Consumer complaint received 2017-09-13
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: NJ
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Improper use of your report
Sub-issue: Reporting company used your report improperly

Complaint:
This complaint is regarding the Equifax data breach first reported to the public in XXXX 2017. Equifax has been completely unhelpful thus far, offering only a website ( www.equifaxsecurity2017.com ) where one can check if his/her information has POTENTIALLY been compromised. 

One serious problem with using the site mentioned above is the terms of service on that site, which state that a person who uses the lookup service provided there waives his/her legal rights. Considering that personal information released in the data breach will be " out there '' in the world in perpetuity, it is completely unacceptable that anyone be denied his/her legal rights by using their service. This is Equifax 's mess, that Equifax is now imposing on consumers ; taking away legal rights is completely unethical. Please investigate, and take steps against Equifax forcing them to remove such language and requirements from the website. 

Another problem is that all attempts to get a copy of my credit report from Equifax have failed. I am accustomed the the procedure of getting my credit report from all three major credit reporting agencies. Equifax is requiring people to input all of their information, is asking questions to confirm identity, and then presents the online user with an error page ( for lack of a better term ) saying that the request for a credit report can not be processed. The same page instructs the user to send -- by snail mail -- an long and involved letter requesting the report, along with copies of the customer 's Social Security card and other personal documents. Again, Equifax is requiring this by snail mail. Given Equifax 's lax security and total breach of public trust, this request is ludicrous. Equifax can not be trusted with such delicate information, especially in hard copy format. 

This is tantamount to denying me a credit report, since Equifax has demonstrated an astounding lack of security. 

Final problem for the purpose of this report : Equifax can not be contacted for the purpose of placing a fraud alert AND a freeze on my credit account. Per the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, placing a fraud alert with one reporting agency can result in the other two agencies being notified of the fraud alert, BUT ONLY IF YOU REQUEST IT EXPLICITLY. I did not know this when I placed a fraud alert through XXXX XXXX  website, and there was no notice on XXXX XXXX  website that I had to request that XXXX  have XXXX and Equifax also place fraud alerts on my accounts. 

Equifax has created a mess, and then made itself either a ) inaccessible to help consumers, and/or b ) to get help, you must use their www.equifaxsecurity2017.com website which causes the consumer to waive legal rights. This is not right, and Equifax needs to be investigated and compelled to protect consumers ' legal rights as well as be compelled to provide credit protection services -- not for one lousy year, but in perpetuity. After all, the information they were responsible for safeguarding will be " out there '' forever. I and other consumers will have to incur extra expenses and hassles for decades to come. 

Please investigate and force Equifax to correct the problems I detailed above.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation