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Old 09-23-2017, 07:03 AM
 
64 posts, read 62,344 times
Reputation: 195

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Just some info pertaining to the fine folks at Equifax who got us into this mess.

Just a recap,,,
I did what the experts suggested when this happened and placed Fraud Alerts and Security Freezes on all of my credit reports with the 3 credit reporting agencies.
(I have absolutley no plans on applying for new credit, taking out a loan, changing jobs, etc, so having freezes in place does not affect me.)
I then enrolled in the "One Year Free" credit monitoring offered by Equifax and they gave me a date to come back and enroll which I did and it stated I would receive instructions in the mail to finalize the enrollment.

The instructions have yet to arrive so I attempted to enroll again two days ago and it stated I would receive an e-mail telling me how to proceed.
I received the e-mail this morning, went to the site and proceeded to enroll only to get to the end where it stated "There is a problem and enrollment cannot be completed online, please contact customer service at...
So I did call and got right thru, unfortunately it was to someone that speaks with a heavy accent and does not understand English very well.
After about 15 minutes of giving/spelling my name, phone number and neither one of us understanding what the other was saying I was asked...
"Did you place a credit freeze on your account?"
When I told her "yes I did" she responded with...
"You cannot enroll in Credit Monitoring if you have a freeze on your account, you must remove the freeze first, let me put you through to our security freeze dept."

I went off on her about how the company she works for screwed up, I followed all of the advice given by the experts and you are telling me I cannot do this???!!!
Then I hung up.

I then went to https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action to get my Equifax report which after filling out all of the info it stated that my Equifax report is unavailable to me online, if you would like a copy by mail please send all of your personal info to...

I then tried my Experian report which i was able to view and print and that shows the Fraud Alert and Credit Freeze is in place with them.

The positive about this is that I verified the freezes are in place which I was concerned about.
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Old 09-23-2017, 01:24 PM
 
10,600 posts, read 12,062,327 times
Reputation: 16764
I hadn't signed up to get an online Soc Sec. account yet.....thank God I read some thread about this mess -- that you canNOT register your Soc Sec. online account -- if you have a credit freeze on. Because SSA uses credit bureau info to confirm your identity....and the freeze keeps them from doing that...so that's yet ANOTHER thing you can't do if there's a freeze on.

(in my state freezing AND thawing costs $10 each, not to mention you don't know WHICH agency SSA is using so you could unfreeze one, and you still can't register)

It's been suggested that if you don't have an SSA online registration to go ahead an get register, so the YOU are registered before some hacker registers instead of you. For of like you beating them to your IRA refund.

SO let's see IF I had put freezes on that would have ben $30 to put them on. Then $30 to take them off. Then $30 to put them back on. NOT to mention the aggravation of dealing with the websites and phones calls to do all that.
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Old 09-23-2017, 01:40 PM
 
2,212 posts, read 1,070,658 times
Reputation: 1381
I used Experian to put a fraud alert on. Went through with no problem and Experian is going to tell the other 2 companies so fraud alert on all three now.

When that "Have you been hacked" Equifax site gave me different answers each time I figured I'd stay far away from Equifax.
They hired a bunch of people to handle the volume of calls and emails and you can bet they got minimal training.
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Old 09-23-2017, 02:00 PM
 
Location: near bears but at least no snakes
26,650 posts, read 28,563,001 times
Reputation: 50477
Quote:
Originally Posted by skycaller23 View Post
I used Experian to put a fraud alert on. Went through with no problem and Experian is going to tell the other 2 companies so fraud alert on all three now.

When that "Have you been hacked" Equifax site gave me different answers each time I figured I'd stay far away from Equifax.
They hired a bunch of people to handle the volume of calls and emails and you can bet they got minimal training.
Me too. The fraud alert is on until January and can be renewed. I KNOW WHERE THE PASSWORD IS!

Also, I use the Discover card and they send a credit report every month. That's all I'm going to do. It's outrageous that this happened but I can't be bothered with freezes.
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Old 09-23-2017, 02:03 PM
 
10,600 posts, read 12,062,327 times
Reputation: 16764
Quote:
The fraud alert is on until January and can be renewed. I KNOW WHERE THE PASSWORD IS!
You don't get a password when you just have them put the fraud alert on. It's not password-related service.
You get a notification in the mail that it's been applied. But it hasn't nothing to do with passwords.

I, too, wanted to stay away from Equifax and (now that I see they sent one people to a fake site), I'm glad I haven't been back -- AFTER of course initially typing info to supposedly find out whether my info was compromised -- remember when they told us to to that?

I called Experian to put the fraud alert on. I let them take care of notifying the other two. And of the three main bureaus -- guess who I still don't have my fraud alert notification from yet? Yep.... Equifax, which started this mess. I do presume the alert is on. I just don't have the confirmation of it yet.

Last edited by selhars; 09-23-2017 at 02:12 PM..
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Old 09-23-2017, 02:14 PM
 
Location: Raleigh
8,168 posts, read 8,493,099 times
Reputation: 10146
Quote:
Originally Posted by AK76 View Post
SAN FRANCISCO – Credit monitoring company Equifax has been hit by a high-tech heist that exposed the Social Security numbers and other sensitive information about 143 million Americans. Now the unwitting victims have to worry about the threat of having their identities stolen.
<>
No big deal; billions of devices using BlueTooth have now been compromised.
https://gizmodo.com/bluetooth-securi...ces-1803779448

"Battlestar Galactica, not just a great TV show, it's for real"
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Old 09-25-2017, 01:46 PM
 
Location: The South
7,476 posts, read 6,222,489 times
Reputation: 12981
Quote:
Originally Posted by selhars View Post
I hadn't signed up to get an online Soc Sec. account yet.....thank God I read some thread about this mess -- that you canNOT register your Soc Sec. online account -- if you have a credit freeze on. Because SSA uses credit bureau info to confirm your identity....and the freeze keeps them from doing that...so that's yet ANOTHER thing you can't do if there's a freeze on.

(in my state freezing AND thawing costs $10 each, not to mention you don't know WHICH agency SSA is using so you could unfreeze one, and you still can't register)

It's been suggested that if you don't have an SSA online registration to go ahead an get register, so the YOU are registered before some hacker registers instead of you. For of like you beating them to your IRA refund.

SO let's see IF I had put freezes on that would have ben $30 to put them on. Then $30 to take them off. Then $30 to put them back on. NOT to mention the aggravation of dealing with the websites and phones calls to do all that.
I wanted to register for a SS account, but like you I didn't want to release my credit freeze to do it.There is another option, you can set up a block that will prevent anyone including yourself from Electronically accessing your account. Once you do this, the only way a change can be made to your account is for you to visit your local Social Security office and properly ID yourself. That is what I did. I am drawing SS, so I don't need to make any changes, monitor it, etc.

https://www.ssa.gov/hlp/block-access.htm
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Old 09-25-2017, 05:31 PM
 
4,528 posts, read 3,733,557 times
Reputation: 17391
Quote:
Originally Posted by selhars View Post
I hadn't signed up to get an online Soc Sec. account yet.....thank God I read some thread about this mess -- that you canNOT register your Soc Sec. online account -- if you have a credit freeze on. Because SSA uses credit bureau info to confirm your identity....and the freeze keeps them from doing that...so that's yet ANOTHER thing you can't do if there's a freeze on.

(in my state freezing AND thawing costs $10 each, not to mention you don't know WHICH agency SSA is using so you could unfreeze one, and you still can't register)

It's been suggested that if you don't have an SSA online registration to go ahead an get register, so the YOU are registered before some hacker registers instead of you. For of like you beating them to your IRA refund.

SO let's see IF I had put freezes on that would have ben $30 to put them on. Then $30 to take them off. Then $30 to put them back on. NOT to mention the aggravation of dealing with the websites and phones calls to do all that.
You do not have to release a credit freeze to open an SS account at your local SS office.

I have a credit freeze on and couldn't open an online SS account. I went to the local SS office where they could open up an online account for me and gave me a temporary password to get in. I had to bring several forms of ID with me. If you don't want to go in person, call SS and they will tell you what credit reporting agency they use and you can unfreeze only that one for whatever time you chose. I recommend a visit in person to a local SS office if possible though.

We have had credit freezes on since the Anthem hack a few years ago that affected only 50 million, because they were too cheap to encrypt inactive stored files. We were affected by them since they administer DH's healtth plan.

Last edited by jean_ji; 09-25-2017 at 05:43 PM..
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Old 09-25-2017, 06:40 PM
 
10,600 posts, read 12,062,327 times
Reputation: 16764
Good to know for us all. But I hadn't put a credit freeze on, in the first place.
Just fraud alerts, and all available alerts on all current credit cards.

I go to the SSA office as little as possible. The people are pleasant enough I guess but I just hate going there with a passion. (Flashbacks to when as a kid I have to go with my dad, and get in line at 7a and wait an hour standing for them to open the door at 8a.)

IF I would have had to have paid the 30 bucks to lift the freezes -- I would have done that, before I take my time to go to wait in line at the SSA office.

Obviously we all feel differently about freezes and fraud alerts and how much protection we feel we need. Fraud alerts are good enough for me. For ME, just me, the freezes....I just don't want to be bothered with some of the resulting hassles.....such as what IF I HAD already put freezes on. The PITA to either lift them at a cost, or take half a morning at least, to go to the SSA office. No thanks, to either....for me.
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Old 09-30-2017, 03:57 AM
 
Location: SF Bay Area
2,033 posts, read 1,976,238 times
Reputation: 1437
Was able to do a security freeze with Transunion and Experian online hassle free, however Equifax wasn't successful. I entered my personal info on the step 1 page. When I clicked continue to get me to the step 2 page I got a error message "We Are Currently Unable To Service Your Request. Please Try Again Later". If anything, these bozos should have made it the easiest to set up a credit freeze since they started this mess. I hope their top management officials are strung up for this!!
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