![]() I verified this after receiving two conflicting confirmation letters in the mail after my afternoon with phone reps. While it appears this remains to be the only way to change one’s PIN online, it is in fact possible to change your PIN over the phone without permanently removing your existing freeze. After spending an afternoon with seven different Experian phone representatives and receiving conflicting information, I was told repeatedly the only way to change your Experian PIN is to permanently remove your existing Experian credit freeze and place a new one. In the meantime, the best way to protect the security of your Experian credit freeze is to change your Experian credit freeze PIN. We also urge the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to investigate the security flaw, determine how long the flaw existed, verify the validity of Experian’s claim that “no credit files are at risk,” assess Experian’s lack of public notification of the flaw or the steps consumers can take in response to it, and levy robust financial penalties based on the results of the investigation. We’re calling on Experian to at least notify all who may be at risk because their PINs were retrieved before the flaw was fixed. The flaw appears to have been fixed the day it was reported on, but who knows how long the flaw was in place. This puts all consumers with an Experian credit freeze at risk, including deployed servicemembers who might not discover any fraud until after they return. However, PINs could be retrieved by simply answering “none of the above” to all security questions, providing an opportunity for identity thieves to retrieve PINs, remove freezes, and apply for new credit accounts. Here’s a little more context: Experian’s website allows consumers to retrieve their credit freeze PIN, which is needed to temporarily remove a freeze when applying for credit, if they lost it. ![]() I, too, was able to retrieve my PIN by selecting “none of the above” for security questions even though the answer was in the list of options. A couple weeks ago, after reading a Nerdwallet news alert about Experian’s faulty credit freeze PIN retrieval form, I tried it out for myself.
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