Mentioning this here because of the massive data hack by what is believed to have been a state attack on consumers personal data. (That is how the news is reporting it.)

People's ID's have already been used since the breach for establishing credit by the ID thieves. If you aren't sure if your data was stolen you can check it by going to the following website

https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com

Mine was stolen, I learned by checking this website.

I've spoken with two people today who've already had their ID's used to get credit in the thousands so far as a result of this hack.

It's free to sign up for either the monitoring or a credit freeze because of the data hack.

On the news tonight it was reported that there are three CEO's of Equifax that may be criminally liable, as they were aware of not only one hack, but two or three. And may have used that information to engage in insider trading.

Sick. Two states attorneys general are already suing Equifax because of the security breach.

For now, you can protect yourself by freezing your credit. You will get a password so if you need to apply for credit, the password will enable you to do so.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2017 09:00PM by Amyjo.

I just placed a fraud alert on one of the credit reporting bureaus. It will notify the other two to do the same. There is no charge for this service.

It's good for one year. Plus my name has been removed from prescreened mailing alerts for two years.

Take that, Equifax!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2017 09:00PM by Amyjo.

When I checked it stated I "may" have been breached.

I decided to put a permanent freeze on my credit with all three of the credit bureaus. I have just completed this today.

There is NO REASON ANYONE needs to look at my credit without my express permission EVER.

The freezes are permanent and dynamic. If I decide to seek credit I can go into my account and unfreeze if for specific creditors to pull my credit for specific periods. Then it closes back up and it's always closed for anyone who doesn't have my express permission.

I live in Virginia. The charge was $10 for Experian and TransUnion. Equifax was free because they're the fvckrs who fvck'd up. Other states are other charges and generally less expensive.

The only one I couldn't do online was Experian. It wouldn't take my info online and I tried several times because several (including the woman who walked me through the process @ Equifax) said I should try different browsers, logoff and on--play around with it. But I never could get it to work so I had to send the info requested in. I sent it certified mail.

When it comes to my credit information I know that I am the PRODUCT and the customer is the perspective creditor. I do not want my credit history being given out to the highest bidder.

I teach economics and personal finance. Prior to this incident, I had never really thought of this issue. Now I know that I am going to advise all my students to put permanent freezes on their credit with all 3 bureaus as a matter of standard operating procedure.

The 1 year "monitoring" that Equifax offers doesn't do sh!t as far as I'm concerned. Those fvcks who hacked all this info will still have it in a year. They can use my personal information to access other credit bureaus and open credit in my name and screw up my credit. Monitoring with Equifax's free year is NOT a FREEZE.

I would advise all Americans to do the same. Once your identity is stolen and ruined, there is no way you're coming out of it. There is no way you can get a new SSN.

I feel safer now.

I just did a fraud alert using Experian. I got stumped on Equifax.

Here's a link I used to set it up (this one there is no charge.)

https://www.experian.com/ncaconline/fraudalert#registration

There's another link when you're on the Experian website that you receive a report number (a field you need to fill out for the form above.)

My data was breached according to Equifax. So you'd think there'd be no charge for the monitoring. I do believe it is free, and so is the credit freeze on Equifax.

I signed on for that online today, but Equifax will take a few days to send me the link to finish signing up for its free credit monitoring.

Here's the link for that (it's 800# is next to impossible to get through on. The link works best:)

te, https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2017 09:00PM by Amyjo.

If your data was breached you can ask for an extended time for the monitoring, up to 7 years. On Experian it asks for documentation though, like a police report or some baloney like that.

They breach our data. We have to jump through hoops to correct the damage they cause us.

So far, Massachusetts and New York are suing Equifax. Think there will be a multi-million (or billion) dollars payout when the states are through suing Equifax for the damage its done. You'd like to think it was innocent. But with three of its CEO's cashing in on insider trading, there is going to be hell to pay.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2017 09:01PM by Amyjo.

Equifax should have to pay the fee AT LEAST for the other two credit bureaus to put a freeze on the information.

This whole thing is irritating. They are in the business of encouraging impulse buying. The DEFAULT should be on the side of protecting the consumer, not assisting businesses, IMO.
I wish businesses were not allowed to share information and had to require the customer to jump through hoops to allow it instead of the other way around.

Even freezing won't stop lot of things creeps can do with identity theft. Fake health care claims, fake tax refunds, etc. might be looming.

These credit bureaus had a lot of responsibility to protect our information because a lot of us never asked to be a part of their dumb credit racket with their bogus secret scores.

What an eye-roll to read that their chief security officer was a music major and not a bonafide computer-science security genius. Maybe a couple execs will go to jail this time, but I'm guessing most of them will get to retire with golden parachutes while we all have to watch our backs.

It is shocking the scale of the data breach.

I spoke to a man today who had his ID stolen since the credit hack (in the past 3 weeks is all.) Someone has used his good credit to create numerous accounts, all in the space of 3 weeks.

Someone used his ID to buy a $35,000 car. The ID thief paid cash, but a credit check was required before he could do that. (Laundering money?)

The man whose ID was stolen had a credit rating of 840 before this began. It's now down to 750 and dropping because of the ID thieves. He's just one out of 143 million. Ugh.

Someone I work with was contacted today (she already has a fraud alert in place,) that someone was using her credit to charge a purchase of $1,600. That is related to the data breach as well.

So it may be worth checking your credit with the free annual credit report. I did that tonight, and even though I haven't been hit yet, was able to dispute several items on there that was incorrect. So that in itself was worth checking. We should do it periodically anyway. I usually wait til something like this happens to utilize the free report.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2017 09:08PM by Amyjo.

Be sure to freeze both yours and your spouse's credit reports. So the cost is double. What a racket.

The credit monitoring is free &/or freeze on Equifax, where the breach occurred.

If you follow the link https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com it will direct you.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2017 10:01PM by Amyjo.

There will be some class action lawsuit and Equifax will declare bankruptcy and come out unscathed.

Then they'll just go back to doing business the same old way. No one goes to jail.

143M? What morons.

Exactly. These same incompetent people will simply move on to other jobs with no accountability whatsoever.

I'm getting a good dose of global corporate life myself. Where I work, rule number 1 is cover your rear and rule number 2 is not to be accountable for anything. It's the norm for the highest levels of management to make crappy decisions and then move along to other positions and a plush retirement. Only a few actually have to fall on the sword when things go wrong in corporations. I think it is time to put the hammer down on corporations instead of continuing to let them gather profits with little or no accountability to the workers, customers or environment. Just when I get irritated with the over-regulation, something happens that makes me realize what corporations would do if they didn't have them. (Rant over)

By law, corporations must account to their stockholders first. They are required to do anything possible to maximize their profits. They can't possibly be expected to self-regulate.

So far the only one I have not been able to freeze, Equifax. The other two took minutes.

Call the Equifax phone number. The lady helped me through it and was very helpful.

I had a prob with Experian. Finally had to send the stuff in.

I wasn't able to get through on the Equifax phone #. So I went online to the security breach link, and signed up for it there.

It screens you on its website and tells you right away if your information was breached. Mine was.

Once you input the information it asks of you, it says it will get back to you via e-mail.

Whereas Experian was much easier to get through online. No waiting for follow-up. I set up a fraud alert and it will be good for all three credit bureaus.

I may still freeze my credit. Just haven't yet because of the drawbacks of doing that. With the data breach it may ultimately leave consumers no choice but to freeze our credit. We can't trust the credit bureaus to protect our information without it apparently.