[1] https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/refunds/equifax-data-breach-...
[1] https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/refunds/equifax-data-breach-...
And as if to rub salt in the wound:
> 3. I don’t want Equifax to have my data. What can I do?
> Equifax is one of three national credit bureaus. These companies collect information about your credit history, such as how many credit cards you have, how much money you owe, and how you pay your bills. Each company creates a credit report about you, and then sells this report to businesses who are deciding whether to give you credit. You cannot opt out of this data collection. However, you can review your credit report for free and freeze your credit.
It turns out you literally cannot turn off sex offender notices (within an unspecified distance of your home) without turning off all notices for activity under your name, address, or SSN.
Just start opening CFPB complaints and do your best to push all the buttons in the way that sets off the maximum alarm bells. Yes, this is preventing me from making my payment, why do you ask? Got a call from an "executive support team" two days later.
Her answer was to just batter my way through the phone system until I got an operator because it was definitely, totally the right number... should go back and see if they ever actually fixed it, I ended up just knuckling under and using a short, insecure password that their system would actually accept, maybe I should see where the CFPB complaint is. But if you don't let up, CFPB complaints are a big deal and will absolutely get movement, they've definitely resolved "intractable" (read: bank couldn't be bothered reading the case notes after a half dozen times repeating it to them, even when I repeated it all for them) issues for me in the past.
(I am on autopay but genuinely if something went wrong with my credit union or the mortgage system and I needed to get in, I would be fucked. Sure I could pay by check/paper coupon but I'd have to cancel the autopay first and I don't know if I can do that on the coupon either... it's really only the inertia of a few things still working right that actually did prevent problems with payments in general, so actually "problems with payment" isn't real far off.)