3 Weeks Later, Equifax Makes a Peace Offering<br />Given the mess you face with people’s data security, why not create a three-bureau freeze or lock, so<br />that people don’t have to worry about thieves taking data stolen from Equifax and using it through competitors, Experian or TransUnion?<br />Over the years, and even on Experian’s website as recently as this week, people in the industry and banking representatives have repeatedly warned<br />that it can take days to unfreeze your file, which can cause big problems if you’re trying to buy a car or close on a home<br />Other things we don’t know yet: Whether Equifax will force people to submit to mandatory arbitration<br />or some other loss of privileges or rights in exchange for free locks for life.<br />This is how TransUnion’s similar free service works, one<br />that it’s been pushing hard at people who have come to its website looking for a credit freeze in the wake of the Equifax hack.<br />When Equifax issued the mea culpa it owed us a few weeks ago via an op-ed column in The Wall Street Journal<br />on Wednesday night, Paulino do Rego Barros Jr., the interim chief executive, threw a padlock our way.<br />If you simply don’t bother applying for instant credit at the department store or do not remember the<br />numerical PIN they gave you to thaw your file, then the bureaus can’t sell that access to your file.<br />This is the same company, however, that could not create a functioning website for<br />people worried about whether thieves had stolen their Social Security numbers.
