Question:

Hello,

I don’t know if you can help, but I need to @ least vent. I found out 2 days ago that EQUIFAX has moved its entire customer service & other smaller depts to INDIA..

I spoke with EQUIFAX HQ in Atlanta & was informed due to the "bottom line" many employees were laid off & customer service was out-sourced. The few employees left are very upset. They all agree, "it’s a huge mistake, ID theft is too big".

I CANNOT BEGIN TO COMPREHEND HOW MY GOVERNMENT ALLOWED THIS!!!! WITH THE HUGE SNOW BALLING ID THEFT CRISIS & THE VERY LUCRATIVE BLACK MARKET BUSINESS OF AMERICAN SS#'S BEING SOLD OVERSEAS... CAN THE GOV STOP THIS & DEMAND EQUIFAX BRING BACK AMERICAN’S PERSONAL INFO??? THIS IS DISGUSTING!!!

I am 54 yrs old, I don’t recognize my country anymore!

The Media needs to educate & inform the public of what has transpired & the serious ramifications of such actions.

ANSWER:

Thank you very much for your provocative question - its clear you are upset and I do as President Clinton said - “feel your pain”.

With that in mind I want to cover as best I can the concept of out-sourcing.

To start, I agree with you - we should not be sending American jobs overseas, but with increasing prices and the companies efforts to keep services and products at reasonable prices, I can understand why the company moved overseas - its simply cheaper to do business.

Now on to the basic premise of your letter - how could the government allow this to happen?

Depending on whom you ask, the government either allowed this to happen, or they forced businesses overseas. How can I say this? Well, in the absence of actual legislation stopping them from moving overseas, Congress has given this business its “two thumbs up” for the move by not doing anything. On the other hand, because of increasing employee costs - from salaries to health insurance - the government has put businesses in a position that if they want to stay in competitive business, then they have to do something to lower overall costs - and the number one way to do that is to deal with employee salaries and benefits. Specifically, American workers make about 100 times more than those in India or other parts of the world, and this raises prices dramatically.

As a free market supporter, one who supports high quality and lower prices, I know that if it was not for those who work for low wages in places like India and China, the items I use in my everyday life would cost a fortune, making my “American Life Style” practically impossible to have. Although its not always right, imagine what that toothbrush you use would cost if it was made in America by people who work for $20 an hour as opposed to those who work for the country’s normal standard of living?

As such, we now need to look at the next part of your question - namely the safety of said information.

Personally, I agree with you about having person information out-sourced but two things stand out. First, all companies like Equifax, go out of their way to ensure that not only are those who work for them dependable, trustworthy and honest, but also go the extra mile to ensure that they do not get all of the information you think they do. For example, although I have not personally seen it, I do believe that they provide someone overseas with just the basics - like 1/2 the SSN, and a partial address. Second, since good jobs are often scarce in these (as is technology), then these workers do their best to keep their jobs - and being honest is one of them.

Additionally, many companies have policies that allow you to refute, debate and reverse problems with ID theft, especially if you can prove it was not you. For example, if someone makes purchases in India, Russia or who knows where and you can prove you have never visited those place, have no relatives there or simply that the purchase was not authorized, not only do they remove it from your ‘statement’ but also from your credit score.

In closing, there is one more thing that might help with your peace of mind - namely purchasing some type of identity theft insurance. Personally, I have never purchased any myself (because I don’t believe the problem is that big), but understand the policies are reasonable and very effective - the least they do is provide one with peace of mind.

Finally, I agree with your last point - the media needs to do more to educate consumers, and believe that most major TV and radio stations, as well as newspapers, have either consumer reporters and ombudsmen to help consumers. The problem that they face though is belt tightening, short budgets and most importantly, a growing number of consumer complaints in which to deal with. How do we overcome this? The answer is not that simple, and is probably similar in nature to the initial part of your question (and my answer) competition brings things to a head to benefit consumers. I hope that all media outlets will take that to heart and increase their budgets and staff to help create more consumer oriented educational pieces!