When I checked my account it said I was not impacted. Should I still freeze my account?
When I froze my credit, I did it with all 3 agencies, and I did it all online. It was fairly easy. Now they are probably overwhelmed with requests and unable to process them. Apparently whether you pay for a credit freeze varies by state. For North Carolina, anyone can do it online for free, while some may have to pay to do it by phone or mail. I found this:
Why assume that the other agencies are any better/ more secure? The fact that Equifax has now disclosed a breach and that the other agencies haven’t doesn’t make them more secure - just that the other agencies either haven’t been breached yet, or else haven’t discovered or disclosed breaches that have already happened.
You may be right @calmom . But they have been breached, they waited 5+ weeks to tell us, and I’m mad at them right now.
Even though Equifax says I’m not affected by the breach, I still plan to freeze my credit to be sure. I already have credit monitoring through AAA (they use Experian). OTOH, DH is probably affected by the breach, so freezing credit for him is a given. Just need to be able to get web access to do so.
Convincing my sons and DIL to do something is another story. My sons think they’re fine since Equifax said they’re probably not affected.
The 5th credit bureau is ChexSystems. I froze at all 5. Only TransUnion had a confirmed charge for H & me. The other two – Experian and Equifax had pending charges that haven’t been confirmed yet, even tho it’s been several days so maybe won’t be charged. No charge from the two newer agencies either. Froze for me and H.
Geez. Why do we need FIVE credit bureaus?!!!
Because big business wants to make more money–more bureaus means more money for all of them, right?
Mine and Dh’s credit has been frozen for 5 years. Our DS16 was part of the Anthem hack in 2015 and I was able to freeze his credit then. Yesterday my DD’s 21 & 19 called and froze theirs over the phone w/the big 3. We got a charge from Experian and Transunion but nothing from Equifax, which I’m reading in this thread they suspended.
I need to dig out mine and DH’s stuff and go to the sites and make sure we are STILL froze. Who’s to say they didn’t steal our pins! Might need to see if we can make up new ones. This stuff is a real PITA!!
I never heard about the other two agencies until reading this thread, guess I gotta check into those too for all of us. Will I be subject to more fee’s with them? I’m in Ohio.
I just did the other 2 and they were easy,and no fee.
OHMomof2, I guess I"m a little surprised to learn about these other 2 agencies when I’ve never heard of them before nor read anywhere to freeze your credit with them.
Some helpful info here, @TiggerDad, but I wouldn’t call the places to place a freeze. Do it online (once it starts working again).
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0497-credit-freeze-faqs
What kind of information do you have to provide Equifax in order to know if your are hacked or not?
@coolweather , last name and last six digits of your ss number.
I’m proud of myself. I’d been stressing about taking steps because I thought it would be complicated. But today the date I was given to register for the protection with Equifax, so I pulled myself together and took the steps. It was so easy I felt ridiculous for getting anxious about it.
As an FYI to those starting out, my verification email hasn’t come yet and there was a message saying it might take a few days.
I also went to another one of the credit agencies to put a fraud alert and look at my credit report, and everything looks fine.
I am thinking about a credit freeze but I’m having irrational fears about losing my ten digit codes. :-t
Did the freeze for both of us on Experian tonight online without a problem. They charged $10 per person. Transunion and Equifax both said try again later.
@MACmiracle I totally get the fear of losing the pin,
Freezing across the board. Did TransUnion’s TrueIdentity, paid $10 for Experian, free freezes from Innovis and ChexSystems. Followed Equifax’s protocol, but haven’t received the confirmation email. My Costco Citi Visa was compromised in June. A card “benefit” is Equifax credit monitoring. Sigh. May be related.
Called Costco Citi and they credited the $10 Experian charge to our Costco rewards.
@aMacMom, I don’t understand what you mean that Costco Citi credited the charge to your Costco rewards. Can you please explain?
Equifax had ‘admin’ as login and password in Argentina: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-41257576