a week to prepare before letting people know, and a horrible website that was confusing, lacking credible and usable information, and had an ID theft checker that sent everyone to another confusing page that said you had to wait to sign up, whether or not you used a real name or random six numbers. This is completely unfathomable, and as a corporation and " individual '', as recognized by the courts, publicly and socially irresponsible, and put us in danger of damages, both financially and physically, that could result from the release of the stolen information, the delayed public response, and incomplete measures and solutions Equifax offered consumers to deal with the breach. Now I, and my fellow Americans, have another headache -- or possibly numerous if the information is used to file a false tax return, charge items on credit cards or drain bank accounts -- to deal with.
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2017-09-13

Berthoud, CO

Problem with fraud alerts or security freezes

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Complaint: Credit reporting companies, the big three - equifax, XXXX, and XXXX all charge fees for instituting, thawing, and lifting credit freezes. These companies collect this information without my consent and I am coerced in to " doing business '' with them if I want to be involved in society in any meaningful way. The fact that I have to PAY THEM MONEY to adequately protect my valuale personal information is a discrace. Since I and other consumers have no recourse to not to business with these companies ( other than exit from society all together ) free market principles will not work to solve this problem. And I am forced to pay their fees. For example, if I do n't like that XXXX charges a fee for a credit freeze, I ca n't just decide to move my business to XXXX. And for those who the can not easily afford the fees ( x3 because you need to do it at three companies ), this is even more burdensome and onerous. Thus some type of protection from these abuse of the market by these companies is needed. Some states have such laws, but not my state. In light of the egregious theft of my highly valuble personal information from Equifax, the importance of a security freeze is great. These comanies should allow me to protect my information without financial penalty.
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2017-09-13

Discovery Bay, CA

Problem with fraud alerts or security freezes

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Complaint: I was part of the Equifax credit information hack. I find it unacceptable that I have to PAY to freeze my credit when I did n't consent to my information being stored by Equifax, XXXX, or XXXX in the first place. Congress should make credit freezes and unfreezes free federally. Credit reporting agencies already make money off of my information and I should not be required to pay them additional money to protect my information, especially when they are doing a POOR job in the first place. Thank you for taking time to read my complaint.
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2017-09-13

FL

Problem with fraud alerts or security freezes

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Complaint: Trying to put initial Fraud Alert on my credit with Equifax. First tried calling - XXXX - get past first entry, but when trying to enter social security number, I receive an error, whether I try to enter it verbally or by key entry. Told to either go on-line to alerts.equifax.com or mail it in. Second - on alerts.equifax.com I enter all required data, click accept conditions and enter and then get a screen saying system is currently unavailable ( try again or click to print a request form ). Have tried many times with different browsers, all give same results. When I click on print request form, I get the wrong form ( extended alert form ). A company of this size with a problem as visible as this should not have these kind of problems.
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2017-09-13

Big Stone, SD

Problem with fraud alerts or security freezes

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Complaint: At the beginning of XXXX, credit bureaus has a massive security leak, and lost sensitive data on millions of Americans. The only thing I can do to protect myself as a citizen, is freeze my credit. My issue, is that all of the credit bureaus are charging for these freezes. Freezes that must be made because of their negligence. It should not be legal for them to charge, because of problems they caused. Also, they have made it almost impossible to use their automated systems for freezing your credit. These credit institutions are obviously taking advantage of the system and the American citizens that make it possible for them to exist. This is disgusting, and must stop ...
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2017-09-13

Watkins, CO

Credit monitoring or identity theft protection services

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Billing dispute for services
Complaint: I was part of the Equifax credit information hack, along with half of all Americans. I find it unacceptable that I have to PAY to freeze my credit when I did n't consent to my information being stored by Equifax, XXXX, or XXXX in the first place. Congress should make credit freezes and unfreezes free federally. Credit reporting agencies already make money off of my information and I should not be required to pay them additional money to protect my information, especially when they are doing an extremely poor job in the first place. Thank you for taking time to read my complaint.
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2017-09-13

Brooklyn, NY

Credit monitoring or identity theft protection services

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Problem with product or service terms changing
Complaint: Credit freeze and thaw needs to be free. We didnt ask for these credit reporting companies to take our financial lives into their hands and it 's nothing less than extortion for them to charge money for it. XXXX changed their website after the Equifax crisis to make it harder to freeze your account and easier to pay for their " premiere protection ''. The public will not stand for this any longer.
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2017-09-13

Steamboat, CO

Problem with fraud alerts or security freezes

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Complaint: XXXX, Equifax, and XXXX all make freezing and thawing my credit extraordinarily difficult. Even in times of obvious and publicized hacks of their databases -- putting my and millions of other American 's secure information in the hands of criminals -- they are making the act of freezing and thawing my credit nearly impossible and re-directing me to PURCHASE products from them to prevent my information from being stolen. HELLO!? The U.S. government needs to step up and take the keys to the castle away from these fraudsters. It 's time to take control and start saying no to the companies that are acting no better than the petty thieves and hacks corrupting their databases.
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2017-09-13

Glass, VA

Improper use of your report

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Reporting company used your report improperly
Complaint: 1.What recourse does CFPB have against Equifax for its highly publicized data breach announced XXXX XXXX, XXXX? 2. What requirements are upon banks to ensure their vendors such as Equifax, XXXX, XXXX have to enure against data breaches. I know there are some but how did the US ' XXXX banks not have sufficient influence over this data breach at Equifax. 3.How do I join in a class action suit against Equifax?
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2017-09-13

Seattle, WA

Problem with fraud alerts or security freezes

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Complaint: Absolutely ridiculous that we 're forced to pay for freezes of our credit to companies we have never agreed to do business with to avoid ruining our credit score that is a requirement to live in modern society. I have n't been able to get through to the companies to actually freeze anything because of the XXXX caused by the equifax breach. The fact that they are charging consumers to protect their own credit and do n't have the infrastructure to allow people to do so when they need it is criminal. These are for profit corporations that are robbing consumers who simply want to avoid the absolute catastrophe of having their identities stolen. XXXX is even trying to profit from it by trying to get people to sign up for their credit monitoring service for a monthly fee. Once again the consumer gets XXXX and the corporation will keep on cashing in on people 's misfortune.
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2017-09-13

Detroit, MI

Problem with fraud alerts or security freezes

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Complaint: Equifax left sensitive credit data of over 110 million consumers open to unauthorized access. While pending civil litigation and possible criminal prosecution will determine the extent of Equifax 's negligence in this incident, in the near-term millions of Americans, myself included, remain at a heightened threat of identity theft now that our data has been compromised.
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2017-09-13

VA

Improper use of your report

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Reporting company used your report improperly
Complaint: My personal data was leaked from the most recent security breach at Equifax. Equifax has not been able to submit an annual free credit report online ; has not been able to place a fraud alert nor has it been able to freeze my credit report. Transunion charged my {$10.00} for freezing my report. XXXX and XXXX have not been able to freeze my report or place a fraud alert on it. This took several hours of fruitless work with immense frustration and looming negative effects on my credit scores and ability to leverage my well deserved good credit scores.
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2017-09-13

CA

Improper use of your report

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Reporting company used your report improperly
Complaint: Equifax did not securely store vital financial data they collected on me and millions of other people. Once the data was stolen they did not notify me directly, and had no appropriate solutions. Vital current information, like bank account numbers, addresses and drivers license number were left exposed, as was permanent information, like my social security number. This means I am for ever at risk of identity theft and tax fraud. The only solutions offered by Equifax have been temporary, limited to the next couple of months. Additionally, they have used this as an opportunity to promote other services, trying to make money from their own failure. The few options I have as a consumer ( checking my credit score, credit freezes and fraud alerts ) have been nearly impossible with all three major credit companies ( Equifax, XXXX and XXXX ). With Equifax in particular it has been completely impossible, since they seem not to have the resources to deal with all the affected customers. This means I have to spend several hours trying to solve this problem. Additionally, over the course of the lifetime this hack will affect me, I will have to keep spending time and money to freeze and unfreeze my account, and to monitor my credit. This is entirely caused by a company I never chose to have business with in the first place.
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2017-09-13

Queens, NY

Improper use of your report

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Reporting company used your report improperly
Complaint: Equifax exposed my personal information and left me vulnerable in to identity theft, by not adequately protecting confidential information such as my SSN, addresses, DOB, and ( potentially ) driver 's license number ( they have not even disclosed that ). On top of this, when Equifax learned that my information, and the information of millions of Americans, had been compromised, they waited an entire month before letting us know. Only then were we able to take appropriate action to protect ourselves from this hack - Equifax deliberately kept information from consumers in order to make themselves look better.
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2017-09-13

South Florida, FL

Improper use of your report

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Reporting company used your report improperly
Complaint: Equifax mishandled my information which has led to a breach that puts myself and millions of others at potential risk. I am extremely disappointed with how Equifax has handled reporting this breach. Very little was done to notify the public for nearly a month after the breach was detected. I received no email, letter, or phone call and instead had to discover it via my son.
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2017-09-13

NY

Improper use of your report

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Reporting company used your report improperly
Complaint: Equifax has divulged my information without my consent via the recent data breach. This has made my personal identifiable information, including but not limited to my SSN, my date of birth, and my credit card information, essentially public information.
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2017-09-13

Brooklyn, NY

Improper use of your report

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Reporting company used your report improperly
Complaint: Equifax mishandled my information which has led to a breach that puts myself and millions of others at potential risk. I am extremely disappointed with how equifax has handled reporting this breach. Very little was done to notify the public for nearly a month after the breach was detected. I received no email, letter, or phone call and instead had to discover it via social media. Going forward equifax should be required to monitor every account and notify victims if any fraud occurs. Credit fraud protection should be mandatory for every account, not an option for us to have deal with. There should also be more regulation on this industry. This should be rectified firstly by making credit freezing free and refunding everyone who paid for it following this data breach. Requiring a police report is absurd when they clearly know if you were affected.
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2017-09-13

Austin, TX

Problem with fraud alerts or security freezes

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Complaint: I was part of the Equifax credit information hack.It is not acceptable whatsoever to have me PAY to freeze my credit when I did n't consent to my information being stored by Equifax, XXXX, or XXXX in the first place. Congress should make credit freezes and unfreezes free federally. Credit reporting agencies already make money off of my information and I should not be required to pay them additional money to protect my information, especially when they are doing a POOR job in the first place.
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2017-09-13

Everett, WA

Improper use of your report

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Reporting company used your report improperly
Complaint: This is regarding the Equifax hack. The options provided on the previous screen did not fit this problem. In regard to the Equifax hacking - which took well over a month to be reported by Equifax - I was under the impression ( as per TV reports ) that I should go to XXXX and enter my information there so that I could find out whether my information was compromised. I entered all the information and the final screen read that my information may have been compromised. Now I read in other news reports that my having checked whether I 'm affected may have rendered me ineligible to join class actions lawsuits against Equifax and/or TrustedID. This is outrageous. This is evergreen data. I can not change my DOB or SSN. If Equifax compromises my information and partners with TrustedID and they make it look like I 'm only checking whether I 'm affected - all the while stripping me of my rights - then I hope the CFPB will bring suit and prevent these shenanigans. I have done nothing to compromise my information and I had no choice as to whether Equifax has my information in its database. This is outrageous. Please protect us consumers from this. These credit bureaus are not optional. Our info ends up there whether we want it there or not. If they can not guarantee our data 's safety then they should be liable when they allow it to be compromised.
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2017-09-13

San Diego, CA

Improper use of your report

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Reporting company used your report improperly
Complaint: My information, which I did not give to the credit reporting company, was mishandled. My credit information and my personal information was given out without my consent. The date of this breach was given as a range of dates starting in XXXX of XXXX and was not reported to me directly, or to the public in general until XXXX XXXX. The website is not responding to requests at this time and has continually hung. This breach of my data has made me anxious and has the possibility of effecting me for the rest of my life.
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2017-09-13

Fort Worth, TX

Improper use of your report

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Received unsolicited financial product or insurance offers after opting out
Complaint: The Equifax breech made clear that none of these credit report agencies have my or any other consumer 's security in mind. As a consumer, I have no ability to manage, secure, or opt out of the system. Identity theft is a real problem and all to easy commit with limited knowledge of the victim. Steps have to be taken on the federal level to protect US citizens and consumers from Identity theft and misuse. As I see it, the following actions need to be taken : 1. Prohibit the social security number from being used as a means of identification. The SSN should be used only for the collection, assessment, and distribution of social security taxes only. The dependency on a " secret number '' that is required for virtually every " big ticket '' purchase to keep our identities safe is an exercise in foolishness. 2. Set up HIPAA-like protections on identity. Force modern encryption standards on all databases containing identifying data. Make it incumbent upon any agency that wants to collect and store such data to properly secure it so that breech of a database can do limited damage at most. Impose stiff mandatory fines upon any company that loses control of such data and force compensation to be paid to any possible victim. 3. Come up with a system where identity can only be verified with participation of the consumer. Possibly based on a XXXX platform. Thereby the user can explicitly control who has access to his/her identity and who does not. With modern day encryption techniques and technology, this level of security is attainable. One of the main duties of the Federal Government is to protect its citizens from harm. Read any account of anybody who has had their identity stolen and you will realize a living XXXX that I pray I never experience. Do what 's right, protect your citizens.
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2017-09-13

Richland, NY

Improper use of your report

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Reporting company used your report improperly
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2017-09-13

Douglas, MI

Improper use of your report

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Reporting company used your report improperly
Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response

2017-09-13

Bethesda, MD

Problem with fraud alerts or security freezes

Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports: Credit reporting

Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response