Consumer complaint received 2017-09-14
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with fraud alerts or security freezes — 
Company: EQUIFAX, INC. (CA)

After the Equifax breach, I put a freeze on all three credit reports and fraud alerts ( XXXX, XXXX and Equifax ). This was two days after the breach. I wrote the pin down. A day later I learned through news reports that the PIN was not secure, and was a date the time stamp. I have been trying to call the company and get through and for days communicated with XXXX XXXX at the XXXX, who was doing investigative work and asking XXXX XXXX questions he received from consumers, to share my experience. It was reported also in the news that XXXX XXXX acknowledged the problem with non-secure date and stamp PINS and offered to provide a remedy after widespread reporting and outrage. Today, XXXX XXXX reported the following. He asked XXXX XXXX : About those PINs : Some people want new ones, given that older PINS were not randomly generated numbers and thus may be insecure. What should people do to request one? 

Our technology team is evaluating this issue. We will communicate with you as soon as a process has been defined, XXXX XXXX said. 

" In the interim, people who want to receive a new PIN must call XXXX, speak to a live agent and provide identity verification information to receive a replacement PIN. '' I called this number and reached a representative and also her supervisor. She confirmed that I had a freeze on my credit report ( I was n't sure because for some reason the automated line I called to put the freeze on, did not ask for payment, despite having provided my zip code and state as I did with the others, so I had no proof it went through ). She said that she could lift the freeze on the current PIN ( time and date stamp ) and generate a new PIN, and that the freeze would be effective in 48 hours to 10 days, and I would be sent the new PIN in the mail, or I could call back to get it. News reports say people ca n't get through, get kicked off websites, so I was not comfortable getting off the phone without a new pin and proof that the freeze was in place. I asked how long it would take to lift the freeze, she said 15 minutes. I asked if she would lift the freeze and stay on the line with me, and then generate the new freeze and give me the PIN. She said she could not. I spoke with a supervisor, who said the same thing. So basically, it is Equifax 's error, after a severe security breach, to give out hackable, non-secure PINS, and wait almost a week for a remedy to get a secure PIN, which puts people, and myself at risk for up to 10 days without protection. There is no way to know when and if the new freeze took place or if and when a new PIN is generated. That means anyone can hack into my information now and for potentially up to 10 days. This is unacceptable. At this moment, I have no way to protect my financial information, or from identity theft. Also, no news is coming from Equifax. It is coming from investigative journalism. I wanted to also add that XXXX and XXXX  allowed for customized PINS and took my credit card information so I had a record. I ALSO STILL DO NOT KNOW IF MY CREDIT REPORT AND INFORMATION WAS COMPROMISED. Their website, it was widely reported, was not reliable for getting this information. I ask for your expedited investigation into a way that I can lift the freeze on my account to get a secure PIN and new Freeze in place. I have no way of doing this now without putting myself at further risk. I ask that there be an immediate remedy to this, and that because of Equifax 's failure to provide consumers a quick way to protect themselves, that we should be offered now and future legal protections to remedy the possibility that years down the line, we may be subjected to identity theft. We should have access to our credit reports on a daily basis. We should not have to pay to access information that belongs to us, and that these companies can not protect, nor should be pay to monitor our credit from companies who gather our information without our consent. CAN YOU ALSO PLEASE INVESTIGATE A WAY TO KNOW DEFINITIVELY IF OUR CREDIT REPORTS AND INFORMATION HAVE BEEN COMPROMISED. Could find out a way to secure a new PIN and Freeze as soon as possible with security. The company should be put on the line to remedy this immediately. I asked the supervisor why people who are newly freezing their credit reports can get a new, secure, automatically generated PIN, but she could not do so for me over the phone. She simply said she could not and would " do her best. ''