How to check if your credit information was stolen by hackers who broke into Equifax (143 million Americans affected)

Posted by $ Olduglycarl 7 years, 3 months ago to The Gulch: General
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For your information.

I am currently considering putting "Fraud Alerts" on my Credit reports.

There are some other methods to use along with a way to see if you are among those effected.
SOURCE URL: http://newstarget.com/2017-09-12-how-to-check-if-your-credit-information-was-stolen-by-hackers-who-broke-into-equifax-143-million-u-s-people-affected.html


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  • Posted by brkssb 7 years, 3 months ago
    Be very careful about signing up for “free” monitoring services. I have used fraud alerts, good as long as they remain without charge. I understand the top three bureaus are now charging for credit freezes. The worst thing is the credit bureau business practices themselves. Someone else put it exceedingly well: you are not the customer, you are the target. In fact, you are the victim. Without legal recourse in the vast majority of cases. I am very interested in the class action lawsuits but would be even more interested in financial companies that DO NOT rely on credit bureau reports. It seems to me that no one pays any attention to your savings, your earnings, or your 100% payment record - just using debt as a percentage of credit to set your interest rates and make them more money. BTW, it gets worse as companies who ignore savings and earnings allow more and more credit leading to bankruptcies, etc. Bottom line: credit is a death spiral, not an integrity-based tool.
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    • Posted by CaptainKirk 7 years, 3 months ago
      It is worse than that. CC Companies, based on years of transactions have a PROFILE of your habbits. They know how often you are likely to change your Car Ins, or Home Ins. How much you shop for price over quality, or other variables.

      They know how likely you are to buy "Warranty Services" at checkout...

      And they build a PROFILE of you, and group a bunch of you together, and sell that list for Advertisers to hit and market to.

      I know of one CC that charges no fees because they make ALL of their profits on selling this information (and interest on the morons dumb enough to pay it). They described the above process to a friend who works in the industry, he immediately went out and changed his insurance companies and got a better rate... (because this company admits they tell you what % you can increase someones insurance with LITTLE risk of losing them). LOL
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  • Posted by CaptainKirk 7 years, 3 months ago
    I have used Credit Freezes. A very smart thing to do. ANYONE who gives out credit, in your name, while you have a credit freeze will have to PROVE they dealt with you in person (and that requires 2 forms of Government issued ID) as I bought a car, and they required it to get around it.
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  • Posted by freedomforall 7 years, 3 months ago
    I wonder if the fact that I already had my credit cards replaced 3 times in the past 6 months (as recently as 2 weeks ago) will mean that some of the data the hackers got is now out of date? Or will they just create some new accounts for themselves using my data?
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  • Posted by virtualola 7 years, 3 months ago
    If you use JP Morgan Chase Banking services, they provide free credit checks through their online banking portal. They do NOT assist you with problems, however.
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    • Posted by brkssb 7 years, 3 months ago
      Guess which credit bureau services JP Morgan Chase uses to provide these “free" credit check services? Just like “Credit Karma”, the basis is one or more of the Credit Reporting Bureaus such as Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion. Also, many if not most major banks and credit unions do the same (e.g. USAA, NFCU) - they access one or more of the three major credit bureaus. My bank cites Experian. Credit Karma (free) cites Equifax and TransUnion. The reporting companies derive income from their sponsors (credit sharks).

      My advice: monitor your own financial accounts everyday. As a victim of identify theft, I know firsthand it is easier and better to check your bank and credit accounts everyday than it is to have to respond to a snafu of gargantuan size. Above all, do not rely on any of the credit reporting bureaus - they are biased, rarely have up-to-date information, and reflect only what is reported to them (after the fact). Catching a thief is easier on day two or three than on day sixty. In my ID theft case, the thief went to jail for ten years. On three other occasions, the banks reversed fraudulent charges. In NO CASE did I receive assistance from the three credit bureau houses. It was difficult and exhausting to convince the credit bureaus to stop publishing fraudulent information about my financial status. Nor did I receive help from major businesses like "*n&n" that preferred to write off $250,000 in transactions rather than support prosecution. Folks, finding out if you were infected by this hacking crime is not relevant. Checking the accuracy of your financial status is critical. By all means, use the tools such as fraud alerts. But start to focus on the root causes of financial injustice and lack of integrity inherent in the credit bureaus and corporations. The almighty buck stops here, not there.
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  • Posted by Jujucat 7 years, 3 months ago
    Also, if you haven't followed the story as much as I have, you may find this interesting (from bloomberg.com):
    "Equifax first discovered the vulnerability in late July, though it chose not to announce it publicly until more than a month later. The company was widely criticized for its customer service approach in the aftermath of the hack, as users struggled to understand whether their information had been affected. Others expressed frustration that three senior executives sold about $1.8 million in stock in the days following the discovery of the hack. A spokeswoman for Equifax said the men “had no knowledge that an intrusion had occurred at the time.”
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  • Posted by skidance 7 years, 3 months ago
    Actually, when one goes to that site and enters the required information, the response is that one's information "may" have been compromised. I'm not sure that's sufficient to take action.
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