Does he really, truly understand why the breach made people so mad?

“I think it’s because the data was so personal,” he said. “It was the scale of it. And I think a lot of consumers still don’t today understand the data that credit bureaus have. And we know we have to win back their trust.”

On that note, I issued him a series of challenges — opportunities, really — to make good on his word. He did not quite agree to any of them outright, though I hope to get him to yes on at least a few over time. Here’s what I asked for.

Can we please have unlimited free credit reports?

“We haven’t talked about whether it would be positive from a consumer perspective to go beyond the three you get for free each year,” he said, referring to the reports available from each company via annualcreditreport.com. “But we’ll certainly take it under advisement.”

That would be positive from a consumer perspective, but the real question is how much revenue Equifax might give up from selling those reports. I couldn’t get a clear answer in the interview or in a follow-up email.

Why can’t we have one place to go to press one button with one password to freeze or thaw our credit files with all three credit bureaus simultaneously?

When the bureaus’ chief executives appeared before the House Committee on Financial Services recently, Representative Sean Duffy, Republican of Wisconsin, asked them why they couldn’t just get this done over a cup of coffee.

Mr. Begor wouldn’t make any promises. “As you know, getting three people to dance is always challenging, but there is definitely a discussion going on,” he said.

Does Equifax actually want this to happen? “We want it to happen,” Mr. Begor said, without hesitation. “And it’s the right thing to do, right? Why would you have to freeze three times?”