Hope there is no one who has just ignored the Equifax hack (as being yet another hack like Target, JP Morgan Chase, etc.). This one is serious because all of our financial account data + ssn has been stolen. This means hackers know the accounts you have (had), the addresses/phone numbers you have (had). Creative hackers can then do social engineering hacks to get into your existing accounts but also create new ones.
Here is what we did (your own steps may vary):
Step 1: Checked the credit reports at each of the major bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransnUnion) to verify if you have ALREADY been compromised (new accounts opened in your name). In our case luckily we were clean.
Step 2: We put a freeze on our credit reports at each of the credit bureaus. This cost us $10 per credit bureau per person (Equifax is free - because they DARE not ask for money having created this problem in the first place). There is a lot of confusion around locks & freezes. See http://ift.tt/2xsPI1O
We chose to freeze our credit reports - this way no identity thief can open new accounts in our names and leave us holding the bag. If we opened new credit/loan accounts, we'd have to do the cumbersome unfreeze-freeze again process - but for us it was worth it.
As a habit & practice, we check credit reports once each 4 months for different credit bureaus to avail of the free credit report from each agency each year. If you are not doing this regularly, please make sure to add this to your practice as part of financial planning (rule 1 of which should be "protect what you have")....
Your own steps may be different.
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You could check your employer benefits website. They may provide free credit monitoring service (via LifeLock or some other provider).
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You may choose to lock instead of freeze. Read the pros/cons on the web and in the link shared above to make an informed decision.
It is an absolute shame that our own credit data is being bought/sold by these credit bureaus and we are then endangered and have to pay for the privilege of being protected.
Congress has expressed its requisite outrage and now we are back to business as usual where as consumers we have to do the due diligence to make sure that we are protected.
Submitted November 01, 2017 at 10:13AM by arnexa http://ift.tt/2z6lJh2
