Have any of you checked on the equifax site to see if your information was compromised? I'm even leery of THAT site and I've heard so many different stories of what to do if I'm on the list.

My company sent out a note saying assume you are and monitor your credit accordingly.

The link that I got from their free monitoring failed so I just went on to each of the other credit bureaus and froze my credit.

How did you do this? I just checked and it said I "may" be impacted and I just want to freeze my credit on all three--not enroll in their program.

Each credit bureau has a process. You can either call or sign up on their websites.

sbg, that sounds like a good plan...freeze my credit at the other two credit bureaus. thanks.

According to my very bright, nerdy Millennial son, if you go to Equifax' website and inquire whether you have been compromised by the hack, you will have to click "Yes" (or "I Agree") on a disclaimer, by which you agree to not participate in any kind of legal/class action proceedings against Equifax, or accept any part of any settlement.

Watch out!

http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/11/pf/equifaxmyths/index.html

see point #4.

There is a great deal of speculation about the answers you get from putting (most of) your SS number into the "have I been compromised?" page they put up.

Several people have done it more than once, and had different answers with the same inputs.

Others have done it with random, not-real SS #s (like 123-456), and gotten different answers.

So the site may or may not tell you anything useful.

Basically, if you've had a credit report run on you in the past few years, your info was probably in there. Assume it was, and monitor your credit. If you feel like signing up for their "free" monitoring service (which may or may not actually monitor anything at all), it probably won't hurt to do so...and they removed the demand for a credit card at the beginning, which would auto-sign-you-up after the "free" year for paid monitoring.


https://www.geekwire.com/2017/equifax-hack-one-week-later-really-happened-protect/

www.freeze.equifax.com
www.experian.com/freeze/center.html
www.transunion.com/credit-freeze/place-credit-freeze

Good links, but pay attention -- freezes aren't necessarily free. Neither are un-freezes :(

Could you elaborate on that just a bit? I've read a little bit about freezes and it seems that there is a special code needed before someone could access my credit if it is frozen. Are you saying there might be a fee to freeze the credit or a fee to unfreeze it, or both?

$10 per credit union = 30

each unfreeze = 30

I'm wondering if it would be better to do Lifelock for $99 for the rest of my life....

article: http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/12/pf/what-is-a-credit-freeze/index.html?iid=hp-stack-dom

gemini, laperla outlined the costs for freeze/unfreeze above.
Be aware, though, that in some states if you get a notification from a credit bureau (like Equifax) that you have been a victim of identity theft, you can freeze for free. And sometimes unfreeze for free.

It's an open question right now whether your info being part of Equifax's breach qualifies as "victim of identity theft" or not. And their website that tells you whether or not you were part of a breach doesn't appear to even give reliable answers.

So you may have to wait a bit longer to "qualify" for a free freeze (if your state mandates it be free in such cases).
If you're worried, freeze it anyway. $30 is pretty cheap insurance.

I'm not freezing mine. I already get alert e-mails whenever anybody does an inquiry or tries to open a new account (without Lifelock), and so far nobody has. If they do, I can reply to the e-mails with "this wasn't me," and it'll be denied. I get that with credit monitoring I got for free with credit cards. Check to see if you have something similar available.

Good luck.

Can you elaborate on how you get free credit monitoring? Thanks.

nomonomo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Can you elaborate on how you get free credit
> monitoring? Thanks.

It came as a free "perk" with two of my credit cards.
One through Experian, one through TransUnion.

Works, too. I bought a new car over labor day weekend (elderolddog has seen it <grin>). Mazda had a 0% finance deal going on, so I applied for that. Finished the application, and handed it to the finance guy. Two minutes after he walked away, my phone beeped, and both monitoring services had e-mailed me saying somebody had run an inquiry on my credit, and was this really me...good stuff :)

CapitalOne "CreditWise" (one of the ones I have) is free, whether you have a CapitalOne credit card or not (though I'm not sure if you get the same services if you don't have one).
Worth looking at.

https://creditwise.capitalone.com/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/2017 08:46AM by ificouldhietokolob.

Thanks for the tips

Discover card has a free service that gives instant alerts if someone makes a credit inquiry or opens an account in your name. It's called Social Security and new account alerts. It took me a while to find it because their website search feature sucks, and they have an old credit monitoring program that is no longer offered, and I thought the whole thing was unavailable.

I've heard it's immediate: the guy who told me about it said he was applying for a loan, and he got a phone alert on the spot as he was applying.

I've had supposed credit monitoring that alerted me two months AFTER I took out a home or a car loan: not very helpful, right? The whole point is to know before the process is complete.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/2017 11:08AM by imaworkinonit.

My main credit card customer service showed me how to get alerts and I've done that for that card. It has also been suggested the Credit Karma has a free credit monitoring service that will alert when anything happens in your credit file. Has anyone got experience with that company and app? Again, TIA.

I don't know about Credit Karma, but I really wanted instant notification that would be for more than just one card/account. Definitely let us know what you find out about Credit Karma, because I know some people who will want monitoring, and they don't have Discover.

I'm going to check on the Capital One monitoring.

Doing a credit freeze and requesting a fraud alert are great ideas but they won't protect you from government fraud, criminal fraud, and medical fraud. This is to say that if someone has your SS# and birthdate they can use your identity to get medical care and charge it to you, commit a crime and use your identity when caught, create a photo I.D in your name, and steal your tax return. There really is no way to completely protect yourself from all identity theft consequences.

Not trying to depress you all. Just saying you really have to be careful when your info reaches the dark web.

" .... and steal your tax return".

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They can have my tax return! It costs me THOUSANDS of dollars every quarter. They can pay it for me! :)