Hacker News Reader

Comment by skylark | Hacker News Reader

It's a weird situation. Your credit information is so crucial that the agencies need a workaround for everything - a user can't be allowed to get stuck in a state that locks them out of their credit forever.

I'm still annoyed by this entire debacle but I'm not sure what the correct solution for a lost PIN should be.

View on HN

> I'm not sure what the correct solution for a lost PIN should be

Krebs gives an answer in the article and I think I agree:

> I understand if people who place freezes on their credit files are prone to misplacing the PIN provided by the bureaus that is needed to unlock or thaw a freeze. This is human nature, and the bureaus should absolutely have a reliable process to recover this PIN. However, the information should be sent via snail mail to the address on the credit record, not via email to any old email address.

Until we have a way to guarantee our electronic identity to the government (e.g. an RSA key registry so that I can sign a message like "I am $name and $email is my email"), physical delivery is the best option.

> However, the information should be sent via snail mail to the address on the credit record

What would happen when that address is incorrect or outdated?

"If you believe the address on file is outdated please mail a notarized copy of X of the Y documents to us at Z"

Getting a notarized copy of an ID and proof of address and mailing it in isn't too terrible of a hoop for poor people (who aren't so poor that an organization that cares about credit ratings is considering lending to them) to jump though. It doesn't scale well and provides a substantial hurdle for monetizing ID information.

If it's incorrect, you likely have bigger problems than where to send the pin. And I think there are ways to correct the address.

If it's outdated, then it simply goes to your old address. If you moved, the Post Office will forward mail addressed to you at your old address to your new address.

I always hear this story about post offices forwarding mail with old addresses, but in my life (having moved a ton), I've never received mail at a new address with an old address printed on it, while I have received huge volumes of mail addressed to the last guy living where I'm at. Is forwarding an American thing?

You have to sign up and pay for the forwarding service when you move. You can choose how long it goes on for too.

Yes, I have gotten mail forwarded as much as 8 months after a move. It get's a yellow sticker with your new address on the bottom right. I believe it's based on names so it may not work for all mail.

Having one's email forwarded to another address can also be subject to fraud. Haven't done it in awhile, possibly you now have to go to the counter and show some id, but it used to be far too easy to fill out the little card and hand it to the person behind the counter, no questions asked.

https://www.identityguard.com/news-insights/beware-change-ad...

You have to ask for it to be done. The post office does not magically know when you move, or what your new address is.

The post office will do this only for a year, and only if you explicitly register a change of address with them.

The issue of course being that credit reporting agencies are in close company with credit issuing agencies. When someone wants a loan right now the lender doesn't want to wait for snail mail because the purchaser will change their mind. So if the credit reporting agency starts sending out snail mail forgot-your-pin resets, the lender will start using one of the other credit reporting agencies.

Good point. Perhaps regulation would be needed to enforce uniform policy.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com