Small rant: Perhaps I’m getting old and cynical, but the entire process through their sites feels a lil sketchy lol

Sure, it requires the basics, along with your SSN and cellphone to receive a text confirmation. Can’t just be me, right?

Anyways, thanks for answering my crazy questions due to my lack of faith in the safety of the internet in the days of SEO’s. 🤣

  • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world
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    15 hours ago

    Yeah, it’s a bit annoying. But I think it’s worth it.

    For anyone else who is interested, the four credit bureaus in the US are: Equifax, Experian, TransUnion, and Innovis.

    You might also be able to freeze you debit score with FIS.

    Edit: For credit scores I might be thinking of locking not freezing as being the free option.

    • RustyShackleford@literature.cafeOP
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      16 hours ago

      Thanks I’ll do all of them, is the response time usually fast? And, it feels crazy risky giving them my cell number these days with increasing frequency of spam, can I just leave that blank? 🤔

      Can’t say I knew Innovis existed, wonder why it’s not shared as one of the big ones?

      Also, it could be silly asking, but why do you want to freeze your debit score? I never knew that was even a thing until now.

      • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        Innovis is a weird one. It’s much less well known to many people than the ‘big three’. But regardless, it’s used by some pretty big companies, and its origin stems from the likes of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And some of their services/interface are comically outdated, which to me makes it potentially prone to abuse. And that alone warrants giving it some attention.

        Your debit score is important because that’s what most financial institutions check against when you set up an account with them. They typically don’t use credit scores for account eligibility. So debit scores (which are almost exclusively controlled by FIS) can be susceptible to abuse from that angle and in that industry.

        ETA: Yes, the response time for the credit bureaus is pretty fast. I recommend setting up a free account with each of Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union. They will try to trick you into the paid account during the account creation process, so watch where you click. But their free accounts are decent and get the job done. Plus they make it easier to freeze/unfreeze your credit score than using no account. Innovis’ process is easy too, and fairly quick, but it’s very old-school.

        • RustyShackleford@literature.cafeOP
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          15 hours ago

          Awesome, really appreciate all the details. I’ll make an account for each of the 3 and go from there.

          Sure there is the fear of a data breach since these sites will have my SSN, and breaches seem far too common these days. But if you trust them, I’ll take your word since you’ve taught me far more than I expected to learn asking! The FIS sounds nightmarish.

          Any other information you think might be worth sharing?

          • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world
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            9 hours ago

            Not that I can think of. That’s a good point you bring up about the data breaches. They will get your SSN regardless of whether you have a free account or not. But you are a bit more volunteering to data breaches with the account. So if that’s a concern you can always freeze/lock your credit without an account. It’s just a bit more of a hassle.

            Glad I could help.