3 Steps to Take After the Equifax Data Breach – Affecting 143 Million US Consumers

Equifax, one of the nation’s three main credit reporting agencies, announced on Thursday, September 7, 2017, it was the victim of a major data breach, that exposed the personal information of 143 million US consumers.

  The information compromised includes:

  • Names

  •  Social Security Numbers

  •  Birth Dates

  • Addresses

  • Credit Card Information (for approximately 209,000 U.S consumers)

  • Dispute Documents (for approximately 182,000 U.S. consumers)

Due to the potential risk of fraud from this breach, we suggest you take the following three precautions:

 1.   Check if Your Personal Information was Compromised.

You can quickly check if your personal information may have been stolen by visiting Equifax’s website.  Click “Check Potential Impact” and follow the steps to find out if your information may have been compromised.

 2.  Monitor Your Accounts for Suspicious Activity.

If affected by the breach, monitor your bank and credit card accounts for any suspicious activity. Equifax is also offering one free year of TrustedID Premier, its credit monitoring and identity theft protection product, to all U.S. consumers. This will monitor all three credit reports, check for suspicious activity, and provide identity theft insurance.

Visit Equifax’s website to enroll in TrustedID Premier.

* The agreement to use TrustedID Premier will not waive your right to sue, join a class-action suit, or benefit from any class-action settlement against Equifax. The company removed the clause from the TrustedID Premier agreement which stated otherwise.

 3.  Be Vigilant of Phishing Scams.

Cyber criminals use breaches to setup sophisticated phishing scams (email scams). Be wary of unexpected emails containing links or attachments. If you receive an unexpected email claiming to be from your bank or another company with your personal information, do not click on any links or attachments. Instead, log in to your account separately to check for new notices or call them directly.

We will monitor this situation closely and keep you updated with any important developments. If you have any questions, please contact us below.

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