In the aftermath of the Equifax data breach, which could impact up to 143 million individuals, it is important to monitor your credit reports and either freeze your credit, sign up for fraud alerts, or register for credit monitoring services. Of these, only freezing your credit (also called a security freeze) can help prevent someone from obtaining credit in your name. If you do not anticipate applying for a credit card or loan in the near future, freezing your credit is the best way to protect yourself.
Yesterday I attempted to place a credit freeze online with the three major credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. I succeeded only with TransUnion. I now have a PIN number that will allow me to ‘unfreeze’ my report when I next apply for credit. On the Equifax website, I received an ‘Error 500’ message after entering a great deal of information. On the Experian website, I got as far as clicking, ‘Add a security freeze’ and then ‘Apply online’ before a page failed to load. For these two agencies, I was successful in placing a security freeze by phone.
Equifax, where the breach occurred, is offering a monitoring service that will be free for one year. It's called TrustedID Premier. There was a great deal of controversy last week over its terms of use, which required subscribers to give up their right to sue Equifax. Equifax has since posted the following statement on their website:
“We’ve added an FAQ to our website to confirm that enrolling in the free credit file monitoring and identity theft protection that we are offering as part of this cybersecurity incident does not waive any rights to take legal action. We removed that language from the Terms of Use on the website, www.equifaxsecurity2017.com. The Terms of Use on www.equifax.com do not apply to the TrustedID Premier product being offered to consumers as a result of the cybersecurity incident.”
If you are interested in a credit freeze, these are the websites and phone numbers to use:
Equifax 1-800.349.9960 - www.freeze.equifax.com
Experian 1-888.397.3742 - https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html
TransUnion 1-888.909.8872 - https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze/place-credit-freeze
For additional information, a good resource is the Federal Trade Commission website, https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2017/09/equifax-data-breach-what-do.
DISCLAIMER: This information is not intended to provide legal or accounting advice, or to address specific situations. Please consult with your legal or tax advisor to supplement and verify what you learn here. This is presented for informational or educational purposes only and does not constitute a recommendation to buy/sell any security investment or other product, nor is this an offer or a solicitation of an offer to buy/sell any security investment or other product. Any opinion or estimate constitutes that of the writer only, and is subject to change without notice. The above may contain information obtained from sources believed to be reliable. No guarantees are made about the accuracy or completeness of information provided. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.