Equifax Issued Wrong Credit Scores For Millions of Consumers (cnn.com) 38
Credit giant Equifax sent lenders incorrect credit scores for millions of consumers this spring, in a technology snafu with major real-world impact. From a report: In certain cases the errors were significant enough -- the differential was at least 25 points for around 300,000 consumers -- that some would-be borrowers may have been wrongfully denied credit, the company said in a statement. The problem occurred because of a "coding issue" when making a change to one of Equifax's servers, according to the company, which said the issue "was in place over a period of a few weeks [and] resulted in the potential miscalculation" of credit scores. While Equifax did not specify dates or figures, a June 1 alert from housing agency Freddie Mac to its clients said Equifax told the agency that about 12% of all credit scores released from March 17 to April 6 may be have been incorrect. Equifax wrote that "there was no shift in the vast majority of scores" and that "credit reports were not affected." But the company declined to comment to CNN Business about how people can learn whether they were among those whose credit scores were incorrectly reported -- and what recourse they may have if they were issued loans at a higher rate or denied a loan outright because of the snafu.
Yea, I tried to apply for their credit monitoring (Score:3)
for their last hack fuck up. I've never had any business with them wihatsoever (that includes never having taken a loan out for anything) but they're a constant liability as are the other credit mafia err "agencies".
What Can You Expect (Score:5, Funny)
Re: What Can You Expect (Score:2)
Gandalf's horse was Shadowfax, not Equifax.
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No shit, ... Watson.
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No, that was Ultravox
Gross incompetence (Score:5, Insightful)
Why is this company allowed to still handle any customer data? Why do any other companies trust customer data from them?
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They work for businesses who want to protect themselves from customers who might default on a loan. If they accidentally lower a credit score, or leak a massive amount of data, it doesn't really hurt their customers at all.
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It's interesting because I sometimes see up to 35 points of difference between the three bureaus. Usually Equifax and TransUnion are a few points apart but Experian is usually quite a bit higher.
Duh! (Score:3)
Wouldn't want the people who got screwed over because of your mistake able to find out if they're one of the lucky few and have things made right. That would be . . . honest.
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There is almost certainly a class action lawsuit coming, and you do not want to make it easy for those who were harmed to know they should be joined in the case.
Re:Duh! (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, if there is a list of people, that list can be found via discovery.
If not, they'll simply have everyone who had their credit checked between the two dates included in the suit.
Given Equifax has all the data on the people involved, it may be an opt-out lawsuit rather than an opt-in lawsuit. They know who had their credit checked and when and they have your information already, so it's likely more of an exercise in getting excluded if you don't want to participate, else, here's your money.
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Naw, they won't get a cash payment. They'll just get... Free credit monitoring service?
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I would love to know if there is one coming. We applied for a loan to get a new roof and gutters and my credit score came in considerably lower than it was less than 3 months earlier. I still got the loan, but at around 5% interest. The bank couldn't explain the drop, confirmed I had no new credit lines and hadn't missed any payments. I even confirmed that Transunion's score for me was much higher. But we needed a roof and we'll pay the loan early anyway, so I signed it rather than take another hard qu
You have one job. (Score:1)
Equifux (Score:5, Interesting)
Didn't they have a big data breach a few years back? Now this? Seems they have a competence breach.
Is it that music major again? (Score:3)
They have a lot of coding errors (Score:5, Interesting)
They are also the company that got hacked, seems like they have poor practices in general.
I've definitely been affected by their incompetence. A few years ago I was granted a loan, and the only thing I had to do to electronically sign the document was verify my identity via their credit bureau which was Equixfax. It was impossible for me to do so. They gave me a multiple choice quiz asking me to select which option applied to me, e.g. which of these addresses have you lived at? Which of these non-zero amounts matches your student loan debt (when I had never taken a student loan)?
My circumstances changed a few weeks later due to getting fired, which I knew they were going to which is why I wanted to get the loan, but at that time I was no longer able to qualify for a loan due to not being able to show employment. I often wondered if I could sue Equifax as it was their incompetence which directly led to things being worse for myself, at least for a short while to a short extent.
Coding Issue? No. (Score:5, Insightful)
It's a testing and quality assurance issue. It's not a coding issue.
But any quality assurance from Equifax is like selling candy from a white van.
They should no longer have been allowed to handle any sensitive information, but here we are.
In a follow-up investigation... (Score:2)
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...it was found that water is wet, and bears do indeed shit in the woods. There tangible repercussions for their incompetencies is near zero.
False. Water is not wet. Water makes other things wet.
Why did they admit the error? (Score:2)
The output of a secret, proprietary function can't ever be objectively wrong. Isn't the number just a matter of Equifax's opinion? It's not like anyone knows what their magic number is supposed to be, for comparative error-correction purposes.
Re:Why did they admit the error? (Score:4, Interesting)
That part where it only effected part of their infrastructure is interesting. Seems like they might return the proper score or the bogus score depending on which server responded. In which case one of them must be wrong, credit scores do not change very quickly.
Time to bring back the Corporate Death Penalty. (Score:4, Insightful)
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You seem to have mistaken who Equifax's customers are... and it's not 'the public', it's not you or me... it's companies wishing to protect themselves from bad loans.
Sure you say you'll pay it back, and on time... but how does the bank/store/etc know that? You say you're trustworthy... but you've a history of late or missed payments, and have even defaulted on a couple of loans.
They got their start in the freaking 1800's in helping grocery stores know who to extend credit to, this is not a new area, and one
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If you know a better way though, do please share.
"Hello, I'd like to apply for a loan."
"Okay, please fill out this paperwork."
"Before I do, I would like to know which credit bureau will be used for the credit report you are likely to run."
"Equifax."
"As Equifax has been involved in numerous security breaches and is presently being litigated for providing wrong information to lenders, I would like to offer to assist with having my credit report run through Transunion or Experian."
"We can't do that."
"I understand. Please provide me with contact information f
One example (Score:4, Informative)
A woman's car loan payments are $154 more per month because of the Equifax screw up, and she's suing [marketwatch.com].
Jenkins had a loan pre-approval in January that would have resulted in an estimated $350 monthly car payment. But a Toyota dealership denied her auto loan in early April. In the denial letter, Jenkins “saw that her credit score, reportedly furnished by Equifax, was inaccurate by 130 points,” the lawsuit said.
Jenkins later got financing for a different loan at a different car dealer — but with “much less favorable rates,” the lawsuit said. She’s paying $252 every two weeks. That’s a $504 monthly cost and an extra $154 per month compared to the pre-approval’s terms.
corporate death penalty (Score:2)
n/t
Black box (Score:3)
the company declined to comment to CNN Business about how people can learn whether they were among those whose credit scores were incorrectly reported
Indeed. With these black-box credit agencies, how would any of us ever even know if there was a "wrong score" issued for us? We don't have any standard against which to compare. Regulators need to force credit agencies to have full transparency about how scores are calculated.
Negative action compensation (Score:1)
Dieselgate (Score:2)
I will never understand (Score:3, Interesting)
Change Management Governance Fail (Score:2)
This is a failure in SDLC practices!
The problem occurred because of a "coding issue" when making a change to one of Equifax's servers, according to the company, which said the issue "was in place over a period of a few weeks [and] resulted in the potential miscalculation" of credit scores.
What testing was done to validate the change? Why did it take them so long to figure it out? Only one server affected?
incompetence (Score:2)
All that affirmative action, participation trophies, and inclusion is coming home to roost.