Did you get hit with the Equifax hack?(or who didn't)

[T18skyguy]

Truly unreal that they got all the private information on 145 million of us. This hack has the potential to really wreck havoc on us as individuals and even the normal operation of the economy. I just read today that the Chief of their security division is(was) a woman with a Master's degree in music. This from a company who's only job is to keep our data safe. 😞

[concord_05]

As I stated earlier we have our credit frozen. Received a letter today from Experian stating that since our credit was frozen by law that had to inform me someone had attempted to get info. After checking credit report someone tried to open a line of credit., but they were turned down. Frozen is the only safe way to guard your identity.

[fj12ryder]

mr. ed wrote:
I have Lifelock watching my back.

Yeah, but who's watching them?

Lifelock legal problems

[mr__ed]

I have Lifelock watching my back. My credit is also frozen.

[Let_s_Go_Explor]

Just do a security freeze at all 3 agencies and watch your credit cards etc religiously. That is all you can do. The agencies don't like people to freeze the info because the information they legally sell to others is not as valuable. That is why they offer a free credit tracking service. They use the line about using their "free" credit tracking service / that way you can get another line of credit quickly. Who cares? How often do you really need to open another line of credit or have a credit check? lol In those specific instances, you just allow the information to be accessed for a short period of time then close it up again. In many cases, the folks looking to check your credit only access one company so you will just have to "open" one.

[ol_Bombero-JC]

bwanshoom wrote:

NRALIFR wrote:
The security breach likely affects the entire adult population in the US. I wouldn't sign up for their credit monitoring service. You have to sign away your rights, and it's only for a year. Buy your own and keep it in force forever.

:):)

The part about signing away your rights is no longer correct, if it ever was. They specifically mention that in their FAQ.

I would also recommend a security freeze over credit monitoring. It may not be for everyone, but it's stronger peace of mind than monitoring, which only notifies you after something bad has already happened.

.
Freeze!

Easy way to see if it works - apply for "whatever" credit card -or- "attempt" to sign up for any one of the major cell companies (which req. a SS number for service).

If you're *NOT* turned down / refused.....there's a genuine hole in the system!

~

[concord_05]

We've had our credit frozen for several years now. We have a home equity line of credit which we use if we need it. Recently we upped our line of credit cause we thought at the time we were going to buy some property. It was not a difficult process to unfreeze it for 30 days to complete the process and I even couldn't find all of my passwords.

[jackquontee]

I signed up for the coverage they're providing, although I'm not quite sure what that really is. I question how much more secure we'll be than we already were, or weren't.

[magicbus]

Glad this came to light. I went and froze our accounts and while I was looking at one of my free credit reports so I could answer their questions, I realized there were two open credit cards instead of the one I have.

I called Chase and convinced them I was me and sure enough there is an "Amazon" card with 1000 bonus points but with none of my current or previous addresses as the billing address. They closed the account for me. A bit scary and now I'm off to change my Amazon password.

Dave

[fj12ryder]

Just an aside about the Equifax debacle: The chief security officer has two degrees in music, and no background in either computers or science.

Maybe the breach shouldn't come as any big surprise.

Oh yeah, she and the chief information officer have both "retired".

[T18skyguy]

What galls me is that we had no choice whether or not to be included in their system, then when it goes bad, they try and make money off us. I wish they would stop the congressional inquiry hand slapping and punish them the way the chinese do. There should be jail time for people when they ruin millions of lives.

[JTLance]

I've had mine and wifes credit bureau locked down for 4 years. No new credit can happen from any of the top three. If you don't need any credit, its a no-brainer.

No way am I paying some stupid company for $75/mo to do what I did for $27--period.

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0497-credit-freeze-faqs

[jerem0621]

My wife and I are both on the list.

Really disappointing but we already have credit freezes on our account from stolen identity 20 years ago.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[2oldman]

I've had Identity Guard for years, so we'll see.

[CloudDriver]

Equifax is just the most recent in a long list of data breaches. Suggest reading the following for more info and suggestions on what to do now.

Calm down: Your Identity Has Already Been Stolen!