Community Chat

[dooBdoo]

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noodleann wrote:

A NYT reporter who found that when you plug any data into the Equifax website that's supposed to check to see if you were compromised, it tells you you were. He's concluded they have no idea whether you were or not.

Bottom line: I wouldn't trust anything Equifax has to say. I certainly wouldn't sign up for any of their products. 

The reporter suggests freezing your credit files at all three reporting agencies. You might not want to do this if you're anticipating applying for a mortgage, refinancing, or getting a car loan, but it makes sense. There's a cost to this unless certain circumstances apply, but it's worth considering. I'll leave it to you to do the research.

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             Hi, @noodleann!   I agree with all of your posts about this.   Equifax knew about this long before they disclosed it.    They threw together a sketchy website expecting everyone to become even more involved by entering our last name and part of our SSN and then by enrolling in one of their products.    And it's clear the software on the site can't differentiate the validity of Micky Mouse's name and SSN from that of anyone else.    Now they've added amendments and apologies assuring people they didn't intend to have us waive our rights to file lawsuits, even though they initially included such terminology in the terms of service in both the TrustedID enrollment site and the site that supposedly checks to see if our data was compromised.  

            This is being handled dreadfully, and it appears to be evidence of shoddy quality control by Equifax all along, which led to the troubling success of this massive hack.   Each person will need to make her/his own decision, but I can't imagine trusting Equifax to monitor the safety and security of my personal information going forward.  

[tansy]

There was an unsettling article about how equifax handled this on The Hill site.  

[dooBdoo]

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tansy wrote:

There was an unsettling article about how equifax handled this on The Hill site.  

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            This might be the one, @tansy?   They raise valid questions -- the very things we've all been discussing on this thread.

"Five questions about the massive Equifax breach"

source:

http:// thehill . com / policy/cybersecurity/349869-five-questions-about-the-massive-equifax-breach  

(remove spaces to copy and paste URL or search for the article title on The Hill dot com)

[tansy]

That's it, @dooBdoo.  Thanks🙂

[momtochloe]

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@tansy wrote:

There was an unsettling article about how equifax handled this on The Hill site.  

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I did read that article @tansy.  I also read that the guy who runs their security team made 2.8M last year . . . money well spent . . . not.

[nonnied]

The executives who sold some of their stocks did report it to the Feds.  I am sure they knew they would need alot of money for lawyers!

[noodleann]

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@dooBdoo wrote:

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@noodleann wrote:

A NYT reporter who found that when you plug any data into the Equifax website that's supposed to check to see if you were compromised, it tells you you were. He's concluded they have no idea whether you were or not.

Bottom line: I wouldn't trust anything Equifax has to say. I certainly wouldn't sign up for any of their products. 

The reporter suggests freezing your credit files at all three reporting agencies. You might not want to do this if you're anticipating applying for a mortgage, refinancing, or getting a car loan, but it makes sense. There's a cost to this unless certain circumstances apply, but it's worth considering. I'll leave it to you to do the research.

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             Hi, @noodleann!   I agree with all of your posts about this.   Equifax knew about this long before they disclosed it.    They threw together a sketchy website expecting everyone to become even more involved by entering our last name and part of our SSN and then by enrolling in one of their products.    And it's clear the software on the site can't differentiate the validity of Micky Mouse's name and SSN from that of anyone else.    Now they've added amendments and apologies assuring people they didn't intend to have us waive our rights to file lawsuits, even though they initially included such terminology in the terms of service in both the TrustedID enrollment site and the site that supposedly checks to see if our data was compromised.  

            This is being handled dreadfully, and it appears to be evidence of shoddy quality control by Equifax all along, which led to the troubling success of this massive hack.   Each person will need to make her/his own decision, but I can't imagine trusting Equifax to monitor the safety and security of my personal information going forward.  

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Nailed it as always, @dooBdoo.

I don't think anyone should have to pay a fee to have their Equifax file frozen. There's a Washington Post story, "After the Equifax breach, here’s how to freeze your credit to protect your identity," with a link to an Equifax PDF showing the fees for freezing and related services. It's always free for victims of identity theft. On a positive note, in many states it's also free if you're 65 or older.

Sometimes I don't know whether to shake my head or stamp my feet. 

[momtochloe]

On my way to looking up something else I ran across an article that recommended this site for credit monitoring:

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action

It states on the site that it is the only one authorized by federal law in terms of credit reporting.  Has anyone ever heard/used this site?

[noodleann]

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@momtochloe wrote:

On my way to looking up something else I ran across an article that recommended this site for credit monitoring:

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action

It states on the site that it is the only one authorized by federal law in terms of credit reporting.  Has anyone ever heard/used this site?

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@momtochloe, this is the government-authorized site through which you can request a copy of your credit report once a year from each of the three major credit bureaus, TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. Some people stagger the requests, getting the TransUnion in January, the Experian in May, and the Equifax in September, for example. Others get them all at once. 

This is the only site I use unless I need a credit report and it's too soon to request one there. Then I have to go to the bureaus themselves and usually pay a fee. You never pay for a credit report from annualcreditreport.com.

This site is for credit reports alone. The site does not offer monitoring services, although the credit bureaus may try to sell you their products for that purpose.

[momtochloe]

Thanks for the help and tips @noodleann, I really appreciate it!