8 Tips for Dealing With the Equifax Fallout

As you’ve probably heard, Equifax, a now-shortened leg of the oligopolistic credit agency tripod, was hacked months ago. Although the public continues to learn more bit by bit, the lights were only recently turned on- only after executives allegedly unloaded stock upon learning of the breach, though before sharing it with the public. Let’s give them some credit though, as there was likely at least some communication with the public prior to the stock tanking, if we define close family and friends as “public.”

The fact that nearly half of the United States had their personally identifiable information released to those on the dark web should be concerning to everyone. If you have not yet checked whether your information may have been what Equifax calls “compromised”- a funny use of the word indeed-  you can check here. While you’re at it, take a few minutes to check for your spouse and children. All you need is the last 6 digits of your social security number.

Half of you reading this just found out that- congratulations- you’ve made the list! Given the bad news, let’s get to it. The first step is to decide how conservative you want to be in your approach given your particular situation. Here are some things to consider:

1. There are other agencies besides the big 3, most notably Innovis and potentially Chexsystems (I say potentially as it isn’t fully clear they have the same information accessible). Either way, Innovis should definitely be a part of your plan.
2. You should decide how conservative you want to be, but know that there are tradeoffs between security and freedom. Do you want to roll the dice and do nothing, hoping your information while stolen, will never be used?  Spoiler alert: this is the wrong answer. Alternatively, you can hire a 3^rd party company (lifelock, of note though not a recommendation). Finally, and likely the best choice depending on a few factors, you could lock or freeze your credit to all of the rating agencies?
3. Freeze or Lock? Each of the bureaus allow you to freeze or to lock your credit, and each provides a service to monitor and lock your credit, with varying accoutrements with each service. Locking your credit makes it easier for both you and the fraudulent you to unlock your credit. On the plus side, locking and unlocking can generally be done instantly using an app or anywhere you can access the internet whereas freezing can take 2-3 days and you may be charged a fee (see #6 below). If you’re planning on opening credit cards, applying for a new job, getting/refinancing a mortgage, buying a car, moving utilities etc, freezing your credit will make your life a bit more complicated. Either way, this is the conservative step.
4. Options for Locking: TransUnion uses a free service called TrueIdentity™ and claims it will remain free, though there’s also a premium version. Experian has a program for locking your credit called IdentityWorks, which is $20/mo for the premium version. There’s a comparison of IdentityWorks versus Lifelock here and not surprisingly, IdentityWorks looks better based on Experian’s site.  Finally, Equifax is graciously offering 1 year free of their program to monitor credit, though for some reason, I remain skeptical and have advised my clients to take other or at least additional measures.
5. Whether you choose to freeze or lock, steps will need to be taken at each bureau for both you and your spouse/children. Plan for a minimum of 10 minutes per person per bureau, though some are higher now given the volumes. Here are the Links to freeze your credit.  Equifax  Experian Transunion As always, make sure you’re using a secure connection and/or Virtual Private Network (VPN).
6. The state you live and whether you have previously been the victim of ID Theft dictates the fees for freezing your credit. A list of those can be found here.  For those in Colorado, you can freeze your credit for free the first time, and it costs – for removal or specific unfreezing.
7. Get in the habit of checking your credit report for free at annualcreditreport.com.  You can check each of the 3 primary bureaus so space them out accordingly.
8. Even freezing your credit won’t get you fully out of the woods, and it may still be possible for someone to use the information from the hack to gain access to some of your health insurance benefits or more importantly, filing your taxes. The IRS will help with identity protection but only if you’ve been the victim of fraud before. Alternatively, you can file this form (form 14039) and even if they reject it, they’ll likely increase scrutiny moving forward. After all, who doesn’t want extra scrutiny from the IRS?

For what it’s worth (FWIW for you Millenials) I would recommend a freeze for anyone who does not anticipate requiring credit inquiries/changes in the near future. While any action is going to take time and lead to some frustration, make an evening out of it. Find a comedy on Netflix, grab your favorite drink and get it done, because it’s going to be a lot easier to deal with it now, then fixing things later.