Consumer complaint received 2021-08-03
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: OH
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Credit monitoring or identity theft protection services
Sub-issue: Problem canceling credit monitoring or identify theft protection service

Complaint:
On Sunday XX/XX/XXXX when I turned on the phone at XXXX XXXX  I received a text Equifax product alert.

W

e have detected a balance change on one of your accounts. Sign into myEquifax for details. I had Equifax monitoring because of a breach at Equifax that had exposed my data in XXXX. It was free for a year or so but then it would revert to a paid subscription and my credit card was charged {$16.00} per month until I noticed the charge, commplain and they would temporarily reduce the charge to {$8.00} etc. This has happened several times in the last couple of years.

Because I have a new phone and none of my passwords transferred to the new device I tried to sign in to myEquifax on XX/XX/XXXX, Monday, on my desktop computer and was told that my password or username was not valid. When I checked my password file I had changed my Equifax password several times. I had received emails from them on the email account that I had used as a username but I was limited to the number of times that I could attempt the different passwords. My last attempt to change my password had worked at the time but was not working this time. I decided to change the password for Equifax again now because I did not want to get locked out. This required me to submit my Social Security number, my cell phone number, my address and Date of Birth. I changed the password to a new password and then when I tried to log in again using the new password it said I had the incorrect password. I called the Equifax number I had in my address book. They proceeded to ask me for my information : SS number, Cell number, DOB, and asked me if I had a mortgage. I do not. They asked me if I lived in an apartment or a house I replied that I live in a two family house and occupy the whole house. They wanted to know if I was in unit one or two. I replied both. They asked me about my credit card payments and how much they were. I pay off all credit cards every month and the payment is between {$2000.00} and {$4000.00} depending on the balance. They told me that my information was incorrect and I would have to send them a copy of my drivers license ( DL ) front and back and my Social Security ( SS ) card front and back through the US mail. The man would not tell me why I was not me. Everyone I talked to at Equifax had a Russian accent. I wondered If they had been hacked again. I hung up and looked up the Equifax number on XXXX. It was different. I called it and the man told me that I could take a picture of my Drivers license and sent me a link via text. I was taken to an Equifax app that helped me take the DL picture. It failed to get a good image. The image looked perfectly good to me but it was rejected 3 times. He sent me another link and my 3 attempts to take a picture with my new phone failed again. I was told that I would have to send them a copy of my Drivers license and SS card front and back. I told them to cancel the subscription that I was paying for. They told me that I could not cancel the subscription until I proved I was who I said I was by sending them the DL and SS card copy. I do not feel safe doing that and have never been asked to do that for anyone ever so ... Today XX/XX/XXXX I called the Attorney General of the State of Ohio and was told by the person there that this was better handled by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ( CFPB ). The guy reassured me that sending the DL and SS scan was something he would not do. So I can call my Credit Card XXXX and stop payment on this service but THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS. Who are these people that are in charge of my reputation? Have they been taken over by XXXX hackers? I have an XXXX credit score. I am done with Equifax but cant get rid of them. Please help.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation