Community Chat

[JustJazzmom]

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@silkyk wrote:

DH just mentioned that the hackers will probably now go after all the frozen accounts (NOTHING is SAFE!) because those are the people who have something to loo$e! The hackers will key in on them! Freeze everything and check your cards weekly for ? charges. Look for small ones (like ones under $1) Cons  try small ones first on lots of accounts to see who notices! Thousands of people don't......don't be one of them. Why has congress been so darn SILENT on this? I wonder.

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Congress HAS NOT been silent on this -- 

http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/350517-equifax-ceo-formally-called-to-testify-before-congres...

And

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/11/senate-finance-committee-wants-to-know-who-knew-what-and-when-at-equ...

[JustJazzmom]

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@Nightowlz wrote:

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@JustJazzmom wrote:

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@Nightowlz wrote:

@Lipstickdiva Have not put freeze on our accounts yet.

I have never had any problems with my debit card. We only use it here in town. Never have used it while on vacation, out of town or online.

We have never even looked at our credit report. I don't even know what one looks like. I figure if there is a problem we would know about it. Guess I should go to annualcreditreport & get one. I just don't like the idea of enterning ss # on the internet even though I did it the past 2 yrs for our taxes.

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Definitely get your credit report. You would be surprised about any errors -- get a credit report from one company now; wait 4 months and request from another credit reporting company and 4 months after that, get the report from the 3rd company.

Repeat again in 4 months with the 1st company.

The websites are encrypted like the IRS and credit reporting agencies. 

Never use your debit debit as a credit card. 

Excellent article about where NOT to use a debit card: http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/10-places-not-to-use-debit-card-1271.php

When my Dad died, I being the executor requested his credit reports and had to make corrections on at least 2 of the credit reporting agencie's info. One company has an address where he never lived! Some other minor things and the companies are good at getting back to you showing you the corrections were made.

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@JustJazzmom Never thought about doing it every quarter. Can you get a free report from each place once per year? If you cannot how much do they charge to do it? I have never seen one so don't have a clue what's on it. I know I can use annualcreditreport.com 

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Yes, getting one free report from 1 of the companies is the way to go. Just make sure you write down the name you are using and PW from each company. You can call and ask what their fee is if you want them more than 1X/yr. But if you are a victim of identity theft or have been turned down for credit, you can get a free report as they have to let you know why you were turned down. You and your spouse can request your report 3x/yr., every quarter.

Identity theft needs to have a copy of the police report sent to them.

Now to totally confuse you-- you ill be charged a fee from any of the 3 companies if you want your credit score. 

[SaRina]

@Nightowlz, you are entitled to one free credit report per year from each of the credit agencies. Rather than requesting 3 reports all at once from 3 agencies, it makes sense to request one report every four months from one of the agencies so you can keep more frequent tabs on your information. So, for example, get one report from Experian in September, one report from TransUnion in January, and one report from Equifax in April. You really should not need to order additional reports for which there would be a charge.

You can either request a report from the AnnualCreditReport site or you can request it from each agency by phone. (There is no charge for requesting it from each agency as that is what I always do.) 

There is a charge to obtain your credit score unless you have that free service with your credit card company or you get it from the Credit Karma site.

[JustJazzmom]

More info in regard to ID theft when electronically filing a tax return: 

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-states-industry-urge-taxpayers-to-learn-signs-of-identity-theft

[JustJazzmom]

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@JustJazzmom wrote:

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@silkyk wrote:

DH just mentioned that the hackers will probably now go after all the frozen accounts (NOTHING is SAFE!) because those are the people who have something to loo$e! The hackers will key in on them! Freeze everything and check your cards weekly for ? charges. Look for small ones (like ones under $1) Cons  try small ones first on lots of accounts to see who notices! Thousands of people don't......don't be one of them. Why has congress been so darn SILENT on this? I wonder.

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Congress HAS NOT been silent on this -- 

http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/350517-equifax-ceo-formally-called-to-testify-before-congres...

And

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/11/senate-finance-committee-wants-to-know-who-knew-what-and-when-at-equ...

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Still more:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/09/14/the-ftc-confirms-its-investigating-the-...

[Nightowlz]

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@SaRina wrote:

@Nightowlz, you are entitled to one free credit report per year from each of the credit agencies. Rather than requesting 3 reports all at once from 3 agencies, it makes sense to request one report every four months from one of the agencies so you can keep more frequent tabs on your information. So, for example, get one report from Experian in September, one report from TransUnion in January, and one report from Equifax in April. You really should not need to order additional reports for which there would be a charge.

You can either request a report from the AnnualCreditReport site or you can request it from each agency by phone. (There is no charge for requesting it from each agency as that is what I always do.) 

There is a charge to obtain your credit score unless you have that free service with your credit card company or you get it from the Credit Karma site.

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@SaRina Ok Thx. I did not know you could get 1 report from each place. I thought I could only get 1. I figured they were all the same. I guess from what I'm reading they could all have different stuff reported to them. I know my credit score so don't need that. I see mine went down 25 points after paying off my car loan. I guess the score goes down when you have no debt. Makes no sense. It's still in the excellent category but I don't like it went down 25 points. Makes it look like something is going on.

[software]

Clark Howard mentioned Equifax will waive the freeze fee, for those who want to freeze their Equifax information.    If you have already paid, maybe you can get it back.

Also if you search Experian scan, they will scan the "dark web" for your email address.   According to them, that's where all the hanky panky happens.   Now they will harass you to sign up for their IdentitiyWorks product, so read all the fine print before you give them your email address.

Experian is not cashing in on the Equifax misery, they've offered this since February.

Just throwing this out FYI

[JustJazzmom]

My cousin just sent me this article: 

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2017/09/14/equifax-breach-patch/

For lack of a patch, vulnerabilities were exploited!