Most creditors will not issue new credit to a customer if they cannot see that customer’s credit report or the credit score derived from it from at least one of the three big nationwide credit reporting agencies – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Getting credit freezes at all three national credit bureaus is the best action consumers can take after the Equifax breach, whether they were affected by it or not.Ī credit freeze blocks potential creditors such as a credit card company, a cell phone company, or a lender from viewing your credit report, which shows your credit history. Place free, renewable fraud alerts on your credit report if you decide not to place credit freezes on your credit reports.Īdditionally, is the government’s official website that will walk you through clear checklists of actions you can take to recover from identity theft.Ī: A credit freeze is a commonsense tool that allows consumers to freeze access to their credit history and scores, denying thieves the ability to open any fake credit accounts in their names. More info about credit freezes and how-to do this are answered below. The official website authorized by the government for requesting these free reports is .Ĭonsider placing credit freezes on your credit reports with all three credit bureaus. If you request a copy of your report every 3-4 months throughout the year, you are essentially doing your own free credit monitoring. Request free credit reports at all three credit bureaus to spot any unauthorized activity. We saw numerous press reports that it gave different results at different times.1 Presume instead that it is more likely than not that your information has been compromised.Ī: We recommend taking the following steps: To make matters worse, there’s a lot of confusion over what to do now.Ī: Equifax has a website where you could use a tool to see whether your information has been hacked. Reports on September 14th suggest that Equifax failed to install Apache Struts security updates it was told about two months before its breach. ![]() This means identity thieves could open fraudulent credit accounts and rack up tons of debt in your name. The types of information taken from the massive credit bureau, particularly Social Security numbers and dates of birth, are the keys to new account identity theft. This number was later updated to 145.5 million and then to nearly 148 million. What is our consumer team doing to solve the problems?Ī: Equifax, one of the big three credit reporting agencies, announced on September 7th, 2017 that it had been hacked, potentially compromising the data of 143 million Americans. What do I do if I detect New Account Identity Theft? What should the government be doing about this incident? What is Equifax offering? And why does it fall short? ![]() Should I accept the package offered by Equifax? If you’ve already been affected, take steps to recover from identity theft by visiting. Any consumer can place a free renewable 90-day fraud alert by law by contacting any one of the three credit bureaus.ĭon’t accept any deal from Equifax until you understand how Equifax has modified its terms of service, and read our summary of the limitations and potential risks of Equifax’s offering. Place a free fraud alert if you choose not to get credit freezes. See our step-by-step guide for getting credit freezes. Request a free credit report – all three nationwide credit bureaus will give you one free report per year.Ĭonsider placing a credit freeze (also known as a security freeze) with all three credit bureaus. Here are some recommended actions consumers can take to protect themselves and answers to frequently asked questions. ![]() Hackers gained access to the personal data of over 147 million Americans in the Equifax breach.
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