Clark riled up over Experian vs. LifeLock on clarkhoward.com

Experian's FreeCreditReport.com is one business venture that enrages Clark. The credit bureau has been slapped with fines for misleading advertising at the website; the service being offered is not free. It turns out that Experian must not like competition -- they've filed suit against LifeLock alleging violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and…you guessed it…"false and misleading advertising and fraud." Well, it takes one to know one, Experian.

First off, Clark wants to answer a long-standing question he's been hearing: Yes, LifeLock is the real deal. It is not a scam. They put out fraud alerts 4 times a year with each of the bureaus to reduce, in theory, the amount of ID theft. But in doing so, LifeLock takes a piece of the action away from Experian's Triple Advantage Credit Monitoring service (available via FreeCreditReport.com).

In the interest of full disclosure, Clark wants you to know that he's been approached by LifeLock to put their people on the air. That's not going to happen. While he respects the company, he thinks you'd be better off doing a credit freeze. But he's just riled up over the arrogance of the liars at Experian who want to file suit on the grounds of exactly the kind of garbage they've been doing for years. Would anyone from Experian like to come on the show and offer a rebuttal?

What others are saying

Phone Numbers
Corporate office Experian - 714-830-7000
Corporate office Equifax - 404-885-8000
Corporate office TransUnion - 312-258-1717

Find any number at www.bbb.org that is how I ALWAYS contact any company's corporate office.
By Tamera B @ 09/01/09 12:09:15 AMreport abuse
Credit Reporting Companies
What a frusd these three credit reporting bureau's are! I never carry a credit card balance, I have floow all of the rules to increase my credit score, and in fact have bought a $400000 house on my credit score alone. Then when I reach out and pay for one of their services, they find a fraudulent claim from a energy company and report me to them, killing my credit and having my credit limit on my cards cut by two-thirds. What are my reprecussions against these bureaus who seemingly work FOR the creditors AND the collection agencies?
By J HALL @ 06/23/09 04:50:55 PMreport abuse
Be careful
I am certified as an Identity Theft Risk Management Specialist and have more knowledge in this area than the average person. I am extremely concerned about the view point of America regarding identity theft. I just want to let you know that the Identity Theft problem is very significant and getting much worse too. The criminals are getting even more clever with the methods used to steal another person’s identity. The trust of a consumer must be more careful in daily activities because of the use of personal information is scary. The incidents of bank tellers, government employees, waiters and waitresses using skimmer devices for credit cards, and even law enforcement being accused and eventually convicted has gone up significantly. I seriously would suggest reconsidering the view of having a form of protection against identity theft. The service must be complete and provide more than just a monitoring service. A service that just monitors activity of a financial nature and expects it to stop identity theft is like having a smoke alarm and expecting it to stop a fire!!
Identity theft involves more than just financial information. Driver License, Social Security, Character/Criminal, and medical identity theft also exists.
For example…..
A person gets your DL number and obtains a license in your name with their photo, gets a traffic ticket or a DUI, fails to show for court, resulting in a warrant for YOUR arrest.
A person gets your SSN and obtains a 1099 job where no taxes are deducted all year and leaves YOU to pay the tax bill and deal with the IRS. A person gives YOUR name to police when questioned resulting in a false ID and can cause YOU to have a criminal record for crimes you did not commit. Did you know that people are arrested in convicted of crimes serving sentences under false identities simply because they had no prior record and no means of proving identity at the time of arrest other than the information the person gave to the police? It is TRUE!!!
God forbid this happens…..
You are involved in an accident or are taken to the hospital unconcious. The need for treatment is critical so the last records show you have no allergies or blood type is ____ however this information is not correct because your identity was stolen and person had received treatment changing vital history information. This can and likely will kill YOU!!! I ask you a question…….Do you still feel the same about not being protected? All of these examples are happening daily across America and the world. Identity theft is the worse crime to deal with for law enforcement and recently passed drug traffic.
Awareness is key and monitoring is important but this is only the start……not the end.
By Greg @ 06/15/09 02:49:08 PMreport abuse
Experian/TransUnion fraud
Both of these organizations are irredeemably corrupt. They need to be put out of business. If you "dispute" an item/creditor as near as I can tell they simply send out form letters to the creditor who has no reason not to verify the misinformation. This is a circus. But there are so many other behind-the-scenes activities - some of them involving criminal fraud - being perpetrated by these two organizations that my recommendation is to go to Whitehouse.gov and tell President Obama to request a thorough investigation of both of these organizations. They should not be allowed to use our credit information to further their multifarious other moneymaking schemes. Experian has its fingers in so many pies, the number of fingers is off the charts. This is another Wall Street-like taxpayer rip-off. These organizations need to be replaced by honorable institutions whose only business is to verify with integrity consumer credit issues.
By Susan @ 02/07/09 02:23:48 PMreport abuse
Credit reports requested
Out of the blue I recieved letters from all 3 credit reporting agencies saying that they could not honor my request for a credit report b/c the request lacked the proper personal information such as drivers license, etc. 2 out of 3 of these letters were addressed to my home but the first name was not mine, the other agencie's letter had my last name incorrect - all 3 had my address (obviously). I NEVER requested credit reports from any of these agencies. Fortunately the reports do not APPEAR to have been supplied. The fact that they were requested by ???? is disconcerting to say the least. The same week approx. I recieved a credit card statement that had a charge of $10.00 from LifeLock. I never subscribed to LifeLock. I spoke w/ a supervisor at LL and they confirmed my credit card was not in their database under my name - but could not reveal if it was under another name - namely one of the 2 names the credit reporting agentcies that sent me the incorrect named letters. I hopefully straighted the situation w/ LifeLock and they promised a refund. The concern here is that this is my last bill for this particular credit card account b/c someone had stolen the number and made bogus charges to it so CaptialOn and I "cut up" that card and it was replaced. I wonder if somehow someone is using that card to make it look like LifeLock is requesting credit info on my behalf or is some other scam being attempted? How damaging would it be if one of the 3 reporting agencies did release my credit info? Is it smart to **attempt** to do credit freezes w/ the 3 agentcies?
By Margaux @ 01/12/09 01:58:41 PMreport abuse
Credit Freeze
Heard Clark on radio Oct 17.re: credit freeze was free at Transunion..so, I went to website, and since I had been on line before for Free Credit Report, they bumped me back to that acct....and could not get to the Credit Freeze subacct, without filling out the fee(charge) information...so, like before will just skip it....Seems like these Credit bureaus like to make life complicated. thanks for info, anyway.
By Bob Bush @ 10/17/08 05:42:38 PMreport abuse
EXPERIAN - CUSTOMER NO SERVICE
I am victim of identity theft. I have sent all required information and documents, not once, but twice to Experian.

They have repeatedly refused to honor my request for a credit freeze unless I pay a fee. Under the laws of my state, there are no fees in identity theft situations.

I've called them countless times, but their phone system loops into offers to purchase services.

I have not been able to speak to anyone.

Is there a phone number for Experian besides 800-509-8495 or 888-397-3742??
By Marcia MacDonald @ 08/29/08 05:32:38 PMreport abuse
Experian, Transunion, Equifax Nightmare
My husband and I (in Georgia) recently had our personal computers stolen with all kinds of private information on them. As though that weren't bad enough, we are living through another nightmare trying to get the 3 credit reporting agencies to freeze our credit, place the files under alert, and send us our free credit reports. They are so inept as to be laughable were it not for the seriousness of the issue.

After finally speaking to a man with such a thick foreign accent that we could barely understand each other, Transunion froze my husband's account. But when they sent his report it was in the wrong name (they had part of my name and part of his name) - and I have yet to get my report.

Equifax did eventually place a security freeze on both our files, but only sent my husband's credit report - not mine.

Experian has everything wrong, even providing us with a telephone number that goes into a "loop" that has nothing at all to do with our problem - it's for disputes. The prompts tell me to send in the information that I have already submitted - and I cannot find a telephone number that will connect me to a live person.

I have sent all 3 agencies detailed correspondence and copies of every single thing they requested, including a copy of the police report. We should have received 6 security alerts and credit freezes, and 6 free credit reports. What we have gotten is 3 security alerts/freezes and 2 credit reports.

What can be done, especially with Experian, to enable us to speak to someone who can rectify this problem?!
By Josey @ 08/26/08 05:18:26 PMreport abuse
Terrible Service
I am a VA resident and my ID was stolen. I provided all required documents (including a police report) and requested a credit freeze with all 3 credit bureaus.

Only Experian refused to do this unless I paid them a fee. I told them that under VA law a credit freeze is free in ID theft cases. They passed me around like a hot potato.

Every customer no service rep I spoke with had a different excuse as to why they would not honor the law. They are only interested in getting their fee!

One rep actually told me that just because my ID was stolen, it wasn't considered fraud by Experian until someone actually used my ID. Therefore, requesting a credit freeze was something they would not honor unless I paid them a fee first.

I've never been lied to by so many people in one day as I was by Experian reps. Asking for a supervisor meant a quick transfer to a voice mail box.

What a bunch of crooks!

Has anyone else had problems with Experian?

They passed me aroundand supplied Ex
By Experian @ 07/23/08 04:22:57 PMreport abuse
Credit Freeze Shortcomings
I did the credit freeze thing. Works great because I don't really need credit at this point in my life. But it makes things very difficult when I try to open new accounts for on-line banking. Seems the Patriot Act requires banks to verify your identity for on-line accounts using a credit check. Frozen credit = new account allowed. They'll accept a faxed copy of drivers license, social security card and utility bills in lieu of the credit check, but then they've got copies of all the documents necessary for the unscrupulous to set themselves up with you identify in a real way. I guess there ain't no easy solution.
By George @ 05/22/08 02:18:01 PMreport abuse
freecreditreport.com
It is probably beyond your control, but in the google search section at the top of your site, freecreditreport.com has an ad...making it appear that you endorse their service! b:)
By Becky @ 05/13/08 10:29:42 PMreport abuse
identity fraud
read your comments about LifeLock, what about Debix? Are they viable source of help for someone whose ID has been stolen?
By Tom Roberts @ 05/10/08 09:34:41 AMreport abuse
Credit Security Freezes
I've heard you wonder why more people don't do credit security freezes. After our experience, I think I can guess why. I sent in information to all 3 agencies for freezes on mine and my husband's names. TransUnion got my name wrong. Experian got my husband's name wrong. Equifax did one for my husband, but doesn't seem to have the paperwork for mine, even though it was sent in the same envelope--it's just gone. The phone numbers for each only get me electronic "press 1" type responses--no actual people, and there's no "press 1 if we screwed up your security freeze." It doesn't give me a warm fuzzy to supply these agencies with all of our vital information and they aren't even competent enough to actually do the freezes correctly.
By Joan G @ 04/23/08 02:05:28 PMreport abuse

Phone Numbers

Corporate office Experian - 714-830-7000
Corporate office Equifax - 404-885-8000
Corporate office TransUnion - 312-258-1717

Find any number at www.bbb.org that is how I ALWAYS contact any company's corporate office.

By Tamera B @ 09/01/09 12:09:15 AMreport abuse

Credit Reporting Companies

What a frusd these three credit reporting bureau's are! I never carry a credit card balance, I have floow all of the rules to increase my credit score, and in fact have bought a $400000 house on my credit score alone. Then when I reach out and pay for one of their services, they find a fraudulent claim from a energy company and report me to them, killing my credit and having my credit limit on my cards cut by two-thirds. What are my reprecussions against these bureaus who seemingly work FOR the creditors AND the collection agencies?

By J HALL @ 06/23/09 04:50:55 PMreport abuse

Be careful

I am certified as an Identity Theft Risk Management Specialist and have more knowledge in this area than the average person. I am extremely concerned about the view point of America regarding identity theft. I just want to let you know that the Identity Theft problem is very significant and getting much worse too. The criminals are getting even more clever with the methods used to steal another person’s identity. The trust of a consumer must be more careful in daily activities because of the use of personal information is scary. The incidents of bank tellers, government employees, waiters and waitresses using skimmer devices for credit cards, and even law enforcement being accused and eventually convicted has gone up significantly. I seriously would suggest reconsidering the view of having a form of protection against identity theft. The service must be complete and provide more than just a monitoring service. A service that just monitors activity of a financial nature and expects it to stop identity theft is like having a smoke alarm and expecting it to stop a fire!!
Identity theft involves more than just financial information. Driver License, Social Security, Character/Criminal, and medical identity theft also exists.
For example…..
A person gets your DL number and obtains a license in your name with their photo, gets a traffic ticket or a DUI, fails to show for court, resulting in a warrant for YOUR arrest.
A person gets your SSN and obtains a 1099 job where no taxes are deducted all year and leaves YOU to pay the tax bill and deal with the IRS. A person gives YOUR name to police when questioned resulting in a false ID and can cause YOU to have a criminal record for crimes you did not commit. Did you know that people are arrested in convicted of crimes serving sentences under false identities simply because they had no prior record and no means of proving identity at the time of arrest other than the information the person gave to the police? It is TRUE!!!
God forbid this happens…..
You are involved in an accident or are taken to the hospital unconcious. The need for treatment is critical so the last records show you have no allergies or blood type is ____ however this information is not correct because your identity was stolen and person had received treatment changing vital history information. This can and likely will kill YOU!!! I ask you a question…….Do you still feel the same about not being protected? All of these examples are happening daily across America and the world. Identity theft is the worse crime to deal with for law enforcement and recently passed drug traffic.
Awareness is key and monitoring is important but this is only the start……not the end.

By Greg @ 06/15/09 02:49:08 PMreport abuse

Experian/TransUnion fraud

Both of these organizations are irredeemably corrupt. They need to be put out of business. If you "dispute" an item/creditor as near as I can tell they simply send out form letters to the creditor who has no reason not to verify the misinformation. This is a circus. But there are so many other behind-the-scenes activities - some of them involving criminal fraud - being perpetrated by these two organizations that my recommendation is to go to Whitehouse.gov and tell President Obama to request a thorough investigation of both of these organizations. They should not be allowed to use our credit information to further their multifarious other moneymaking schemes. Experian has its fingers in so many pies, the number of fingers is off the charts. This is another Wall Street-like taxpayer rip-off. These organizations need to be replaced by honorable institutions whose only business is to verify with integrity consumer credit issues.

By Susan @ 02/07/09 02:23:48 PMreport abuse

Credit reports requested

Out of the blue I recieved letters from all 3 credit reporting agencies saying that they could not honor my request for a credit report b/c the request lacked the proper personal information such as drivers license, etc. 2 out of 3 of these letters were addressed to my home but the first name was not mine, the other agencie's letter had my last name incorrect - all 3 had my address (obviously). I NEVER requested credit reports from any of these agencies. Fortunately the reports do not APPEAR to have been supplied. The fact that they were requested by ???? is disconcerting to say the least. The same week approx. I recieved a credit card statement that had a charge of $10.00 from LifeLock. I never subscribed to LifeLock. I spoke w/ a supervisor at LL and they confirmed my credit card was not in their database under my name - but could not reveal if it was under another name - namely one of the 2 names the credit reporting agentcies that sent me the incorrect named letters. I hopefully straighted the situation w/ LifeLock and they promised a refund. The concern here is that this is my last bill for this particular credit card account b/c someone had stolen the number and made bogus charges to it so CaptialOn and I "cut up" that card and it was replaced. I wonder if somehow someone is using that card to make it look like LifeLock is requesting credit info on my behalf or is some other scam being attempted? How damaging would it be if one of the 3 reporting agencies did release my credit info? Is it smart to **attempt** to do credit freezes w/ the 3 agentcies?

By Margaux @ 01/12/09 01:58:41 PMreport abuse

Credit Freeze

Heard Clark on radio Oct 17.re: credit freeze was free at Transunion..so, I went to website, and since I had been on line before for Free Credit Report, they bumped me back to that acct....and could not get to the Credit Freeze subacct, without filling out the fee(charge) information...so, like before will just skip it....Seems like these Credit bureaus like to make life complicated. thanks for info, anyway.

By Bob Bush @ 10/17/08 05:42:38 PMreport abuse

EXPERIAN - CUSTOMER NO SERVICE

I am victim of identity theft. I have sent all required information and documents, not once, but twice to Experian.

They have repeatedly refused to honor my request for a credit freeze unless I pay a fee. Under the laws of my state, there are no fees in identity theft situations.

I've called them countless times, but their phone system loops into offers to purchase services.

I have not been able to speak to anyone.

Is there a phone number for Experian besides 800-509-8495 or 888-397-3742??

By Marcia MacDonald @ 08/29/08 05:32:38 PMreport abuse

Experian, Transunion, Equifax Nightmare

My husband and I (in Georgia) recently had our personal computers stolen with all kinds of private information on them. As though that weren't bad enough, we are living through another nightmare trying to get the 3 credit reporting agencies to freeze our credit, place the files under alert, and send us our free credit reports. They are so inept as to be laughable were it not for the seriousness of the issue.

After finally speaking to a man with such a thick foreign accent that we could barely understand each other, Transunion froze my husband's account. But when they sent his report it was in the wrong name (they had part of my name and part of his name) - and I have yet to get my report.

Equifax did eventually place a security freeze on both our files, but only sent my husband's credit report - not mine.

Experian has everything wrong, even providing us with a telephone number that goes into a "loop" that has nothing at all to do with our problem - it's for disputes. The prompts tell me to send in the information that I have already submitted - and I cannot find a telephone number that will connect me to a live person.

I have sent all 3 agencies detailed correspondence and copies of every single thing they requested, including a copy of the police report. We should have received 6 security alerts and credit freezes, and 6 free credit reports. What we have gotten is 3 security alerts/freezes and 2 credit reports.

What can be done, especially with Experian, to enable us to speak to someone who can rectify this problem?!

By Josey @ 08/26/08 05:18:26 PMreport abuse

Terrible Service

I am a VA resident and my ID was stolen. I provided all required documents (including a police report) and requested a credit freeze with all 3 credit bureaus.

Only Experian refused to do this unless I paid them a fee. I told them that under VA law a credit freeze is free in ID theft cases. They passed me around like a hot potato.

Every customer no service rep I spoke with had a different excuse as to why they would not honor the law. They are only interested in getting their fee!

One rep actually told me that just because my ID was stolen, it wasn't considered fraud by Experian until someone actually used my ID. Therefore, requesting a credit freeze was something they would not honor unless I paid them a fee first.

I've never been lied to by so many people in one day as I was by Experian reps. Asking for a supervisor meant a quick transfer to a voice mail box.

What a bunch of crooks!

Has anyone else had problems with Experian?

They passed me aroundand supplied Ex

By Experian @ 07/23/08 04:22:57 PMreport abuse

Credit Freeze Shortcomings

I did the credit freeze thing. Works great because I don't really need credit at this point in my life. But it makes things very difficult when I try to open new accounts for on-line banking. Seems the Patriot Act requires banks to verify your identity for on-line accounts using a credit check. Frozen credit = new account allowed. They'll accept a faxed copy of drivers license, social security card and utility bills in lieu of the credit check, but then they've got copies of all the documents necessary for the unscrupulous to set themselves up with you identify in a real way. I guess there ain't no easy solution.

By George @ 05/22/08 02:18:01 PMreport abuse

freecreditreport.com

It is probably beyond your control, but in the google search section at the top of your site, freecreditreport.com has an ad...making it appear that you endorse their service! b:)

By Becky @ 05/13/08 10:29:42 PMreport abuse

identity fraud

read your comments about LifeLock, what about Debix? Are they viable source of help for someone whose ID has been stolen?

By Tom Roberts @ 05/10/08 09:34:41 AMreport abuse

Credit Security Freezes

I've heard you wonder why more people don't do credit security freezes. After our experience, I think I can guess why. I sent in information to all 3 agencies for freezes on mine and my husband's names. TransUnion got my name wrong. Experian got my husband's name wrong. Equifax did one for my husband, but doesn't seem to have the paperwork for mine, even though it was sent in the same envelope--it's just gone. The phone numbers for each only get me electronic "press 1" type responses--no actual people, and there's no "press 1 if we screwed up your security freeze." It doesn't give me a warm fuzzy to supply these agencies with all of our vital information and they aren't even competent enough to actually do the freezes correctly.

By Joan G @ 04/23/08 02:05:28 PMreport abuse

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Mar 07, 2008 -- Clark riled up over Experian vs. LifeLock

What others are saying