Equifax Equifax Online Investigation

Calling Equifax requires some time and patience, but it is not impossible. However, I would advise you to be in a quiet and safe place when you call because the virtual assistant is very sound-sensitive and will ask you for very personal information. I'm not sure how I feel about giving out my social security number on the phone, but I didn't really have any other choice. These are just a few of the things that made me uncomfortable about the whole situation, but a little context will help make it a bit clearer. 

The call took over half an hour as well because once you finally manage to wade through the directory, you must wait a long time to talk to someone. I get that there are probably a lot of people who contact them on a daily basis, from people who are calling about lost credit cards to people who have to report fraud. Others may have questions about their online security accounts, but it seems that given the sensitivity of what people are calling about, you could have better measures to take care of them. 

When you first call, you are greeted by a message that says, "Welcome to Equifax consumer care," you have to listen to a series of long messages that aren't likely related to most phone calls. They weren't related to mine at all. I wanted to put a freeze on my account, but I still had to listen to all of it. One message talked about how to add a short note to your credit history if your financial situation was affected by COVID-19. Then another note instructed me to go online to find support for many popular issues. Then there was a short talk about privacy and how you could find out more about the privacy policy. 

Finally, I got to a virtual assistant who asked me to tell him what I needed help with in a few sentences, and I said, "help with freezing my credit report so no one will open a card without my permission." The response was, "Okay, let me give you a few options." One of those options was about freezing my account, so I chose it, but I still didn't get to talk to someone or move forward. It then made me say my phone number, social security number, and zip code before putting me on the hold line. If anyone was near enough, they could have stolen my identity right there. Then I waited on hold for a while. In the end, it was a lot of hassle.