The TransUnion Credit Bureau is performing an enormous disservice to the American public by not securing the financial account numbers on the credit reports they release for U.S. citizens. Equifax and Experian, as a matter of policy to help prevent the theft of a person’s financial account numbers, mask several of the last digits (e.g. 59864321 would be masked as 5986XXXX) of all account numbers on the credit reports they release. TransUnion absolutely refuses to mask any account numbers unless the financial institutions mask the numbers they send to TransUnion.

I called their complaint desk and went as high up as a supervisor’s supervisor. The standard response was that TransUnion will only report financial information exactly as it is received from the financial institutions. When I told them that Equifax and Experian automatically mask account numbers as a public service, the response was, “We are acting within FTC regulations.”

At a time when federal and state governments are supposed to be highly concerned about the security of the public’s financial information, it is mind boggling that there is not a federal law that allows the Federal Trade Commission to require all credit bureaus to mask financial account numbers on all credit reports.

Accessing credit reports is much too easy. I was shocked at how easy it was for me to set up an account at each of the three credit report bureaus and then view my credit reports. It was especially easy at annualcreditreport.com to gain access to my free annual report from each bureau that citizens are allowed to request by law. And who knows what happens to all those credit reports that are sent to banks and mortgage companies.

If the federal government really is serious about protecting the public from financial information theft, it needs to strengthen laws governing credit report bureaus enough to require them to mask all financial account numbers on credit reports.

Richard VanDeventer, Cary

Reassignment unreasonable

Wake County Public School System has recently presented a large school reassignment plan, moving students in and out of schools, wherever they want them, as if they were puppets. Some say WCPSS has made odd decisions for the community. To some who have been affected by this recent event, it seems by far the most unreasonable act yet. The plan is that 6,800 students are to be redistricted. Blue Ribbon School Davis Drive Elementary has students from MacArthur Park being transferred from that traditional calendar school to year-round school Laurel Park. Basically, pupils are being sent from a school within walking distance to a school roughly two miles away.

Another problem is that year-round learning facilities are near empty, while traditional calendar school stands overloaded with children. Some citizens say that with all the money the school board spends on building new schools, why can’t they spend more money expanding schools and hiring teachers, or change the empty year-round schools back to traditional calendar? While doing that, they should send those opted-out students in the district back to that school. The reassignment has not been finalized yet, but until then, from peasants to political leaders, from men to mayors, from girls to government, together, uniting as one voice, we all fight for what we believe in, and no one can “reassign” that.

Seth Ellington, Fifth-grade student, Davis Drive Elementary