- The credit reporting bureau Equifax was recently hacked
- If you have a credit report, you’re likely one of the 143 million Americans whose data may have been exposed
- The breach lasted more than a month, from mid-May until July of this year
- The hackers gained access to people’s names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and even some driver’s license numbers
- They also got credit card numbers and dispute documents with personal information
- Visit Equifax’s consumer site for help mitigating the damage
- https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/
- Consumers can immediately determine whether they were affected by the breach
- enter your last name and the last six digits of your social security number
- The company’s arbitration clause and class-action waiver would not apply to this incident
- An expanded call center with over 2,000 agents is being established
- Consumers can immediately determine whether they were affected by the breach
- Enroll in free credit monitoring even if the site doesn’t say you were affected
- You’ll have until November 21, 2017 to enroll for a free year of credit monitoring
- The Equifax data theft will likely have life-long consequences for consumers
- When a credit card number is stolen, you simply get a new card with a new number – You can’t, however, get a new date of birth or Social Security number.
