09/08/2017
What you can do about the Equifax data breach.
1. An Equifax special website, equifaxsecurity2017.com, will help you determine if your data was part of the hack. Equifax will be providing free credit monitoring to anyone affected.
2. Set up a fraud alert, for free, by calling one of the three credit bureaus: Equifax, TransUnion, or Experian. By law, the bureau you contact must share that alert with the others. See: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0275-place-fraud-alert Note: An alert does not actually alert you personally! It puts some words on your credit file to inform credit grantors to contact you.
3. Add a security freeze on your credit file. You may have to pay for this. You must lift it when you apply for new credit otherwise lenders can't see your report or score. You have to call all three nationwide credit reporting companies, not just one. You will need to give your name, address, date of birth, SSN etc. See: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0497-credit-freeze-faqs
Experian: 1‑888‑397‑3742
TransUnion: 1-888-909-8872
Equifax: 1-800-349-9960