Last Friday, Iowa Attorney General, Tom Miller, joined state attorneys general from 33 other states plus the District of Columbia in raising “profound concerns” with Equifax, Inc. over the credit reporting agency’s response to the massive data breach the company disclosed Sept. 7. “Our concerns have only been heightened by Equifax’s conduct since its disclosure of the breach,” Miller and the others wrote in a letter sent to Equifax. In addition to the concerns about the breach itself, they said they were also questioning the company’s service terms for consumers affected by the breach, fees, confusing messages to consumers on its website and inadequate call center resources. The public disclosure came after the company discovered the breach on July 29 that included stolen personal information from 1.1 million Iowans and 143 million consumers nationwide. The compromised information includes names, addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers and, in some cases, credit card and driver’s license information. Miller opened an investigation into Equifax early last week. Complaints have come in that consumers are experiencing long waits or are not able to get through to call centers at all. The attorneys general also have concerns with Equifax’s initial call for consumers to waive some rights, the short timeframe in the credit monitoring Equifax offered and the fact that Equifax has agreed to waive credit freeze fees but consumers must still pay the other two credit bureaus, Experian and TransUnion, for a credit freeze.
