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Equifax Data Hack.

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Just a friendly f.y.i from your neighborhood IT guy. Not sure if you guys have been keeping up with the news around the Equifax hack. Basically hackers gained access to Equifax reporting agency for about three months unnoticed exposing the personal information of about half of all Americans.

This isn't a hack of a creditor but rather the Holy Grail of identity theft information. Names, social, previous addresses, mother's maiden name, all of it.

They have a website where you can check if you're information was exposed. Both mine and my wife's were.

I would highly recommend locking access to all three of your credit reports. Transunion, Equifax, and Experian. While locked your existing creditors can continue to report however nobody can run a new report to apply for credit in your name.

They give you a pin code when you lock it that allows you to call and unlock it if you need to apply for credit. You can also do it online. Nobody needs all this credit monitoring shit just lock the credit reports. If someone tries to run your credit they get the response that it's locked and no information is provided to them, no creditor in there right mind will issue credit without being able to run a report.


http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/11/technology/equifax-identity-theft/index.html
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
Thanks for the heads up Joe. I may look into this. My credit score somehow went from an 815 to a 650 here in the last few months...even tho nothing has changed other than paying off two relatively small loans. I don't get it.
 

Quantum673

Black Hat Cajun
Supporting Member
Thanks for the reminder. Equifax also has a website that you can check to see if your info was potentially part of the hack. I checked mine and it said I was part of it. So a lock will be great.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Thanks for the heads up Joe. I may look into this. My credit score somehow went from an 815 to a 650 here in the last few months...even tho nothing has changed other than paying off two relatively small loans. I don't get it.
I have the credit karma app on my phone. It will tell you your credit factors, whats helping, hurting etc.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Thanks for the reminder. Equifax also has a website that you can check to see if your info was potentially part of the hack. I checked mine and it said I was part of it. So a lock will be great.
Make sure you lock all three, transunuon, equifax, and experian.
 

5Cent

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
12,291
212
North Central Ohio
Credit karma, credit.com and freecreditreport.com (1x/yr only on this one) are great free resources to stay on top of ure shot. Like Joe, I have the Credit karma app on my phone and check it once it uploads every 7 days.

JB, were those your oldest loans? Credit age is a large impact.
 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,744
274
North Carolina
True identity is offered by transunion for free... Monitors your credit with them... Anything good or bad with it?
Also equifax will offer you a like offer for credit reporting, if you accept it you'll be out of luck if anything happens and you look for compensation for it....
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
JB, were those your oldest loans? Credit age is a large impact.

Not my oldest, but old-ish. One was an auto loan originated in late 2013 and the other was a mortgage from 2009. My student loans are currently my oldest loans.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Credit karma, credit.com and freecreditreport.com (1x/yr only on this one) are great free resources to stay on top of ure shot. Like Joe, I have the Credit karma app on my phone and check it once it uploads every 7 days.

JB, were those your oldest loans? Credit age is a large impact.
Yep. And if someone does sign up for one of those services make sure you do it before locking your credit of they wont have access and you'll have to unlock it to sign up then lock it again.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Is that the same thing as a " credit freeze " ? I see that option along with a fraud alert.
Yep. Same thing. Credit freeze / lock your credit, different terms for the same thing.
True identity is offered by transunion for free... Monitors your credit with them... Anything good or bad with it?
Also equifax will offer you a like offer for credit reporting, if you accept it you'll be out of luck if anything happens and you look for compensation for it....
I don't like the credit monitoring junk. If its locked/frozen then nothing will get approved so theres nothing to monitor. Monitoring IMO just lets you know sooner that you just got screwed, doesn't stop anything. Kind of like radar detectors that detect laser, the beep only lets you know that a cop is about to pull you over.
 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,744
274
North Carolina
Yep. Same thing. Credit freeze / lock your credit, different terms for the same thing. I don't like the credit monitoring junk. If its locked/frozen then nothing will get approved so theres nothing to monitor. Monitoring IMO just lets you know sooner that you just got screwed, doesn't stop anything. Kind of like radar detectors that detect laser, the beep only lets you know that a cop is about to pull you over.

Good points... I'll be locking tomorrow... My brother and I were just talking about this and the site kept crashing tonight....
 

huntn2

Senior Member
6,090
157
Hudson, OH
Good points... I'll be locking tomorrow... My brother and I were just talking about this and the site kept crashing tonight....

As info, via phone was no problem.

This is serious shit guys. As Joe said, why even bother with the monitoring when you can freeze your credit. As an OH resident, it is a $5 charge per agency...$15 for a piece of mind is well worth it. Trying to deal with the battle and dig out of the mess one could wreck on you by stealing your identity and running up debt is not an endeavor you want to embark on.