Equifax

Should I Worry About the Equifax Hack?

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Boy, time flies when you’re protecting your identity. This article was originally written September, 2017. It was just a taste of things to come. In August, 2024 criminal hackers went bigger and literally hacked the Social Security Administration and got away with as much as all of our social security numbers, date of birth, address, and who knows what else. Even a baby identity thief could profit from this. The worry is that new state-sponsored criminal organizations are already working on profit and intelligence gathering. If you are wondering whether to be worried about the Equifax hack from 2017, the answer is yes. You should be worried. However, you do not need to panic. How ever bad the Equifax hack of 2017 was, there were plenty of doozeys on its heels. So many, in fact, that any one of them likely caused more damage. Still, those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it. Get Some Credit Monitoring By now, you should probably have some rudimentary credit monitoring whether it comes through a free credit score service like Credit Karma, or from your bank, or one of your credit cards. You’ll want to read all of those emails …

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Credit Bureau Phone Numbers

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Why would you need credit bureau phone numbers? Your credit score is a critical component of your financial wellbeing. Your credit score is computed from the information in one of your credit reports. Those credit reports are maintained by the major credit bureaus. If there is an issue with your credit report, you’ll have to fight your way through the standard red tape of major corporations with the added complication that you aren’t really the credit bureau’s customer, so they really aren’t very interested in hearing from you in the first place. Finding a useful credit bureau phone number is, therefore, sometimes tricky. Before Calling a Credit Bureau Before you grab your phone and dial hoping to get credit bureau phone numbers live person access, consider whether or not calling the credit bureau will actually be useful to you. For example, if there is some incorrect information on your credit report, it may be better to dispute the wrong information in writing. Even if you call directly to the CEO, disputes still have to be made according to the credit bureau’s dispute procedure, so calling the wrong number is a waste of time. Also, if you wish to enter your …

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What the Equifax Hack Really Means For You

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There is a lot of misinformation out there about the Equifax security breach, or hack. I wrote up a quick blurb the night I heard about it to try and help, but now it’s been a few days and it’s clearer what is happening, and what people are thinking. What Can I Really Do About the Equifax Hack? About the only thing that might punish Equifax is if tons of Americans put a freeze on their Equifax credit reports and then refused to take them off when lenders ask. Unfortunately, the answer is really that there is nothing you can do about the Equifax security breach. Unlike your usual credit card number theft, or username and password theft, the information the hackers got from Equifax isn’t able to be cancelled and replaced. This is your life, your addresses, employers, banks, cable company, cell phone company. It’s a master key for identity theft, and it exists out there forever, now. There is nothing you can do but watch and wait. Let’s start with what won’t help you stay safe from the Equifax data breach. Changing usernames and passwords – The hackers didn’t get usernames and passwords. Assuming your usernames and passwords …

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