What You Should Do About the Massive Equifax Data Breach

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Chances are you were affected--and seriously--by the recent data breach at Equifax, one of the three national credit reporting bureaus. More than half of U.S. adults—or 143 million—had personal information stolen, including names, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, birth dates and addresses.

The scope and sensitivity of the data stolen is alarming enough that every American should take immediate steps to safeguard their personal finances. That’s because the stolen personal data provides all that’s required to open fraudulent loans and credit cards in your name, says credit expert John Ulzheimer. Other big data hacks--like last year’s Yahoo breach--didn’t include Social Security numbers. “It’s a big deal,” Ulzheimer says. “And odds are good that your info has been exposed.”

Additionally, the hackers swiped credit card numbers of 209,000 Americans and documents from disputes, including personal data, for 182,000 consumers.

Equifax is sending direct notices by mail to consumers whose credit card numbers or dispute documents were hacked, but not to the other millions of affected consumers. That puts the onus on you to take action. Here’s what you should do.

Step 1: Go to Equifax’s dedicated website for the breach, http://ift.tt/2wNhTYY, to see if you are one of the 143 million affected U.S. consumers. The site will ask for your last name and the last six digits of your Social Security number to confirm. It will offer two responses:

“Based on the information provided, we believe your personal information was not impacted by this incident.”
“Based on the information provided, we believe your personal information may have been impacted by this incident.”

Step 2: If you see the first, reassuring message, see Step 6. But if Equifax says you are potentially affected, place a fraud alert on your credit reports. You need to contact only one credit bureau--either Equifax, Experian or TransUnion--to do this because, by law, the bureau that receives the request must notify the remaining two bureaus.

The alert requires lenders to contact you to determine if any new credit application they receive is valid or fraudulent. These alerts stay on your report for 90 days. To get an extended alert that lasts seven years, you will need a police report or affidavit showing you are in fact a victim of ID theft, with such consequences as having fraudulent credit opened in your name.

Step 3: Pull your credit report from all three major credit reporting bureaus at http://ift.tt/o2j1vQ. Carefully go over every account listed in the report and make sure you opened it. Be especially wary of recently opened accounts, since the hack occurred from mid-May through July of this year. If you see a suspicious account, call the credit bureaus right away to report and dispute the account. Contact the lender of the account, as well, to lodge a dispute. Last, call local law enforcement to file an identity theft report and request an extended fraud alert from the credit bureaus.

Step 4: If you find fraudulent accounts, or merely want peace of mind, consider placing a credit freeze on your report. This step means that lenders won’t be allowed to pull your credit report for an application for new credit. This ostensibly keeps fraudsters from opening new accounts in your name. However, since this keep you from getting a new mortgage, credit card or other credit, the step makes the most sense if you have no plans for any such transactions in the near future. You must contact each bureau separately to put the freeze in place. In some states, there is a small fee for the freeze, which is waived only for those who had unauthorized accounts opened in their name and have filed a police report.

Step 5: Because of the information stolen, it’s best to take extra steps to protect all of your accounts. Using information from the Equifax hack and other breaches, fraudsters may be able to gain access to your other financial accounts, such as checking and savings accounts, brokerage accounts and retirement accounts. It would be prudent to check those accounts and contact the financial institutions if you see odd activity.

Step 6: Continue to monitor everything closely, even if you weren’t affected. Hackers are known to sit on information they have stolen and use it down the road, after the immediate hysteria following a breach may have subsided. It’s wise to carefully watch all of your financial accounts—credit cards, loans, bank accounts, brokerage account and retirement accounts—for any unusual activity like unauthorized purchases or withdrawals. Pull your credit reports every six months to check for any fraudulent accounts. The information that was stolen has value in perpetuity, says Ulzheimer, so the risk will last.

Step 7: Consider ID theft services. Equifax is offering its TrustedID Premier service to all U.S. consumers for free. This monitors your credit reports at all three bureaus and alerts you whenever changes on the reports occur. If you enroll, make sure to opt out of the service’s forced arbitration clause. You can do so by notifying Equifax in writing within 30 days of signing up, according to the National Consumer Law Center, a consumer-rights advocacy group. If you don’t, you may forfeit the right to join a class-action lawsuit, one of which has already been filed in Oregon.

There are other credit-monitoring services available from the other two bureaus, FICO and other companies, typically for a monthly or annual fee. However, these are reactive and report only when a possible fake account has been opened. If you have a credit freeze, there’s no need for these services.

This content originally appeared onValuePenguin.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

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