What should you do to protect yourself because of the Equifax security breach? Equifax, one of the three major credit bureaus in America, experienced a security breach effecting millions of credit files. More than half of all adult Americans had some private information stolen. Since the breach, Equifax has published an online submission that allows you to see if your personal information was compromised. You can visit: https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/potential-impact/ to see if you may have been impacted by the breach.
We recommend that you immediately contact all three major credit agencies (Equifax, Transunion and Experian) and even the smaller agency, Innovis, and put a credit freeze on your accounts. This is a drastic measure and will stop you from obtaining credit until you “thaw” your credit. It is a bit time-consuming and may cost you up to $3 to freeze your account. Equifax however, has currently waived all fees associated with a credit freeze. Freezing your credit will prevent credit cards from being opened and loans from being obtained in your name without your consent. Freezing your credit will not affect your credit score.
You should consider changing your login information for your various financial accounts and on-line bill pay systems. This is something that you should change regularly, but given the information theft at Equifax, passwords need to be changed.
Please contact Robert W. Hughes and Associates, P.C. if you have any credit reporting issues.
