Equifax offers consumers new data-lock

Equifax, still reeling from a massive hack that exposed sensitive data about 143 million people, said Thursday that it will begin offering a new service next year that gives consumers more control over their data.

The service, to go live by Jan. 31, will allow consumers to “lock and unlock access to their Equifax credit files,” Paulino do Rego Barros Jr., the company’s interim chief executive, said in a Wall Street Journal editorial published late Wednesday.

The service, to be offered free for life, will allow consumers to prevent anyone from accessing their credit file without their permission, making it harder for hackers to open a credit card or take out a loan in their name.

Barros acknowledged the company’s lackluster initial response to the hack.

“We were hacked. That’s the simple fact,” he said. “But we compounded the problem with insufficient support for consumers. Our website did not function as it should have, and our call center couldn’t manage the volume of calls we received.”

The company is working to correct its mistakes, Barros said. Equifax is working on its website and is adding agents to its call centers, he said. The company is also giving consumers who are concerned they may have been affected by the hack more time to sign up for TrustedID Premier, its free credit-monitoring service.

Equifax is already under investigation by the FBI, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is calling for lawmakers to give the agency more power to oversee the industry.