vivekkopthsd/cfpb-consumer-complaints huggingface dataset:
Consumer complaint received 2017-09-09 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Improper use of your report — Reporting company used your report improperly
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
Equifax did not properly secure my protected personal information from intrusion, such as through appropriate patching, 2-factor authentication at the point of service, segmentation of data, etc. As such, it appears my full name, Social Security numbers, birth date, addresses, and possibly driver license number is cross-matched to each other and in the hands of criminals who can use this data to breach any number of accounts in perpetuity such as my banking and financial data, medical data, legal complaints, political data, and any other number of sensitive accounts. 

Further, I am unable to secure these accounts because they ask for the very personal information that is breached in order to verify my identity and approve a change. 

Equifax is currently offering a limited credit monitoring service, which does n't even activate immediately. Even this had to be sought out by those who see the news reports, follow the news links to the Equifax page, which in turn link to a shady third-party website asking for 2/3 of one 's social security number plus last name and a waiver of all class action recourse in order to discover if one is among the breached accounts, only changed to waive class action recourse from the third party site if it too is breached with the sensitive data it is querying once the news of this spread. 

This is insufficient to the need created by their negligent protection of my information, which I did not give them myself, but which they curated as their business from other businesses.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation
Consumer complaint received 2017-09-09 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Credit monitoring or identity theft protection services — Didn't receive services that were advertised
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: VA

Complaint narrative:
Equifax had a big security breach and I was identified as potentially impacted. When I tried to enroll in the Free Credit Monitoring service offered by Equifax, their system showed birthday was wrong and the call center for trusted ID said they ca n't fix it. So I called Equifax and they gave a so-called customer service number that I can NOT get through for over an hour. Is this a big SCAM on top of a bad security breach? Equifax needs to be held responsible for all the inconvenience and damages.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation
Consumer complaint received 2017-09-09 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Improper use of your report — Reporting company used your report improperly
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
Equifax did not properly secure my protected personal information from intrusion, such as through appropriate patching, 2-factor authentication at the point of service, segmentation of data, etc. As such, it appears my full name, Social Security numbers, birth date, addresses, and possibly driver license number is cross-matched to each other and in the hands of criminals who can use this data to breach any number of accounts in perpetuity such as my banking and financial data, medical data, legal complaints, political data, and any other number of sensitive accounts.
Further, I am unable to secure these accounts because they ask for the very personal information that is breached in order to verify my identity and approve a change.
Equifax is currently offering a limited credit monitoring service, which does n't even activate immediately. Even this had to be sought out by those who see the news reports, follow the news links to the Equifax page, which in turn link to a shady third-party website asking for 2/3 of one 's social security number plus last name and a waiver of all class action recourse in order to discover if one is among the breached accounts, only changed to waive class action recourse from the third party site if it too is breached with the sensitive data it is querying once the news of this spread. This is insufficient to the need created by their negligent protection of my information, which I did not give them myself, but which they curated as their business from other businesses.
To make matters worse, it 's been reported that they 're giving random information as to whether specific individuals had their information compromised making it impossible to know. This was systematically tested, proven, and documented at the following website XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Equifax 's website is incredibly vulnerable to SQL-injection hacks and is incredibly insecure.
I really appreciate the CFPB for escalating my concern.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation
Consumer complaint received 2017-09-09 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Improper use of your report — Reporting company used your report improperly
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: PA

Complaint narrative:
Per Equifax data breech they have advised me that I am a victim of stolen vital data, and from that Equifax allowed all of my personal financial and credit history including my date of birth and social security numbers and all personal credit information banking, credit cards, loans and mortgage information that was provided to secure credit to be compromised and information was stolen from their agency causing me a lifetime possibility of identity fraud. I have currently put a freeze from any third party Lifted credit history, so long as thieves do not crash into these agencies database once again and unlock my freeze. They need to protect myself and others for life from potential identity theft, and not through their complaint but instead through XXXX and XXXX best service that they can provide!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation
Consumer complaint received 2017-09-09 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Improper use of your report — Reporting company used your report improperly
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: MN

Complaint narrative:
Equifax did not protect my personal information and allowed hackers to obtain info to use improperly. 
The company failed to notify me for 41 days.
The CEO and other company officials cashed in stock during this 41 days before the stock went down. 
Major credit reporting should be broken up under our anti trust laws.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation
Consumer complaint received 2017-09-09 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with fraud alerts or security freezes — 
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: TX

Complaint narrative:
Hello, After I heard about the massive breach of consumer data at Equifax, i tried to put a credit freeze using their online tool and phone service and i just could n't. 

First they let their systems to be hacked and on the other hand have made it impossible for a regular customer to put a freeze on their own credit. It is so frustrating and feel helpless. 

I tried their online application yesterday to put a credit freeze and after taking my person information like SSN, address, got a message " We are unable to service your request. please try again later '' ( attached ). So, tried again this morning and got the same message. So tried their IVR ( phone system - XXXX ) to put a freeze and same results - after collecting my details got a message stating they can not process my request. One other thing to add, while collecting the SSN on their site, they do not even mask it ( such a basic thing for securing data, they are not bothered about it ). 

If a company can not safeguard their customer information, why they are collecting so much information. 

When i tried to get to their support page to get general support number, it fails with an error message ( attached ). Somehow got a XXXX number and when i called them, it was an automated system for just getting a credit report, when i pressed XXXX ' to talk to somebody, the call got disconnected. 

From end to end, they have a bad system/processes and does n't care about their customers. 

Hopefully Government/Congress can take some action against this company and its executives to support the common man.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation
Consumer complaint received 2017-09-09 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Improper use of your report — Reporting company used your report improperly
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
Equifax did NOT protect my identity and my personal information once the company realized it experienced a major hack. The hack happened in XXXX XXXX ; the company reportedly found out in XXXX XXXX ; the company did NOT notify me or anyone else that they, or I, experienced the hack. It did nothing to protect me or any other consumers during this time. To find out in news in XXXX XXXX, 2-4 months after major security leak occurred, the company has breached its duty to consumers. This is unforgivable when identities of > 100 million people are at stake and caused lifelong repercussions of this irresponsible act. The first act of being hacked is a shame, however, as custodian of sensitive and critical information of people 's lives, the company betrayed the trust of its consumers when it severely delayed notifying consumers of the hack. Equifax demonstrated itself as unethical, negligent and irresponsible. The company must and should pay for its deliberate act of omission.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation
Consumer complaint received 2017-09-09 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Credit monitoring or identity theft protection services — Didn't receive services that were advertised
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: WA

Complaint narrative:
Equifax mishandled my information which has led to a breach that puts myself and millions of others at potential risk. I am extremely disappointed with how equifax has handled reporting this breach. Very little was done to notify the public for nearly a month after the breach was detected. I received no email, letter, or phone call and instead had to discover it via social media. 

Going forward equifax should be required to monitor every account and notify victims if any fraud occurs. Credit fraud protection should be mandatory for every account, not an option for us to have deal with. 

This should be rectified firstly by making credit freezing free and refunding everyone who paid for it following this data breach. Requiring a police report is absurd when they clearly know if you were affected.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation
Consumer complaint received 2017-09-09 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with fraud alerts or security freezes — 
Company: TRANSUNION INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS, INC.
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
I have been unable to implement a credit freeze with TransUnion I have been notified that I am at risk from the XXXX data breach The online credit freeze process failed and I was provided with a telephone number to call I believe the online process failure is a scam because calling the telephone number only gives advertisements for TransUnion 's services which I have no interest in and do not wish to provide personal data for No email addresses are available The telephone numbers listed are only ads I have successfully implemented an online credit freeze with XXXX XXXX and XXXX

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation
Consumer complaint received 2017-09-09 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Improper use of your report — Reporting company used your report improperly
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: MA

Complaint narrative:
Upon checking whether my personal information had been stolen via https : XXXX, I was told that it may have been stolen. This data breach allegedly began in mid-May XXXX, was discovered on XXXX XXXX, XXXX, and was reported in a press release on XXXX XXXX, XXXX. Obviously, there will be an ongoing investigation of whether Equifax was negligent in its management of consumers ' personal information. Meanwhile, I think it is clear that they have failed to follow up appropriately on this event in two important ways : 1 ) It took them 40 days before they released any information about the breach 2 ) When they finally did acknowledge that the breach had occurred, they made no effort to contact potential victims, instead issuing a press release that may or may not be noticed by victims

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation
Consumer complaint received 2017-09-09 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — FHA mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage — 
Company: Integrity First Financial Group
State: FL

Complaint narrative:
In XXXX of 2017 I applied for a mortgage from Integrity First Financial Group. 
I was told that I would easily be approved for a mortgage and after submitting the required documents, my mortgage was approved for {$800000.00} with a 15 % down payment. Then company charged me {$400.00} for a professional appraisal. The appraisal came in as expected but the approval was withdrawn when I refused to accept loan conditions different then what was specified in the approval letter. I was not refunded the {$400.00} that they charged me for the appraisal as I requested.

Company response to consumer: Untimely response
Consumer complaint received 2017-09-09 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Improper use of your report — Reporting company used your report improperly
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
Equifax has mishandled my information, did n't notify me ( I found out via social media and had to go to their poorly made response site to check for myself ), and now has cost me several hours, some money ( to freeze my credit with 4 bureaus ) and will continue soaking my time and money to deal with paying for and unfreezing reports as necessary in the future. 
This is an undue burden from a company I have never chosen to do business with - they are a vendor of my vendors/creditors. 
Please take prompt and decisive action to ensure I am compensated for their negligence and that something like this does not occur again.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation
Consumer complaint received 2017-09-09 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Improper use of your report — Reporting company used your report improperly
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: AZ

Complaint narrative:
This data breach at Equifax is a display of absolute negligence. But hey, things happen. However, if I want my credit frozen, I have to now pay the three agencies to do that? That seems absurd. Freezing your credit should be free.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation
Consumer complaint received 2017-09-09 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Improper use of your report — Reporting company used your report improperly
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: IA

Complaint narrative:
On XXXX XXXX, XXXX, Equifax announced a cybersecurity incident impacting approximately 143 million U.S. consumers. The information accessed primarily includes names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some instances, driver 's license numbers. In addition, credit card numbers for approximately 209,000 U.S. consumers, and certain dispute documents with personal identifying information for approximately 182,000 U.S. consumers, were accessed. 

On XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I used the https : //www.equifaxsecurity2017.comXXXX website to check my impact. I received the following information : " Based on the information provided, we believe that your personal information may have been impacted by this incident. '' As of today XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I have not been able to get any further information from Equifax about the status of my credit, whether my information is secure, how it was released, why I was not informed earlier, or why I am not able to get credit monitoring immediately ( see below ). 

Although Equifax is offering credit monitoring, they have not yet allowed me access. Creating a further problem for me and my credit, Equifax is covering the credit monitoring for only one year. Malicious parties who stole my information can sell this information on black markets and simply wait one year to begin exploiting my data to steal my identity and illegally get credit in my name. 

Equifax did not secure my information with appropriate best-standard practices. My credit and financial life are now at risk and very vulnerable to fraud. Equifax did not properly disclose this breach to me. I learned about it on the news rather than directly - they have my contact information therefore should have notified me directly as their customer. Additionally Equifax has failed to provide sufficient information or protection for me and my credit/financial data. 

Equifax did not properly secure my protected personal information from intrusion, such as through appropriate patching, 2-factor authentication at the point of service, segmentation of data, etc. As such, it appears my full name, Social Security numbers, birth date, addresses, and possibly driver license number is cross-matched to each other and in the hands of criminals who can use this data to breach any number of accounts in perpetuity such as my banking and financial data, medical data, legal complaints, political data, and any other number of sensitive accounts.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation
Consumer complaint received 2017-09-09 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Improper use of your report — Reporting company used your report improperly
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: IA

Complaint narrative:
Equifax mishandled my information which has led to a breach that puts myself and millions of others at potential risk. I am extremely disappointed with how equifax has handled reporting this breach. Very little was done to notify the public for nearly a month after the breach was detected. I received no email, letter, or phone call and instead had to discover it via social media. 
Going forward equifax should be required to monitor every account and notify victims if any fraud occurs. Credit fraud protection should be mandatory for every account, not an option for us to have deal with. 
This should be rectified firstly by making credit freezing free and refunding everyone who paid for it following this data breach. Requiring a police report is absurd when they clearly know if you were affected

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation
Consumer complaint received 2017-09-09 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Improper use of your report — Reporting company used your report improperly
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: MD

Complaint narrative:
Equifax mishandled my information which has led to a breach that puts myself and millions of others at potential risk. I am extremely disappointed with how Equifax has handled reporting this breach. Very little was done to notify the public for nearly a month after the breach was detected. I received no email, letter, or phone call and instead had to discover it via social media.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation
Consumer complaint received 2017-09-09 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Improper use of your report — Reporting company used your report improperly
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
Equifax did not secure my information properly and it was hacked and stolen. I am not in fear of having my identity stolen. I have spent a lot of time and money now signing up for credit fraud alerts and credit freezes.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation
Consumer complaint received 2017-09-09 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Improper use of your report — Reporting company used your report improperly
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: TX

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/XXXX, Equifax announced that a " cybersecurity incident '' compromised confidential information including social security numbers, birth dates, addresses, drivers license numbers, and credit card numbers for approximately 143 million U.S. consumers ( or roughly 66 % of all adult Americans, as I understand it ). 

After checking with Equifax, I have learned that my information was compromised. 

This " cybersecurity incident '' was discovered on XX/XX/XXXX, and the company allowed over a month to elapse - a month during which my social security number and a handful of other identifying information could have been used to impersonate me - without notifying me in any way ; then when they did notify the public it was through a general message on their website with no direct contact to let me know that the press release had been published. If it were n't for traditional and social media, I would not have even known that my identity had been compromised well over a month ago due to the negligence of Equifax. 

Again, despite having access to my address, to multiple phone numbers, many ways to contact me, Equifax decided to say nothing publicly for over a month, and then to issue a public statement with no way of me knowing that the statement was made if not for third parties. 

Equifax has offered a free year of credit fraud monitoring, but frankly this is not a solution. My identifying information can not be recovered, and I will still be at risk for far longer than Equifax is willing to monitor my information for possible fraud. To ensure that my identity is secure after the one year, I would have to enroll in a paid program - effectively rewarding Equifax with my business for its negligence.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation
Consumer complaint received 2017-09-09 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Improper use of your report — Reporting company used your report improperly
Company: EQUIFAX, INC.
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
I was a victim of the Equifax hack. My information was leaked and released. Now i have to spend money to buy Credit protection that costs {$100.00} a year.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation