Current Events > PSA: If you affected by the Equifax hack (you are) freeze your credit ASAP

(+) Yeah! (+)

Don't take this light either. It's like a 9/11 or Pearl Harbor of the banking and personal information world.

The best thing to do is freeze your credit with Equifax, Transunion, and Experian.

You all need to take this seriously. If you know nothing about Equifax, they are (probably will be a 'was' soon)one of the big three credit bureaus that hold your credit score. Thus you are in their system and if you ever plan to finance anything or get a credit card, you need to be proactive.

http://clark.com/personal-finance-credit/equifax-free-credit-monitoring-data-breach-dont-sign-up/

Like honestly this should be stickied. This kind of information leaking can haunt you for decades

And don't sign up for their free year of credit. It prevents from you getting in on a class action lawsuit.
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I'm only in their system by proxy of my banks giving them my info. I've never signed up for their shit.
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Yell at 'em then
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Here's another good article on why Equifax specifically is doing a terrible job of controlling the damage from this: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/09/why-the-equifax-breach-is-very-possibly-the-worst-leak-of-personal-info-ever/

EDIT: PS: Thanks TC for posting about freezing credit, I didn't honestly know that was a thing.

ChromaticAngel posted...

I'm only in their system by proxy of my banks giving them my info. I've never signed up for their shit.

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I don't remember if I ever signed up at Equifax. I did file an initial fraud alert through Experian's site.
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I was just pissed off about having a credit freeze that I never authorized and the pain of having to deal with getting it lifted. Should I consider myself lucky?
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I use TransUnion ... am i ok?
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itachi15243 posted...

ChromaticAngel posted...

I'm only in their system by proxy of my banks giving them my info. I've never signed up for their shit.

Doesn't matter, that's not how credit bureaus work.

Thrillwell posted...

I use TransUnion ... am i ok?

No.
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Thrillwell posted...

I use TransUnion ... am i ok?

It hit 44% of the population (that's EVERYONE, though, not just those over 18 or who minors who might have an established credit history). You're basically better off assuming at this point that your information was affected.

How could we possibily know if our credit is affected, ehat does freeezing it accomplish. What if you still like to use your credit card

Thrillwell posted...

I use TransUnion ... am i ok?

No. Banks will share credit info around with each other.
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how do I freeze my credit? Also if someone has all my information whats stopping them from unfreezing my credit

Kingbuffet posted...

How could we possibily know if our credit is affected, ehat does freeezing it accomplish. What if you still like to use your credit card

Freezing your credit means no new accounts can be opened in your name. You can continue to use what already exists.
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Kingbuffet posted...

How could we possibily know if our credit is affected, ehat does freeezing it accomplish. What if you still like to use your credit card

This is the official site to see if you are effected, from Equifax:
https://trustedidpremier.com/eligibility/eligibility.html

It will also let you enroll in their credit monitoring system free for 1 year if you are.

A credit freeze, to my knowledge, only freezes opening of new lines of credit. It does not effect your ability to use your current lines of credit.
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The Chinese already have all my information anyway. Thanks, OPM. I look at my credit information about once a week anyway, so I'm not worried about someone opening a credit account or loan I won't notice.
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Master_Bass posted...

The Chinese already have all my information anyway. Thanks, OPM.

Dude, same. Stupid government.
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L0Z posted...

how do I freeze my credit? Also if someone has all my information whats stopping them from unfreezing my credit

Read the link in the original post, it explains what to do...
You establish a PIN with the credit agencies that would theoretically not be known to those parties who already possess your leaked information (since it would theoretically be a leaked PIN).

I haven't signed up for that or any of the others
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New York Attorney General has confirmed that their attempt at blocking users of their site from the class action lawsuit is NOT legally enforceable.

well my credit is fucked now. Goodbye 800

ToadallyAwesome posted...

I haven't signed up for that or any of the others

It literally doesn't matter, if you have a credit card or have ever applied for a loan, you are probably affected in some manner.

Well I put on the 90 day fraud alert. Will consider freezing credit entirely when I get home today. Fucking hell this sucks
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Fuck, and thanks everyone for the heads up and links.
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lol guys. you can get fraudulent things removed from your account. just sign up for a free credit monitoring service like credit karma and itll tell you when new things pop up. if something pops up you dont recognize, you can dispute things online. or you can call them. its painless.
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_BlueMonk posted...

lol guys. you can get fraudulent things removed from your account. just sign up for a free credit monitoring service like credit karma and itll tell you when new things pop up. if something pops up you dont recognize, you can dispute things online. or you can call them. its painless.

Well, imo it's easier to pay a few bucks and be proactive about it to stop those fraudulent events from occurring in the first place than playing a reactive role and waiting for it to happen.

Corrupt_Power posted...

Kingbuffet posted...

How could we possibily know if our credit is affected, ehat does freeezing it accomplish. What if you still like to use your credit card

This is the official site to see if you are effected, from Equifax:
https://trustedidpremier.com/eligibility/eligibility.html

It will also let you enroll in their credit monitoring system free for 1 year if you are.

A credit freeze, to my knowledge, only freezes opening of new lines of credit. It does not effect your ability to use your current lines of credit.

I read their terms. You give up right to sue in class action against Equifax if you accept a year of free credit monitoring. I'm not going to give up that right plus I still get a monthly report from AllClearID which sony set up after their massive hack

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Glad I already bought a house and car
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Hexenherz posted...

Well, imo it's easier to pay a few bucks and be proactive about it to stop those fraudulent events from occurring in the first place than playing a reactive role and waiting for it to happen.

yeah, that's fair. im just saying its not the hellstorm to their credit that everyone is talking about. you're not going to get 5 new accounts every day on your account (no way it'd be approved).

but i would expect auto-approvals to decline, and more difficult security questions (i once asked to say which street was near an address i lived 2 years prior. it was strange)

and lets be honest. the hackers already have the information.
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L0Z posted...

Corrupt_Power posted...

Kingbuffet posted...

How could we possibily know if our credit is affected, ehat does freeezing it accomplish. What if you still like to use your credit card

This is the official site to see if you are effected, from Equifax:
https://trustedidpremier.com/eligibility/eligibility.html

It will also let you enroll in their credit monitoring system free for 1 year if you are.

A credit freeze, to my knowledge, only freezes opening of new lines of credit. It does not effect your ability to use your current lines of credit.

I read their terms. You give up right to sue in class action against Equifax if you accept a year of free credit monitoring. I'm not going to give up that right plus I still get a monthly report from AllClearID which sony set up after their massive hack

https://twitter.com/AGSchneiderman/status/906195350532304896
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Not sure what Federal loans use.
Edit: apparently it's TransUnion
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P4wn4g3 posted...

Not sure what Federal loans use.

They plug into credit bureaus as well, my federal student loans show up on my credit reports. You should check if you were effected.
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They said half of america would be affected which is fucking scary our cyber security is absolute dog shit instead of building a border wall we should build a cyber one that will protect our data
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I am going to sue them for millions

Corrupt_Power posted...

P4wn4g3 posted...

Not sure what Federal loans use.

They plug into credit bureaus as well, my federal student loans show up on my credit reports. You should check if you were effected.

I haven't been affected yet. What should I do now? I just signed up with credit karma.
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Did USAA get hit?
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P4wn4g3 posted...

Corrupt_Power posted...

P4wn4g3 posted...

Not sure what Federal loans use.

They plug into credit bureaus as well, my federal student loans show up on my credit reports. You should check if you were effected.

I haven't been affected yet. What should I do now? I just signed up with credit karma.

If you're not effected, you should be ok. Equifax says they've contained the breach, so if your info wasn't exposed already, or they don't have anything on you, you should be ok. Just stay aware of your credit and check it now and then, which you should be doing already anyway.
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Corrupt_Power posted...

P4wn4g3 posted...

Corrupt_Power posted...

P4wn4g3 posted...

Not sure what Federal loans use.

They plug into credit bureaus as well, my federal student loans show up on my credit reports. You should check if you were effected.

I haven't been affected yet. What should I do now? I just signed up with credit karma.

If you're not effected, you should be ok. Equifax says they've contained the breach, so if your info wasn't exposed already, or they don't have anything on you, you should be ok. Just stay aware of your credit and check it now and then, which you should be doing already anyway.

I'm just going off what credit karma is saying. The trusted premier page said I could or could not be affected, it wasn't very helpful.
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DrizztLink posted...

Did USAA get hit?

That's not how credit bureaus work. If you have, or have ever had, any sort of credit, there's a decent chance Equifax has something on you. Credit bureaus all share information between each other, and all credit-related things get reported to them. This breach is effecting nearly half of the entire US population. Think about that.
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P4wn4g3 posted...

Corrupt_Power posted...

P4wn4g3 posted...

Corrupt_Power posted...

P4wn4g3 posted...

Not sure what Federal loans use.

They plug into credit bureaus as well, my federal student loans show up on my credit reports. You should check if you were effected.

I haven't been affected yet. What should I do now? I just signed up with credit karma.

If you're not effected, you should be ok. Equifax says they've contained the breach, so if your info wasn't exposed already, or they don't have anything on you, you should be ok. Just stay aware of your credit and check it now and then, which you should be doing already anyway.

I'm just going off what credit karma is saying. The trusted premier page said I could or could not be affected, it wasn't very helpful.

It said could or could not? That's amazingly vague, and fucking stupid.

Going forward, I would just keep a close eye on your credit. I believe Credit Karma has a free system that will notify you of changes to your credit report, I would take advantage of that. I would also seriously consider freezing your credit profiles if you have no intention of opening new lines of credit in the near future, or signing up for a more robust, active credit monitoring service.
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;)
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for reference, you can get free transunion monitoring from Credit Sesame, free Equifax monitoring from Credit Karma, and Experian's website lets you sign up for a free account (scroll down on the sign up page) for free monitoring from them.
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Corrupt_Power posted...

P4wn4g3 posted...

Corrupt_Power posted...

P4wn4g3 posted...

Corrupt_Power posted...

P4wn4g3 posted...

Not sure what Federal loans use.

They plug into credit bureaus as well, my federal student loans show up on my credit reports. You should check if you were effected.

I haven't been affected yet. What should I do now? I just signed up with credit karma.

If you're not effected, you should be ok. Equifax says they've contained the breach, so if your info wasn't exposed already, or they don't have anything on you, you should be ok. Just stay aware of your credit and check it now and then, which you should be doing already anyway.

I'm just going off what credit karma is saying. The trusted premier page said I could or could not be affected, it wasn't very helpful.

It said could or could not? That's amazingly vague, and fucking stupid.

Going forward, I would just keep a close eye on your credit. I believe Credit Karma has a free system that will notify you of changes to your credit report, I would take advantage of that. I would also seriously consider freezing your credit profiles if you have no intention of opening new lines of credit in the near future, or signing up for a more robust, active credit monitoring service.

I guess I'll have to figure out how to freeze it. I don't really use credit.
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Something fun to think about:
Equifax says they generally don't have information on minors, which make sense because they rarely have credit profiles.

The "44% of Americans effected" is coming from 143 million people's information being exposed, compared against the US population of 323 million.

A 2010 Census stated that people under 18 years old account for about 24% of the population in the US, or about 77.5 million of the 323 million. That leaves about 245.5 million adults.

So... if we take the 143 million effected people, and compare it against the 245.5 million adults, we come up with a little over 58% of adults effected. This also doesn't take into account adults who have little or no credit, and thus Equifax likely doesn't have information on them. It's pretty easy then to say that the percentage of adults with active credit profiles, effected by this breach, is well over 60%.
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I like how @Corrupt_Power has an appropriate name and knowledge
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https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/09/so-equifax-says-your-data-was-hacked-now-what/
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHcGVOJXRzI
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Goddamnit
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Unsugarized_Foo posted...

I like how @Corrupt_Power has an appropriate name and knowledge

I really do love my username, haha.
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Corrupt_Power posted...

Kingbuffet posted...

How could we possibily know if our credit is affected, ehat does freeezing it accomplish. What if you still like to use your credit card

This is the official site to see if you are effected, from Equifax:
https://trustedidpremier.com/eligibility/eligibility.html

It will also let you enroll in their credit monitoring system free for 1 year if you are.

A credit freeze, to my knowledge, only freezes opening of new lines of credit. It does not effect your ability to use your current lines of credit.

If it says we weren't impacted, based on that link, I don't have to do anything else right?
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