# So what are you guys doing about the Equifax breach?



## ptatohed (Sep 25, 2017)

I did the basics so far, I think.  I went to Equifax's dedicated webpage to see if I was "potentially affected" by the breach.  Sure enough I was - as is every other single person I have spoken to about it.  S  Then I took them up on their offer to sign up for their free credit monitoring service.  That was a week ago and they are so backlogged, I am still waiting for the actual invitation e-mail to sign up. 

Then, to double up (or is it double down?), I went to free and reputable Credit Karma to sign up for there free monitoring as well. 

I thought about freezing my credit but I don't want the hassle. 

Anything else *cough* _free _*cough* that you guys are doing to protect yourselves, post-breach?

Thanks.


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## Supe (Sep 25, 2017)

I must have gotten lucky, as I'm not being flagged as potentially impacted.


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## kevo_55 (Sep 25, 2017)

I'm not impacted either.

Guess I'm lucky too.


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## Road Guy (Sep 25, 2017)

I am not sure which we use but we have the type of credit "protection" where you get an email and some nagging (good nagging) text messages anytime a credit report is run for either of our numbers, its not free but I think its pretty cheap, I'll ask the wife which one we have.

&amp; you would think for the actual credit agency's to get hacked there would be (or hope there will be) some serious fines and or criminal implications for this type activity -  I also heard Equifax sat on this news for over a month?


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## knight1fox3 (Sep 25, 2017)

Also not affected but LadyFox was.


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## Dleg (Sep 25, 2017)

I'm not affected, but my stuff was stolen in the USgov hack a couple years back anyway. I think we're all pretty much compromised these days.


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## MetsFan (Sep 25, 2017)

Yep, I was affected.  I haven't done much about it yet.  I think I signed up for something when Target or some other store was hacked too.


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## User1 (Sep 25, 2017)

I've heard it suggested *not* to enroll in their free protection "fix" because it absolves you of any sort of action against them in the future, but that's literally the extent of what I heard about it. I got a weird email from [email protected] that said 

Hello,

Your account on My Application has been created. We have generated a password for you: *mydefaultpasswordforlikeeverything*

If you did not make this request you can ignore this email.

Which makes me a bit nervous..but I couldn't find anything about that^ being a scam or anything..but Idk what else I can do to keep people out. I monitor my own credit pretty frequently, I would say.


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## leggo PE (Sep 25, 2017)

It does not appear that I was affected, either.

Edit: I cannot read. I "may" have been affected.


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## Dexman PE PMP (Sep 25, 2017)

I used to monitor my credit fairly regularly. I would get the free annual report each year and go through a month's worth of disputes (basically disputed everything negative, whether it was true or not) because the onus is on the credit agency to prove the negative part of your report. A lot of banks don't like the hassle, so those bits are removed and it inflates your score. Plus, it's surprising how much crap is added to your report that can adversely affect your credit rating.

I need to do it again just to make sure nothing has happened in the last couple of years.

It's a time-consuming process, but it really helps keep your report clean and your score as high as possible.

https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/10-surefire-steps-to-get-errors-off-credit_reports.php


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## willsee (Sep 25, 2017)

I was affected

I didn't do anything


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## leggo PE (Sep 25, 2017)

I just signed up for Credit Karma's free monitoring. It'd been a while since I'd looked at my credit report anyway, so I was probably overdue for that.


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## snickerd3 (Sep 25, 2017)

leggo PE said:


> It does not appear that I was affected, either.
> 
> Edit: I cannot read. I "may" have been affected.


That was the response I was getting...so who knows.  I figured they have to legally send you something notifying you, so I'll know for sure then.  I just checked all mine about the time the breach occurred.


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## SE_FL (Sep 25, 2017)

The wife may have been affected, I was not. But she signed us both up for the monitoring just in case.


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## ptatohed (Sep 26, 2017)

Supe said:


> I must have gotten lucky, as I'm not being flagged as potentially impacted.






kevo_55 said:


> I'm not impacted either.
> 
> Guess I'm lucky too.


^ Nice to hear there are some people unaffected.  Mine, my wife's, my mom, my dad, anyone I talked to at work, etc. all were impacted.  On the radio, they were saying they put in a fake name and made up soc # and it turned out "potentially affected" so I was thinking they just told everyone they were affected.  



Road Guy said:


> I am not sure which we use but we have the type of credit "protection" where you get an email and some nagging (good nagging) text messages anytime a credit report is run for either of our numbers, its not free but I think its pretty cheap, I'll ask the wife which one we have.
> 
> &amp; you would think for the actual credit agency's to get hacked there would be (or hope there will be) some serious fines and or criminal implications for this type activity -  I also heard Equifax sat on this news for over a month?


You know free and cheap are two different things to me RG!  ;o)  I think most credit monitoring works basically the same way.  I suspect the free one from Equifax (TrustedID Premier) will function as you describe.  It's free to anyone, affected or not (the pr!cks originally offered it at 1/2 price and then when they realized how deep in hot sh!t they are, they made it free).

You are right.  These guys (Equifax), along with Experience and Transunion, are the frickin gatekeepers of our personal credit information.  To have a breach of this magnitude is absolutely unacceptable and they should be made to pay more than offering free monitoring.  They didn't notice it for a few months, and then they didn't come out with it for another month.  Shameful.  The quantity of info (143,000,000 people!) and the quality of info (you name it... names, socials, current and past addresses, DOB, etc. - basically anything one would need to open credit in your name) is staggering.  They say the information that was obtained could haunt you the rest of your life.  The perpetrators can sit on the information for 10 or 20 years and then use it to open accounts in your name.        



knight1fox3 said:


> Also not affected but LadyFox was.


Good for you kf.  What is LF doing, if anything?



thejulie_PE said:


> I've heard it suggested *not* to enroll in their free protection "fix" because it absolves you of any sort of action against them in the future, but that's literally the extent of what I heard about it. I got a weird email from [email protected] that said
> 
> Hello,
> 
> ...


Yikes.  



Dexman PE PMP said:


> I used to monitor my credit fairly regularly. I would get the free annual report each year and go through a month's worth of disputes (basically disputed everything negative, whether it was true or not) because the onus is on the credit agency to prove the negative part of your report. A lot of banks don't like the hassle, so those bits are removed and it inflates your score. Plus, it's surprising how much crap is added to your report that can adversely affect your credit rating.
> 
> I need to do it again just to make sure nothing has happened in the last couple of years.
> 
> ...


Good advice.  I try to get my 3 free reports each year and go through them.  And, yes, disputes work.  I have always had excellent credit but about 4-5 years ago I had a minor shin surgery and after I paid what I expected to pay, countless bills came one after another.  These were 'out of network' costs.  I refused to pay.  Some creditors dropped it, some keep hounding me to this day but have not reported to the credit agencies, and several made it to my credit reports.  I was able to remove 4 out of 5 of the 'collections' from my three reports.  Now I only have one creditor on one of the three reports (Equifax coincidentally) and my score is back up to 750ish.  And since it has been a year, I disputed it again 2 weeks ago.  Maybe since Equifax is so busy, it will work this time.      



snickerd3 said:


> That was the response I was getting...so who knows.  I figured they have to legally send you something notifying you, so I'll know for sure then.  I just checked all mine about the time the breach occurred.


I do believe Equifax said they will be sending letters to all of those affected.  143,000,000 letters?  Don't expect that any time soon.


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## knight1fox3 (Sep 26, 2017)

ptatohed said:


> Good for you kf.  What is LF doing, if anything?


My company is taking a proactive position on protecting employees who may have been affected. The free service they are offering is called "defendID". I'm going to look more into that when I have time.


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## ruggercsc (Sep 26, 2017)

I am afffected and signed up for their credit monitoring service along with Credit Karma also.  I have had my data stolen so many times (Stolen City of Nashville Gov't computer, AT&amp;T, NashBar, etc.).  I have probably had seven or eight different credit monitoring services over the years, but I only get it for free for a year or two each.  However, there seems to be a breach every year or so, so I have essentially been covered non-stop for years.  The issue with the others is that my SS# was not stolen, but this time it has been.  

I am not freezing my credit, but will monitor it more closely.

One of the monitoring service stated that my home phone number was listed on the "DarK Web", but it is a published number and public information so I am not sure what somebody can do with it. 

For the most part, there is always someone trying to seprate you from your money and you have to be diligent (or being an a**hole as my wife reminds me) when you call them out on it.


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## ptatohed (Sep 26, 2017)

So far I like Credit Karma.  I heard about them on the radio from consumer advocate Clark Howard who I respect (he's cheap, like me  ).  They promise to always be free so I hope that is the case.  They seem to be very transparent.  They admit they make money when you sign up for one of the credit cards they advertise on their site.  I get a few e-mails here and there from them not necessarily giving credit alerts but just trying to get me to go back and visit their site.  I guess I'll put up with that for 'free' monitoring.  I was really surprised that they give out 2 of your 3 credit scores.  You can view them anytime you'd like.  Unless anyone knows of a better free service, I'll stick with Credit Karma.


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## FLBuff PE (Sep 27, 2017)

I was not impacted. Whew.


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## YMZ PE (Sep 27, 2017)

I wasn't impacted, but Mr YMZ was. I usually don't worry anyway because I have such a weird name, but Mr YMZ should sign up for credit monitoring since he has horrible luck with credit theft.


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## P-E (Sep 27, 2017)

I wasn't impacted but Mrs p-e was  

We're going make all future transactions in either gold bullion or bit coin


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## ptatohed (Sep 28, 2017)

FYI. 

The absolute best thing to do to protect yourself is to freeze your credit.  But there might be a small to moderate fee (depending on state) and it can be a future inconvenience.  To put a freeze on your credit, contact the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion, Experian) and make the request (three separate requests).  What it does is freezes your credit so that no (including you) can apply for credit in your name until the credit is thawed.  When you make the request to freeze, you'll be give a (10-digit, I believe) PIN number used to thaw/freeze your credit in the future.  In principal, no one can apply for credit under your name/social security # until your credit is thawed using this PIN.  

It can be an inconvenience because you, yourself, can't easily apply for credit.  Ex. You're at Jerome's and they have a 60 month same as cash deal going on if you apply and buy that 3-piece sectional with end tables today.  Well, you can't apply until your credit is thawed.  I'm not sure how quick credit is thawed after you make the request.  Maybe you can do it instantly with your smart phone?  Or maybe it takes a few days after the request is made.  I am not sure.  So, you can see the inconvenience.  Want to apply for a new credit card?  Thaw, apply, get approval, re-freeze.  Need a home loan or a refi?  Thaw, shop, apply, wait til you're approved, re-freeze.  And so on.  For the rest of your life.  

Lastly, depending on the state, it may cost some money to freeze your credit.  Some states are free, some states collect a token amount, and - of course - California charges the most.  In CA, it costs $10 per bureau to freeze your credit.  So, $30 total.  However, because of Equifax's horrendous blunder, they are waiving their $10 so, $20 to freeze your credit in CA.  What I am not sure about is if you need to pay again each time you thaw and re-freeze your credit or if it is a one-time cost and once you get your PIN #, you are good for life.  

Anyway, if you don't mind the small cost and the potentially big inconvenience, you might consider freezing your credit as a good option.


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## Dexman PE PMP (Sep 28, 2017)

I may freeze my credit. NZ has it's own, completely separate, credit system and ignores everything in the US. We're paying off the last of our US debt, so it only makes sense to shut it down.


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## knight1fox3 (May 9, 2018)

So our insurance provider (AmFam) is now advertising that they provide credit monitoring for $40/yr. Which doesn't seem too exorbitant for some extra peace of mind. Does anyone else have anything similar in place? This is something I've paid a lot of attention to in the past. But with all the recent data/security breaches, perhaps is should be a higher priority now. :dunno:


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## Master slacker (May 9, 2018)

We're both affected, but I'm not doing anything.  Most "of age" Americans are impacted.  Chances are not likely that anything would happen to us in the next year or so (amount of free credit monitoring from Equifax or whatnot).  I get our credit reports every year from annualcreditreport.com and I have never had an issue throughout all the breaches.  Not worried.


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## Road Guy (May 9, 2018)

I opened up a bunch of cards and have been buying  a metric shit ton of stuff and then I am going to say it wasn't me


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## knight1fox3 (May 9, 2018)

Road Guy said:


> I opened up a bunch of cards and have been buying  a metric shit ton of stuff and then I am going to say it wasn't me


Well hopefully you used the EB.com Amazon link for your spending binge. :thumbs:


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## Supe (May 10, 2018)

Road Guy said:


> I opened up a bunch of cards and have been buying  a metric shit ton of stuff and then I am going to say it wasn't me


I hope you haven't been delivering to your house.  If you have, install one of those video doorbells, and have one of the kids put on dark clothes, cap, and glasses, and have them "steal" your deliveries off the front porch...


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