iPhone X orders held up by credit freezes put in place after Equifax hack
Some customers scrambling to preorder the hotly anticipated iPhone X early Friday morning hit an unexpected roadblock: Credit freezes put in place after the Equifax data breach held up authorization of payment plan loans.
After preorders began Friday at 12:01 a.m. Pacific, 3:01 a.m. Eastern, some who had initiated a credit freeze forgot to unfreeze it to authorize plans like Apple's iPhone Upgrade Program.
Readers reached out to AppleInsider after their purchase process was delayed, and others took to Twitter to express frustration that they had missed out on the iPhone X preorder window because their self-imposed credit freeze.
The problem is not unique to Apple, of course, nor is it unique to the iPhone X. Because Apple's credit partner Citizens Bank is used for other purchases, it has also affected iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus orders since they went on sale in September.
Carrier installment plans were also said to have been affected by credit freezes, as users on Twitter said programs like AT&T Next were held up in the preorder process.
In the wake of the hack, many consumers took to freezing their credit not only at Equifax, but also with Experian and TransUnion. Those who did so would have been stopped
Thankfully, for those who plan ahead for such purchases, the process of temporarily thawing credit with the three bureaus is fairly easy with a secure PIN number. In the future, consumers looking to make any loan-related purchase or application should remember to thaw their credit prior.
After preorders began Friday at 12:01 a.m. Pacific, 3:01 a.m. Eastern, some who had initiated a credit freeze forgot to unfreeze it to authorize plans like Apple's iPhone Upgrade Program.
Readers reached out to AppleInsider after their purchase process was delayed, and others took to Twitter to express frustration that they had missed out on the iPhone X preorder window because their self-imposed credit freeze.
As noted by AppleInsider in September, the iPhone Upgrade Program relies on Citizens Bank, which performs at least some credit checks with Equifax, which is one of the three major credit reporting bureaus in the U.S. Social Security numbers and other personally identifiable information of up to 143 million U.S. consumers were exposed in an unprecedented hack of Equifax earlier this year, prompting a wave of voluntary credit freezes.Thx for nothing @CitizensOne for using @Equifax to check my credit. No iPhone X for me. @Equifax breach...the gift that keeps on giving.
— Kevin Clark (@KC_Clarky)
The problem is not unique to Apple, of course, nor is it unique to the iPhone X. Because Apple's credit partner Citizens Bank is used for other purchases, it has also affected iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus orders since they went on sale in September.
Carrier installment plans were also said to have been affected by credit freezes, as users on Twitter said programs like AT&T Next were held up in the preorder process.
In the wake of the hack, many consumers took to freezing their credit not only at Equifax, but also with Experian and TransUnion. Those who did so would have been stopped
Thankfully, for those who plan ahead for such purchases, the process of temporarily thawing credit with the three bureaus is fairly easy with a secure PIN number. In the future, consumers looking to make any loan-related purchase or application should remember to thaw their credit prior.
Comments
2) This sounds like he only froze his credit with Equifax, and not the other bureaus. I can't even accept that possibility because it makes no sense since your name, SSN, birthday, addresses, and other information can be used to create new loans from any bureau, so he's either doubly stupid for only freezing it for one or stupid for not calling Citizen's One to see which bureaus they use or simply doing a temp unfreeze of all the bureaus prior to ordering.
A credit freeze only affects businesses where you have never obtained a loan. Any business where you have an existing loan has the right to check your credit.
For the upgrade program, this was covered by people asking questions and a write up I spotted someplace.
And it turned out to be accurate for me. No issues obtaining new phone for myself and my wife, with a freeze in place at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Nor was it necessary to lift the freeze.
Either the person was enrolling in the upgrade program for the first time, or something else was wrong. As anyone with an existing loan with Citizens One should have had no issue due to freezes in place with the three credit bureaus.
PS: For those that have NOT frozen their accounts, note that people that have stolen your information have more than enough data to freeze your accounts so even you can't use them.
2a) People may also want to create accounts at the SSA and IRS.
2b) Alternatively you can block access to SSA online.
3) I also recommend that people get their free annual credit report from this site. You can get all three bureaus at once, but a slightly safer option is to get one from each bureau spaced out over 4 months. Just save the URL in three calendar entries that will remind you annually for each bureau.
Note: You won't a FICO score with those reports without paying extra, but most people get to see that with one or more bureaus with credit cards they own. Also, when you get each report go to Print and then Save as PDF (if you're on a Mac) which you can save in ~/Documents/Free Credit Reports/2017/Equifax -2017.11.27 (for example). This is how I've been doing it for years. Of course, don't forget to look it over for discrepancies.
4) As John Oliver noted in his segment about the Equifax hack, these companies don't make it easy to find their data on freezing your account so they posted links on Twitter.
5a) So far Equifax has stated it's about half their database that was stolen, but this number has grown a little since it was first announced. I think everyone should assume that there data was stolen even if Equifax's online check doesn't indicate that it was. Consider how Yahoo! said that x-accounts were compromised and then years later either admitted or found out that all 1 billion+ accounts had been stolen. Always assume the worst.
6) If you want or even more comprehensive information or a second opinion you can read this detailed Facebook post.
These people data mine you, add in a lot of commonly inaccurate information and sell it for a profit.
They are the lowest form of scum.
These procedures are the minds of people who grew up when the only "online shopping" involved a mail-order catalog and a phone that did NOT unplug from the wall.
Try calling this number and saying that you never got your PDF. It might be good to know the day and time in which you set up your freeze.
PS: They want a 4-digit year for your birthday, yet they only have it setup to show 2-digits. How can we trust a system that has such poor attention to detail on something that simple? :sigh: