UPDATE (9-15-17): There is technically a forth credit agency known as Innovis that also has a credit freeze option. Here is a link to their online application to freeze your credit report with this agency.

Purpose of this Article: to explain five actions that you can take to reduce your exposure and protect yourself after the Equifax data breach.

Overview:

Earlier this year Equifax, one of the nation’s three major credit reporting agencies, was hacked by thieves who stole the personal information of 143 million U.S. consumers. And while the company scrambles to figure what happened and how to respond, the reality of this breach doesn’t change: the burden to protect oneself will fall mostly on the individual consumers.

This article provides some steps that you can take to protect yourself in the face on one of the most brazen failures to protect consumer data.

What Can I Do Today?

Step 1: Freeze your credit and place a fraud alert on your file.
Known as a security freeze, this tool allows you to restrict access to your credit report, which in turn makes it more difficult for identify thieves to open new accounts in your name. Put simply, this will prevent someone trying to establish a new credit account in your name. For more detailed information on a credit freeze, please see here.

Please note that a credit freeze doesn’t negatively impact your credit score and fees for freezing your credit at all three agencies (Equifax, Experian, & TransUnion) will cost you $5 to $10 each. Here is a state by state list of the fees you will pay here.

Step 2: Don’t sign up for the Equifax free credit monitoring service. Instead, use a free monitoring service like Credit Karma.

First things first, the last thing you want to do is trust Equifax to monitor your credit. This is the same company that allowed 143 million U.S. consumer personal data to get into the hands of thieves. They also haven’t been very transparent and forthcoming with information regarding this breach.

Instead, sign up for Credit Karma. They offer free credit monitoring which allows you to stay on top of changes to your credit. They also have a smart phone app that makes this very seamless. For more information on this service see here.

Step 3: Review your free credit report annually from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

You can access this by visiting http://www.annualcreditreport.com. Each year you are entitled to three free credit reports from each of these agencies. Request them and review them looking for accounts or activity that you do not recognize. If you find anything out of the ordinary, report this unusual activity to the FTC’s http://www.IdentityTheft.gov website.

Step 4: Regularly monitor your bank statements and credit card statements for fraudulent activity.

Most banks and credit card companies often offer fraud detection services free of charge but the onus is on you to consistently monitor your existing credit card and bank accounts. Personally, I check my accounts every other day, and at a minimum, you should check them weekly.

Step 5: File your income taxes with the IRS as early as possible.

By filling as early as possible, you prevent and reduce the likelihood that your information will be used to fraudulently file your tax returns. Most thieves do this to try to steal your tax return.

What NOT TO DO:

Lastly, whatever you do please DO NOT sign up for Equifax’s TrustedID Premier Service. Even though this is a complimentary identity theft protection and credit file monitoring service, the data breach is so severe that criminals will be able to use the information they stole for decades to come. One year of TrustedID Premier Service is simply not enough to stop the potential risk of identity theft.

Furthermore, there is some legal fine print that states once you sign up for this service; you waive the right to sue Equifax later on. If you want more information on this, see this article here.

Closing:

The unfortunate truth is that there is never complete certainty associated with these security measures. But the fact remains that doing nothing will expose you to as much or more risk. Never assume and trust any of these organizations to protect your own data and take it in your hands to protect yourself.

My hope in writing this article is that after reading this, you can now implement some strategies to protect yourself for identity theft in general, but also specific to the Equifax data breach.