I think I froze before they switched to random number. They should not be allowed to be in the business.
The scale is exceptional, almost half the US adult population. It wasn’t the first data breach and won’t be the last. Everyone should consider it a matter of when, not if, their social security number ends up for sale on the dark web.
Just saw a TV ad from Experian for their free scan of the dark web. Simply go to Experian Dark Web Scan and enter your email. It also offers a 30-day free trial. Decided to give it a try. I can always unsubscribe within that free trial period.
From TiggerDad’s link:
The free scan is for your email address only - any other records cost $$, starting at $9.99 a month
So: is your email listed anywhere on the “dark web”? Of course it is, you know that because every spammer in creation already has it. After all, that Nigerian prince who needs your help with moving $18 million dollars has it… where do you think he got it?
But sure, go ahead, give your email to Experian along with your consent to have Experian use the email for marketing purposes.
Your email is out there. On the off chance that you have a newly created email address that you have thus far managed to keep secret, giving it to Experian to run a scan and to hand off to its marketing partners will put it out there.
@calmom - Yea, upon trying it myself, I found it disappointing that it doesn’t do more than scanning your email. It’s a bait to give 30-day free trial. So far I’m not all that impressed by the free trial, either. As a Costco Executive Member, I think I can get more for less money with its new protection plan.
It’s more than a bait for the product – it is also a way to harvest emails for marketing purposes. Standard business marketing technique – offer something for free in order to build up the mailing list. So Experian now knows that tiggerdad@somemail.com is interested in security and the type of person who signs up for things on the internet – so they can send you scaremongering emails to get you to sign up for the paid service; continue to directly market related products and services directly to you; and also resell your email to others via sales of pre-targeted email lists.
The irony is simply that unlike other free products and newsletters you might have signed up for in the past, this one is roping in people who are specifically worried about the privacy of their email addresses. And it gets past all those people who use temporary, throwaway email addresses for email subscriptions or requests for information. (After all, there would be no point in scanning the dark web for somebody’s temporary mailinator.com address).
The problem is that the credit reporting agencies are not our friends. They have been gathering our private information and reselling it for decades with very little protection on who has access and how it is used. There are laws that restrict use and access, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t ignorant or unscrupulous people who break the rules or are careless with data— those legal rules are about as useful as speed limit signs on the highway. The whole business model of the companies is to package and resell people’s private and personal information. And even if they had the most secure computer systems on the planet, once the data has been transmitted to someone else in a form that can be stored or printed – then the data is subject to the honesty or security practices of that someone else.
Think of the sheer number of people/entities that we habitually share our social security numbers & credit card numbers with on a day-to-day basis.
I’m just catching up with this thread…
FWIW…I’ve had a freeze on all 3 credit bureaus for years after having my identity stolen. Earlier this year, we bought a car and I was able to log into all three websites with basic info (name, address, SSN, etc) and my PIN and unfreeze my all my reports (took maybe 10 minutes of my time). Within minutes it was available for them to do a credit check.
So, having a freeze, isn’t really all that inconvenient.
(And I can’t figure out the difference between the TU “Lock” vs. a “Freeze”…you have control of a freeze as well)
I think the lock prevents anyone from opening a new credit account and prevents hard pulls, but doesn’t prevent marketers (and maybe others) from soft-pulling your credit for things like credit card offers.
A freeze keeps anyone from accessing your information no matter what.
Since a lock allows TU to continue to sell your credit info to their legit customers, they give it to you for free.
I assume by “soft-pulling” you are referring to those prescreened offers. According to the FTC site, a credit freeze doesn’t stop those (but there is a way to do so).
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0148-prescreened-credit-and-insurance-offers
Re: soft vs hard credit pulls.
I pulled my credit report this week, just to see what was on there. I have had my credit frozen for almost ten years, but have opened it a couple of times recently when needed. Interestingly, there were dozens of soft inquiries from my current credit card issuers. J. Crew inquires the first and second week of the month, but only every three months. Citi CC seems to inquire monthly. I have no idea why they do this, while AmEx does not.
Disturbingly, a fair bit of incorrect info in the report. (Addresses, monthly CC balance to name two.)
Have been reading along on this thread. Adding two-factor authentication on bank & brokerage. Not sure what else I can do for now.
Your existing creditors do soft pulls because they would want to be alert to changes in circumstances. If, for example, a person had good credit with company A, but ran into financial problems and decided to deal with those problems by maxing out credit cards B & C,and then fell behind in payments - . company A might lower their credit limit or raise their interest rate, or even cancel the card.
I’ve had the credit cards listing a prior address for me in Ohio for years and I can’t get it off the reports, even though I’ve never even been to Ohio, much less ever lived there. I did get one company to remove it, only to find it back in the report a year later. I have no clue how it got there. But the last time I wanted a refi on my house, the loan officer was asking about it.
I have had medical bills show up as delinquent on my credit report since I was in my teens. They are not mine but every few months they’d get sold to some other agency and they’d be back on my report. I had to fight them 3-4 times a year like clockwork.
One bill was from when I wasn’t even living in the country!
Finally, they stopped showing up like 3 years ago.
Should someone who is an executor of an estate so credit freezes for the deceased person?
I sent in death certificates to all credit bureaus to advise them that deceased was dead. We were beneficiaries, not executor.
Thanks, @HImom. I appreciate the response.
We did this shortly after the death, so no one would try to use the credit of deceased. No point in a freeze or oayong extra money. I did ask that death certificates be returned.
@HImom, thanks for the details.
It’s time for Congress to ban all businesses from using SSN.
Voice and face recognition should be used to identify individuals.
There are already so many things that rely on SSN and are linked to it. I’m not sure how good the facial and voice recognition tech is at the moment. That will be an added cost for everyone to switch over as well, which will be passed on.
@HImom You might be right about USAA being a good option for a credit card.
My mom just got an alert for fraud after she picked up takeout for dinner. It was just her order at the restaurant, though. But I like that they checked. 