3 Weeks Later, Equifax Makes a Peace Offering

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/27/your-money/equifax-credit-freeze-lock-apology.html

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For some time, the credit reporting industry has been quietly attempting to change the behavior of consumers who wish to protect their own data: They want you to “lock” your files, not “freeze” them.

Freezing allows you to close down your credit file in a way that stops thieves in their tracks. When they try to open new credit in your name, the bank or cellphone company will find that it can’t pull the credit report. This can cost the bureaus money. If you simply don’t bother applying for instant credit at the department store or do not remember the numerical PIN they gave you to thaw your file, then the bureaus can’t sell that access to your file. Freezes are also subject to state laws.

But locking — which has the same effect as freezing — faces no such rules and has no hard-to-remember PIN. When Equifax issued the mea culpa it owed us a few weeks ago via an op-ed column in The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday night, Paulino do Rego Barros Jr., the interim chief executive, threw a padlock our way.

The company says its credit lock will be free for life and be ready by Jan. 31. It already offers a credit locking service, so perhaps we should take its word on the date.

This is the same company, however, that could not create a functioning website for people worried about whether thieves had stolen their Social Security numbers. People who have been trying to freeze their files have run into too many problems to name, and many of them do not yet have PINs. I’ve received hundreds of emails complaining about Equifax’s basic dysfunction.

All we know about its locking service is what Mr. Barros said in his op-ed piece. Here are the questions we don’t have answers to, drawn from 18 questions I sent to Equifax on Tuesday night about locks and freezes.

Why not make freezes free for life, too? Why not make them easier to use instead of inventing an entire separate mechanism? Given the mess you face with people’s data security, why not create a three-bureau freeze or lock, so that people don’t have to worry about thieves taking data stolen from Equifax and using it through competitors, Experian or TransUnion?

Other things we don’t know yet: Whether Equifax will force people to submit to mandatory arbitration or some other loss of privileges or rights in exchange for free locks for life. Or whether your name will end up on lists for various offers of credit. This is how TransUnion’s similar free service works, one that it’s been pushing hard at people who have come to its website looking for a credit freeze in the wake of the Equifax hack.

Unlocking a file is instant. Over the years, and even on Experian’s website as recently as this week, people in the industry and banking representatives have repeatedly warned that it can take days to unfreeze your file, which can cause big problems if you’re trying to buy a car or close on a home.

That scares plenty of people off, but it is not true. Experian and TransUnion spokesmen both said this week that lifting a freeze by phone or online should take no more than 15 minutes as long as you have your PIN in hand. I’ve had my files frozen for a decade and have always found the thawing to be instantaneous.

Experian’s lock is only available with a monthly credit monitoring service, which can cost $9.99 to $24.99 a month. This will always cost more than simply freezing your credit file, even if you thaw it frequently and live in states that have higher than average freeze costs.

I’m inclined to accept Equifax’s apology, assuming the data breach doesn’t turn out to be an inside job. But the company has shown no ability to handle the most basic of technological tasks under pressure these last few weeks. So I see no reason to believe that the rollout of this new iteration of its lock will work very well. I’m going to keep my freeze there until further notice and feel good about any additional dollars it cannot make off my name.