Sorry, but RANT ON...
I just had the worst experience with Equifax customer service in my entire life. They REALLY do not want you to be able to get through to a person. I received an Alert from them about a "new account opened in my name with AmEx". Since I just opened my AmEx account 2 months ago, I figured it was related to that, but the last 4 digits of the account number did not match either of our cards. They suggested I reach out to AmEx.
So I called AmEx... they agreed that the account number did not match anything they had on file, but nothing looked suspicious, either. They suggested I call Equifax. This is where the horror began. FWIW I assume that 2 things were going on. Equifax was hacked a few years ago, and they probably realized that they had to tighten up. But I suspect they also realized that they could cut their call center staffing in Mumbai (or wherever) back to zero. After spending 20 minutes on the phone trying to get verified (I think I answered everything correctly), they told me I had to send my request in in writing. NO WAY to get to a CSR to figure out what is wrong, either with my original problem or with why I couldn't get through to a person.
Imagine how long it would take to get a credit issue resolved using snail-mail!
OKAY, RANT OFF
Can anyone else recommend a better credit monitoring agency that they use? This one was initially given to us because an employer got themselves hacked... we just kept using it.
I just had the worst experience with Equifax customer service in my entire life. They REALLY do not want you to be able to get through to a person. I received an Alert from them about a "new account opened in my name with AmEx". Since I just opened my AmEx account 2 months ago, I figured it was related to that, but the last 4 digits of the account number did not match either of our cards. They suggested I reach out to AmEx.
So I called AmEx... they agreed that the account number did not match anything they had on file, but nothing looked suspicious, either. They suggested I call Equifax. This is where the horror began. FWIW I assume that 2 things were going on. Equifax was hacked a few years ago, and they probably realized that they had to tighten up. But I suspect they also realized that they could cut their call center staffing in Mumbai (or wherever) back to zero. After spending 20 minutes on the phone trying to get verified (I think I answered everything correctly), they told me I had to send my request in in writing. NO WAY to get to a CSR to figure out what is wrong, either with my original problem or with why I couldn't get through to a person.
Imagine how long it would take to get a credit issue resolved using snail-mail!
OKAY, RANT OFF
Can anyone else recommend a better credit monitoring agency that they use? This one was initially given to us because an employer got themselves hacked... we just kept using it.