Arizona AG, others call for Equifax to halt paid credit service after hack

PHOENIX — Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich joined calls Friday for Equifax to stop offering paid credit protection after hackers gained access to millions of accounts.

“Consumers, who are at absolutely no fault in this situation, should not have to pay for credit monitoring services,” he said in a press release.

About 143 million people were affected by the hack. Though the company was offering free services to those whose information may have been stolen, it continued to sell paid protection on its website.

“We believe continuing to offer consumers a fee-based service in addition to Equifax’s free monitoring services will serve to only confuse consumers who are already struggling to make decisions on how to best protect themselves in the wake of this massive breach,” Brnovich said.

Equifax said Friday it would continue to allow people to place credit freezes on their reports without a fee through Nov. 21. Originally the company offered fee-free credit freezes for 30 days after the incident.

Brnovich and 32 other state attorneys general said they have a lot of questions for the consumer credit agency.

“We want to know about the circumstances that led to the breach, the reasons for the months-long delay before public disclosure, and what protections the company had in place at the time of the breach,” he said.

The Federal Trade Commission was also investigating the hack. Several executives have left the company since the breach was announced.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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