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Equifax Breach and Personal Credit Security Daryl Adams

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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?????