Needed to unfreeze my Equifax credit report last week so I could open an
account at a new bank which used Equifax services. I accessed my account
on the MyEquifax website first thing in Friday morning, went through the
very simple Temporarily Remove Freeze steps, got a green check
confirmation that he freeze was lifted and logged out.

That afternoon, I tried to open the new bank account but was declined as
the bank said my credit report was frozen. I explained that I had
unfrozen it that morning but the bank lady told me it often takes
Equifax 24 hours to unfreeze— despite the website saying it was done
immediately.

So Saturday afternoon, I go through the MyEquifax unfreeze routine again
so I can open the account Monday.

Yup, got declined again Monday. This time a different bank lady told me
that Equifax doesn’t process unfreeze requests over the weekend— again
despite the website saying your account is unfrozen. So the 24 hour
clock didn’t start till Monday. Maybe I can open that new account on
Tuesday...

You don’t want to process unfreeze requests for up to 24 hours? Fine, no
problem. Don't want to process them over the weekend? Also fine, no problem.

But fer’ crying out loud, don’t tell the customer his damn report is
unfrozen when it isn’t!!

On Mon, 24 Apr 2023 15:39:42 -0400, Wade Garrett <wade@cooler.net>
wrote:

>Needed to unfreeze my Equifax credit report last week so I could open an
>account at a new bank which used Equifax services. I accessed my account
>on the MyEquifax website first thing in Friday morning, went through the
>very simple Temporarily Remove Freeze steps, got a green check
>confirmation that he freeze was lifted and logged out.
>
>That afternoon, I tried to open the new bank account but was declined as
>the bank said my credit report was frozen. I explained that I had
>unfrozen it that morning but the bank lady told me it often takes
>Equifax 24 hours to unfreeze— despite the website saying it was done
>immediately.
>
>So Saturday afternoon, I go through the MyEquifax unfreeze routine again
>so I can open the account Monday.
>
>Yup, got declined again Monday. This time a different bank lady told me
>that Equifax doesn’t process unfreeze requests over the weekend— again
>despite the website saying your account is unfrozen. So the 24 hour
>clock didn’t start till Monday. Maybe I can open that new account on
>Tuesday...
>
>You don’t want to process unfreeze requests for up to 24 hours? Fine, no
>problem. Don't want to process them over the weekend? Also fine, no problem.
>
>But fer’ crying out loud, don’t tell the customer his damn report is
>unfrozen when it isn’t!!

I've had a slightly different experience over the past 10+ years. When I
go to the relevant website (of the big 3 credit agencies) to temporarily
unfreeze my credit, it's actually unfrozen immediately, just as they say
it should be.

One thing I do differently, though, is that when I need a temp unfreeze,
I do it at all three sites. Using the latest experience as an example,
when we moved to this area the new local credit union said they were
going to pull our credit at a specific site, but I unfroze my credit at
all three, as I always do. Afterwards, one of the other two sites
reported that the credit union had accessed my credit. The site that
they said they always use didn't report any access at all.

In alt.home.repair, on Mon, 24 Apr 2023 15:39:42 -0400, Wade Garrett
<wade@cooler.net> wrote:

>Needed to unfreeze my Equifax credit report last week so I could open an
>account at a new bank which used Equifax services. I accessed my account
>on the MyEquifax website first thing in Friday morning, went through the
>very simple Temporarily Remove Freeze steps, got a green check
>confirmation that he freeze was lifted and logged out.
>
>That afternoon, I tried to open the new bank account but was declined as
>the bank said my credit report was frozen. I explained that I had
>unfrozen it that morning but the bank lady told me it often takes
>Equifax 24 hours to unfreeze— despite the website saying it was done
>immediately.
>
>So Saturday afternoon, I go through the MyEquifax unfreeze routine again
>so I can open the account Monday.
>
>Yup, got declined again Monday. This time a different bank lady told me
>that Equifax doesn’t process unfreeze requests over the weekend— again
>despite the website saying your account is unfrozen. So the 24 hour
>clock didn’t start till Monday. Maybe I can open that new account on
>Tuesday...

Looking forward to hearing what happens today.

>
>You don’t want to process unfreeze requests for up to 24 hours? Fine, no
>problem. Don't want to process them over the weekend? Also fine, no problem.
>
>But fer’ crying out loud, don’t tell the customer his damn report is
>unfrozen when it isn’t!!

I don't have a frozen credit story, but I'll tell you about fouled up
online access. Before my last trip abroad, I thought it would be good to
have a credit card with "no foreign transaction fees". The card that
promoted this the most over the last 10 years was Capital One, so I got
a card from them. I looked at my account webpage on my PC before I
left.

When I got to my destination, I had no need to check anything for 3
weeks but when I did, they wanted to send me a confirmation code, and
the only choices were a phone call or text to my phone. But my phone
was back in the USA. I didn't know what my foreign phone number would
be until I got there and even if I'd known, they'd never suggested I
should put that (temporary) number in my records with them. So I
called the phone number they gave and he told me, Use your cellphone
app. I said, That also wants to send me a code. You should have used
it before you left the US. Why didn't you tell me that?

Other credit cards let you send to one or more email addresses. One
gives up to 7 ways to get the code.

I had read everything and I read it again and it said nothing about
using the app before leaving the US. I prefer the PC to the phone.
And this card is marketed especially to people who are leaving the
country on vacation. Capital One -- what boobs!