Equifax Breach and Personal Credit Security Daryl Adams
Agenda
What is the Equifax security breach?
What we know and how to find out if you are affected
Getting a credit baseline
Credit union protection services
Outside protection services
Larger scope of protection if affected
Summary
What is the Equifax security
breach?
Equifax is one of the big three of credit reporting agencie(Transunion, Experian, and Equifax). They report the personal information required to make risk based lendingdecisions such as loan approvals based on prior repayment history of credit related items.
On Thursday September 7th Equifax announced a hack of their systems that potentially shared the information of upto 143 Million people with the hackers. Based on the company’s investigation, the unauthorized access occurrefrom mid-May through July 2017.
The information accessed primarily includes names, SociaSecurity numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some instances, driver’s license numbers. In addition, credit carnumbers for approximately 209,000 U.S. consumers, and certain dispute documents with personal identifying information for approximately 182,000 U.S. consumers, were accessed.
What we know and how to find out if you were affected by the
hack
Equifax has established a dedicated website, www.equifaxsecurity2017.com , to help consumers determine if their information has been potentially impacted.
Once on the website you are prompted to put in the last 6 of your social security number and your last name. You wilbe given an immediate answer to whether or not your information was compromised. Please remember to checkdifferent variations of your name (maiden names and Juniors)
This level of stolen information could potentially lead to “identity theft” which could lead to your information beingused by these criminals to open illegal credit cards, auto loans, bank accounts, and file false tax returns.
Identity Theft is most prevalent for age groups 18-24 and 65 and older so remember to check all family members.
Getting a credit baseline
The first and most important thing you as a consumer o
credit needs to do is to view your personal credit
profile to check for any potential fraud and also for the
accuracy of the information being reported to the cred
bureaus.
To view your complete credit profile please visit
www.annualcreditreport.com
Once on the website you will be prompted to put in
your name, address, DOB, Social security number, and
answer security questions based on your current credi
report to verify your identity. You will have to do the
same for all three credit agencies individually.
Credit baseline continued….
You will have to do the verification procedures 3
different times. Once on each agencies website you ca
view your credit report and see every account currentl
being reported to them.
During each review of the credit report you will have
the ability to challenge any inaccurate information
directly with the reporting agency. If there is any fraud
you can also challenge those on this website as well.
Assuming all is well this will allow you to understand
who is reporting and what is being reported through
each bureau and understand the information that is out
there.
Credit union protection services(Reactive Measures)
Whether or not your were affected by the hack, protecting your personal and financial information should always be top of mind. UTF offers its Members aslew of protection services.
UTF and the vendors we use, fully comply with all federal mandates regarding data security and consumer privacy.
Fraud Defender - All United Teletech members who have United Rewards Checking Account are automatically enrolled in Fraud Defender, an identity theft protection service that provides a “Fully ManagedIdentity Fraud Research, Remediation and Recovery Services”. These services extend to three generations of your family and covers ALL types of Identity Fraud with no time limit on recovery.
Credit union protection services
continued…
Member Alerts - If you have a United Teletech Debit o
Credit Card you can set customized alerts to be quickly
notified of any unauthorized charges or suspicious
activity on your account
Mastercard ID Theft Protection - This service is free
to everyone who has a United Teletech
Mastercard(either credit or debit). It will scour the
Internet to see if your personal information is not being
bought, sold or compromised. If they discover it is,
they’ll send you an alert ASAP.
https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/consumers/paymen
technologies/id-theft-protection.html
Outside protection services
If you were potentially affected by the hack, or concernedabout identity theft moving forward there are several levelof protection you can employ.
Equifax is offering a service called Trusted ID Premier, includes 3-Bureau credit monitoring of Equifax, Experian and TransUnion credit reports; copies of Equifax credit reports; the ability to lock and unlock Equifax credit reports; identity theft insurance; and Internet scanning forSocial Security numbers – all complimentary to U.S. consumers for one year. Signup is on the same www.equifaxsecurity2017.com webpage
Equifax is rumored to be creating an additional offering to“lock and unlock” your Equifax for Life. Anticipated launcdate of January 31st 2018.
Remember these hackers know your information for life sone year of protection is marginal at best. In addition, “locking” one bureau only solves a third of the issue.
Outside protection services
continued….
Lifelock is a similar offering to Equifax’s solution to the
hack. It is a monitoring system to review, identify, and
correct any credit related issues.
Credit Karma, Credit.com and other monitoring sites
and apps. These apps are monitoring systems. They
report to you your credit score and alert you of your
tradelines along with account inquires which may alert
you of fraudulent actives against you. If fraud is detecte
by you than you still need to take action on your own
behalf to correct the errors with the credit agencies
themselves.
Larger scope of protection if affected
If you were affected the threat is real and you do have morextreme options to protect yourself and your information.
A Credit Alert is a way to alert the bureaus of a possible compromised situation. They go into affect for 90 days a need to be renewed every 90 days.
A credit freeze is a way to block all access to your credit profile. No one will be able to pull your credit for any reason. You will have to freeze all 3 credit bureaus as your social security number is the same on all of the agencies. You can do this by calling Experian at (888-397-3742). Transunion (888-909-8872). And Equifax at (800-349-9960)Or online at their individual websites. www.freeze.equifax.comhttps://freeze.transunion.com/sf/securityFreeze/landingPge.jsp https://www.experian.com/ncaconline/freezehttps://www.innovis.com/securityFreeze/indexwww.chexsystems.com
Larger scope of protection if affected
continued…
Once you freeze your credit information you will need
a PIN number similar to using your debit card for a
lender to be able to access your reports. Without the
reports typically credit is not granted therefore limiting
a fraudster’s ability to use any personal information
moving forward. This form of protection may delay you
ability to extend new credit if you fail to have the
required PIN numbers which are mailed to your addres
after the freeze is in place.
Currently freezes are free due to the hack however in
the future there may be a fee to lock and unlock your
credit profile.
Advice to freeze:
http://consumersunion.org/research/security-freeze/
Freeze Account
How long does it take for a security freeze to be in effect? No later than 5 days after receiving your request.
How long does it take for a security freeze to be lifted? Must lift a freeze no later than 3 business days after receiving your request.
Can a creditor get my score if my file is frozen? No, they will see a message indicating file is frozen.
Can I order my credit report if my file is frozen? Yes. CrediKarma will still work if you were enrolled in the service prior to the freeze. Credit.com will not work after the freez
Can I open new credit accounts if my files are frozen? Yes. You can lift the freeze on your credit file. Fee: $5.00 Or usPIN for Free
Will a freeze lower my credit score? No
Can an employer do a background check on me if I have afreeze? No. Need to lift the freeze.
Summary
Your credit is the most personal information currently
being shared by the Big 3 credit agencies. It defines
who you are as a risk to lend money to via loans and ca
impact your ability to secure furthering your education
or getting a new job. Protecting it and the accuracy of
the information is of the upmost importance to UTF
prior to and moving forward after the Equifax hack.
Taking the steps needed to secure this information
depends on the level of importance you place on this
information to yourself personally. UTF wants every too
possible to be given to its members so you can make
the best decision for yourself and families.
Questions?????