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What to Do if You Were Affected by the Equifax Breach

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Melody Bot, Sep 11, 2017.

  1. Melody Bot Sep 11, 2017
    (Last edited by a moderator: Sep 11, 2017)
    Melody Bot

    Your friendly little forum bot. Staff Member

    This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply.

    If you were affected by the Equifax breach, I’ve found these resources to be helpful in sharing with friends and family.

    The New York Times:


    In the meantime, here’s hoping that this breach is the nudge you need to finally sign up for permanent freezes on your credit files. I’ve used them for years, and here’s how they work. You sign up (and pay some fees, because you knew it wasn’t going to be free to protect data that you didn’t ask these companies to store, right?) at Equifax’s, Experian’s and TransUnion’s websites.

    Lifehacker:


    This breach actually happened three months ago, so there’s a chance that your information is already being used. Check your credit report and make sure there’s nothing out of the ordinary happening.

    Reddit:


    If you do nothing else, place an initial 90 day fraud alert on your file. This is free and will require lenders to contact you if someone (including yourself) tries to apply for credit.

    Brian Krebs:

    I’m here to tell you that if you’re an American, your basic personal data is already for sale. What follows is a primer on what you can do to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft as a result of all this data (s)pillage.​

     
  2. NationalPhenomenon

    Regular Prestigious

    Thanks for sharing these, Jason. I was affected and have begun freezing my credit files. Having the additional resources and background in one spot helps immensely.
     
    Jason Tate likes this.
  3. ARo24

    Regular

    Is the only way to know you're affected is by enrolling on the Equifax site?
     
  4. SmithBerryCrunch

    Trusted Prestigious

    You don't have to enroll. You just put in your last name and last 6 of SSN and it will give you a message. You can then choose to continue the enrollment if you'd like but you don't have to.

    But now I've been reading some things that people have put in random numbers and names like 'test' and are getting the message that their info was involved so who knows if it's even accurate.
     
    Arry likes this.
  5. ARo24

    Regular

    Ahh, well thank you. What a disaster this is. Like our country doesn't have enough problems.
     
  6. Arry

    it was all a dream Prestigious

    "Based on the information provided, we believe that your personal information may have been impacted by this incident."

    haaaa welp...
     
    coleslawed likes this.