Consumer complaint received 2021-11-03
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with fraud alerts or security freezes — 
Company: Experian Information Solutions Inc. (CO)

Complaint regarding Experian Security Freeze and Associated Customer Support.

Experian have designed a system of enabling and disabling a security freeze that is designed to make the process as inaccessible as possible to consumer attempting to exercise their legal rights to freeze their credit reports. Unalike other credit reporting bureaus, Experian utilizes an antiquated and convoluted system to enable and disable security freezes, designed in such a manner as to force consumers into expensive, paid subscriptions for Experian credit monitoring rather that the free security freeze they are mandated to supply to consumers. 

Experian provides customer service numbers that are not in service ( see attached screenshot ), the number provided - XXXX XXXX XXXX - it not listed as in service. 

Their customer credit alert and security freeze line ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) is automated and provided very limited functionality to do anything other than place a security freeze on the account. The automated line also provided misleading information telling customers they are able to remove the security freezes from their account using this number- which they are not ; no such option exists on this automated line. Further, when a security freeze is enacted via the phone service, the automated system states a PIN will be send via email. The email is never sent regardless of whether an customer has an account with Experian. 

Further, if the stone wall Experian is putting up around accessibility to security freezes was not already enough, the their online, secure document up-load service is also not functioning. Again see attached images. The timeout dialog is present from the moment the page loads. 

Experian also provides " live chat '' service for customer support which are inoperable. However, these service never work, when the live agent chat is 'green ' and list an agent as available the agent immediately becomes unavailable the moment the chat is initiated and chat dialogue ends the chat. Again see attached screenshots of these dialogues. 

These conditions are not temporary or sporadic outages or technical faults. I have tested all of these service on the following dates and time and found the same conditions described above to exist indicating this is permeant state : Wednesday XXXX XXXX, 2021 - XXXX MDT Friday XXXX XXXX, 2021 - XXXX MDT Friday XXXX XXXX, 2021 - XXXX hrs XXXX Monday XXXX XXXX, 2021 - XXXX MDT Tuesday XXXX XXXX, 2021 - XXXX MDT Tuesday XXXX XXXX, 2021 - XXXX MDT This requires customers to send physical copies of SSN, Utility Bills and State / Federal ID to Experian 's 'Security Freeze Department '. This also represents a threat to customers personal information as SSN, address and DOB are mailed in an envelop marked with " Security Freeze Department '', immediately identifying the content of the letter to any would-be identify thief with the capacity to check Experian 's security freeze policy.

It is also possible for fraudsters/ pranksters to place a security freeze on accounts which they do not own or are not legally affiliated to simply by knowing the SSN number via Experian 's system. This is a significant risk to consumers.

As mentioned above the system is designed specifically to cause maximum inconvenience to customers trying to utilize the free security freeze service in order to force them onto one of Experian 's paid subscription services for credit monitoring. It is a consumer right to be able to enact and disable a security freeze, protected by law and Experian should have to ensure accessibility to this function. XXXX and XXXX have very straightforward and simplistic systems that allow this to happen in a few button clicks. 

Experian 's practices around 'trigger leads ' needs to be addressed also, and the CFPB should take action to limit credit reporting bureau 's ability to partake in these practices, especially when companies like Experian take it to the extreme and risk customers ' personal and credit information in this activity.