Clark Howard

Equifax data breach: How to recover your credit freeze PIN

In the wake of the massive Equifax data breach, money expert Clark Howard has advised everyone to assume their personal information has been compromised and to immediately do two things: sign up for free credit monitoring and freeze their credit with all three major credit reporting agencies.

Unfortunately, for many, the process of initiating a credit freeze with Equifax has not gone as smoothly as it should have. Our Consumer Action Center has received numerous complaints from people who either did not receive a personal identification number (PIN) — which is required should you ever want to unfreeze your credit in order to apply for another loan or credit card — or have been unable to change the PIN they were assigned by Equifax to one of their own choosing.

How to recover your Equifax credit freeze PIN

After spending far too much time on the phone trying to get information from Equifax, one of our Consumer Action Center managers, Lori, was finally able to track down a number that appears to work — for most people.

If you need to recover or change your PIN, you can try calling: 866-349-5191.

You will need to provide your social security number, address and date of birth, plus answer some other security questions. Sarah, another Consumer Action Center manager, was able to recover her PIN using this method.

It’s important to note, however, that others have not been so lucky, including Clark’s radio producer Kim.

Lori’s advice? “Hang on, don’t hang up.”

RELATED: Complete coverage of the Equifax data breach

Have you tried successfully or unsuccessfully to recover your PIN with Equifax? Let up know in our Equifax Help Facebook Group!

Equifax data breach: How to protect yourself