Protecting yourself after Equifax breach

Credit freezes and identity theft protection services can go a long way toward protecting you from fraudulent accounts being opened in your name. Edward Burke, 14th, chairman of the City Council’s Finance Committee, said more than a million Chicagoans might have been victimized. Take action. Understand the reason for the anomaly and take steps to correct any errors that you find. It’s up to you to monitor the effectiveness of those services, and to protect the accounts that you already have.

Warren criticized Equifax for keeping information about the hack private for more than one month after it discovered it on July 29, and for not clearly identifying whose personal information was compromised even when it did. That puts the company at a higher risk than others.

Changing settings, shipping address, or passwords. In 2016, losses from account takeovers were $2.3 billion, up 61% from the prior year.

“I think you should also focus on the board of directors – what did they know and when did they know it?”

Filer said, for now, he suggests that consumers who are concerned about their personal information check the Federal Trade Commission website. The site will give you a date when you can come back to enroll. But as you’d imagine, there’ve been calls for the SEC to investigate that. Even recipients of major government programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are affected. Then make sure you don’t recite it aloud without checking to see if someone could be listening. They compile sensitive financial and personal information. As part of its investigation of this application vulnerability, Equifax also identified unauthorized access to limited personal information for certain United Kingdom and Canadian residents. Others would require the companies to provide free credit freezes to people whose information has been exposed or allow consumers to request a credit freeze with all three companies with a single phone call.

Equifax is one of three providers of consumer credit reports along with Experian and TransUnion. “And keep in mind, too, that a credit freeze has to be unlocked and reinstated every time you apply for credit, so just because you do it once, doesn’t mean you’re in the clear”.

“We’re going to have monitoring in place that’s preventive”.

He said the CFPB will be working with Congress on measures to shore up the way data is handled and how companies react to breaches.

“This is not perfectly accurate and I suspect that with 143 million potential customers at risk, almost everyone will be told they are potentially impacted”.

Equifax has lost around $4.5 billion in market value since it disclosed the hack on September 7, which the Atlanta-based company said it detected on July 29 and occurred between mid-May and July. Each freeze request will cost you $10 – although, after some seriously negative press, Equifax has chose to wave their fee until November 21.

“The opening of new accounts in your name by others is the most unsafe aspect of this hack”. But the similarities end there: Many CEOs receive special “supplemental executive retirement plans” that offer benefits well in excess of what the average employee receives.

As NPR’s Chris Arnold reports, the breach has also led to questions about whether the credit reporting industry should face wider changes. A credit freeze makes it harder for someone to open a new account in your name. “Don’t wait to get identity theft protection”.

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Mary Crawley has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.