U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-IL) grilled former Equifax chair and CEO Richard Smith during a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee in Washington over a recent data breach at the consumer credit reporting agency.
According to Hultgren's office, 143 million American consumers were potentially impacted by the breach. At the hearing, Hultgren relayed stories of personal financial harm from several of his constituents: Marty, James and John from Wauconda, Spring Grove and Elburn, respectively. Their stories consisted of anger, mistrust in Equifax, frustration and a demand for justice and answers from the company.
“Equifax has jeopardized my private information, which I never gave them," Marty said, according to Hultgren. "Why should I have to do all of the work to monitor my credit? They should have done it for me or pay me to do all of this signing up and freezing my credit reports. They should pay me for my time. Should someone go to jail for this?”
U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-IL)
Because they failed to patch their servers for a known problem, James said the company is likely liable for negligence, considering an alleged criminal sale of stock prior to the breach. He wants the government to crack down with strict regulation on credit reporting agencies like Equifax. John also stressed a need for more accountability for these companies and said the situation appears to be out of control.
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