all about How To : Equifax Data Breach: 5 Steps to Protect Your Personal Finances

Take 5 Steps to Protect Your Personal Finances

Equifax, one the nation’s three major credit reporting agencies, announced on September 7, 2017 that they had been hacked. They discovered a huge data breach at the end of July, which had been going on since mid-May.

Cybercriminals got into Equifax and took the personal information of 143 million Americans, about half of the U.S. adult population—plus, data was stolen from millions in Britain and Canada.

If you have a credit report in the U.S., there’s a good chance your personal information has been exposed. In this post, I’ll explain what happened and the steps you should take right now to keep your finances safe.

What Happened in the Equifax Data Breach

Equifax was founded in 1899 and is the oldest of the three credit bureaus, along with Experian and TransUnion. Equifax is based in Atlanta, Georgia and maintains information on over 820 million consumers.

Equifax says hackers lifted consumers’ names, birth dates, Social Security numbers, and in some cases, driver’s license numbers. They also stole credit card numbers for over 200,000 people and dispute documents that contain sensitive data for about 180,000.

This isn’t the largest data breach we’ve seen. That dishonor goes to Yahoo, which was targeted in a couple of incidents that affected more than one billion user accounts worldwide. However, the Equifax incident is the largest heist of Social Security numbers.

What disturbs me the most about this breach is that Equifax is in the business of storing our most personal data. Their job is to make sure we have an accurate financial profile so merchants, like lenders and insurance companies, can evaluate us properly.

Equifax has taken a lot of heat from regulators in Washington and some of their employees are also under scrutiny. It was found that three Equifax executives sold stock shares worth a total of $1.8 million a few days after the company discovered the breach.

But what you really need to know right now in the wake of this cybercrime is how to stay safe.

The Equifax Data Breach: What to Do in 5 Steps

Step 1: Find out if your personal data was stolen.
Step 2: Sign up for free identity theft protection.
Step 3: Review your credit reports.
Step 4: Consider placing a security fraud alert on your credit.
Step 5: Consider placing a freeze on your credit.

You can find detailed explanations of each step below.

Step 1: Find out if your personal data was stolen.

If your personally identifying information was taken from Equifax, you will not receive notification from them. The only alerts they’re sending are to consumers who had credit card numbers and dispute documents stolen.

You need to be proactive to find out if your sensitive data is in jeopardy by visiting equifax.com.

You need to be proactive to find out if your sensitive data is in jeopardy by visiting equifax.com or their dedicated security site, equifaxsecurity2017.com.

When you click the “Potential Impact” button you must enter your last name and the last six digits of your Social Security number. Then you either get a message saying your data was not impacted or that it was potentially impacted. My data was taken, but my husband’s data was not.

Some people have pushed back on having to enter the last six digits, instead of the usual last four, of their Social Security number on the Equifax site to find out their status. This insures that they get a match for your information from hundreds of millions of records that could be very close to your name or number.

If you’re not comfortable entering your information online, you can call Equifax at 866-447-7559. They set up a call center for this issue and are open every day of the week from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. Eastern time.

Free Resource: Credit Score Survival Kit – download this ebook and video tutorial with proven, legitimate tips and strategies to review, repair, and build excellent credit.

Step 2: Sign up for free identity theft protection.

Regardless of whether your data was breached or not, Equifax is offering one year of free enrollment in TrustedID Premier, their identity protection and credit monitoring service. If their system is busy, you may be instructed to return at a later date to complete enrollment.

Equifax’s protection includes monitoring at all three credit bureaus, copies of your Equifax credit reports, identity theft insurance, and scanning for your Social Security number being used online.

Step 3: Review your credit reports.

As I mentioned, the Equifax breach started more than four months ago in May. If your data was jeopardized, review your credit reports for signs of fraud sooner rather than later.

Even if your data wasn’t compromised, this is a good time to get your free annual credit report from each of the three agencies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) at annualcreditreport.com. You can also create free accounts at sites like Credit Karma and Credit Sesame to get one or two of your reports as often as you like.

When reviewing your credit report, look for new accounts that you didn’t open, unfamiliar activity, or incorrect data. If you believe a criminal used your personal information to open a credit card, reopen a closed account, or get a loan, report it to the lender immediately.

Even if your data wasn’t compromised, this is a good time to get your free annual credit report from each of the three agencies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) at annualcreditreport.com.

If your credit report looks fine, don’t be fooled into thinking that you can just forget about it. Once a cybercriminal has your information they can use it anytime or sell it later to another thief.

To stay vigilant, put a monthly reminder on your calendar to alert you that it’s time to check in on the status of your credit reports. Also, check your financial accounts—such as checking, savings, credit cards—for unusual activity and investigate any suspicious charges or withdrawals right away.

Step 4: Consider placing a security fraud alert on your credit.

In addition to checking your credit regularly, there’s an additional layer of protection you can set up with the credit bureaus called a security fraud alert. It’s a red flag that notifies creditors and merchants to take special precautions. They must contact you directly, typically by phone, to verify your identity and make sure they’re giving credit to the right person.

You can set up two different types of alerts on your credit report:

Initial fraud alert—gives you protection for 90 days if you believe that your identity could be in jeopardy. This makes it more difficult for a thief to open a new credit account in your name. You can renew a fraud alert every 90 days for as long as you like.
Extended fraud alert—gives you protection for up to 7 years if you’ve been the victim of identity theft. You must have documentation to prove it, such as a report filed with a federal, state, or local law enforcement agency.

Adding either type of fraud alert to your credit file is free and doesn’t hurt your credit scores in any way. You can request it online or by phone with any of the three major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion). Then they must notify the other two agencies on your behalf so alerts can be placed on those files as well.

The downside of having a credit alert is that if you need credit, it can slow down the application process. But if your personal information has been breached or you’ve already been the victim of identity theft, having this delay is well worth the inconvenience.

Step 5: Consider placing a freeze on your credit.

Another downside to a credit alert is that you must rely on a lender to take necessary precautions, so it isn’t foolproof. If you want to completely shut down access to your credit, you can freeze it.

A credit freeze makes it impossible for any new credit accounts to be opened in your name. It’s an extreme measure that prevents just about anyone from seeing your credit file unless you approve it.

The only exceptions are your existing creditors, government agencies, and credit monitoring services you choose. Locking down your credit means that even if a thief took your personal data, they couldn’t open a credit card or loan in your name.

Like a fraud alert, a freeze doesn’t hurt your credit. But unlike an alert, it’s not automatically shared to all the bureaus. You must initiate and pay for a credit freeze at each of the three credit bureaus online or by phone:

Equifax (1-800-349-9960)
Experian (1-888-397-3742)
TransUnion (1-888-909-8872)

The cost of a freeze varies depending on the state where you live and whether you’ve been the victim of identity theft, but may be approximately $10 to place and another $10 to remove. You receive a personal identification number (PIN) from each credit bureau that is required to lift or thaw the freeze.

Thawing out your credit can take up to several days, so may not be the best option if a potential lender, employer, insurance company, utility company, or landlord needs to review it soon. However, a freeze is a surefire way to stay protected if you’re worried about having your identity stolen.

What Credit Protections Can and Can’t Do

It’s important to understand what credit protections like monitoring, fraud alerts, and credit freezes can and can’t do. As I mentioned, a credit freeze can prevent a thief from opening a new credit account in your name—but it can’t prevent someone from using your identity for something unrelated to credit.

For instance, it won’t keep a determined criminal from filing a bogus tax return, getting a driver’s license, or making a false medical insurance claim in your name. Those transactions have nothing to do with your credit report. You wouldn’t know about them unless you received a notice from the IRS or a medical bill for services you didn’t request.

Regardless of what protections you have in place, a thief could steal your physical credit or debit card or just your card number and make unauthorized purchases. Neither monitoring, alerts, or freezing would tell you if this occurred because individual purchases don’t impact your credit report.

Regardless of what protections you have in place, a thief could steal your physical credit or debit card or just your card number and make unauthorized purchases.

It’s up to you to check your credit card and bank statements to watch for fraudulent activity. Fortunately, your liability for misuse on a credit card is very small. However, damage from debit card fraud could be huge, depending on when you report it.

If someone takes over an existing credit account by changing your address, a monitoring service might pick this up after it’s happened or once the thief misses a payment.

Knowing about a breach doesn’t prevent fraud, but may make you aware of it more quickly. The longer a criminal controls your identity, the greater the damage they can do to your credit history and finances.

Here’s a list of what most credit monitoring services will not do:

Watch your credit report at all three credit bureaus (many only watch one).
Tell you if a new mobile phone, cable television, or Internet account was opened under your name.
Notify you if your brokerage or retirement accounts have been hacked.
Know if a thief has made a fraudulent charge on your credit or debit card.
Tell you if someone used your information to get a driver’s license, passport, or other identification document.
Know if someone takes government benefits in your name, such as a tax refund, Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security benefits.

The bottom line is that monitoring services can help you—but they don’t completely prevent fraud. They act as a line of defense against a small percentage of possible identity crimes that occur every day.

You must protect your confidential information as much as possible, pay attention to signs of fraud, and act on them as quickly to stay as safe as possible.

Get More Money Girl!

Want to know the best financial and productivity tools that I use and recommend to save time and money? Click here to check out 40+ tools I recommend!

If you're ready for help managing debt, building credit, and reaching big financial goals, check out Laura's private Facebook Group, Dominate Your Dollars! Request an invitation to join this growing community of like-minded people who want to take their financial lives to the next level.

To connect on social media, you’ll find Money Girl on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Also, if you’re not already subscribed to the Money Girl podcast on Apple Podcasts or the Stitcher app, both are free and make sure that you’ll get each new weekly episode as soon as it’s published on the web. The show is also on the Spotify mobile app!

Click here to subscribe to the weekly Money Girl audio podcast—it’s FREE!

There’s a huge archive of past articles and podcasts if you type in what you want to learn about in the search bar at the top of the page. Here are all the many places you can connect with me, learn more about personal finance, and ask your money question:

Click here to sign up for the free Money Girl Newsletter!

Download FREE chapters of Money Girl’s Smart Moves to Grow Rich

To learn about how to get out of debt, save money, and build wealth, get a copy of my award-winning book Money Girl’s Smart Moves to Grow Rich. It tells you what you need to know about money without bogging you down with what you don’t. It’s available at your favorite bookstore as a paperback or e-book. Click here to download 2 FREE book chapters now!

Hacker Over Screen image courtesy of Shutterstock

all about How To

Rabu, 13 September 2017

Equifax Data Breach: 5 Steps to Protect Your Personal Finances