2 million Minnesotans could be at risk in Equifax breach

Equifax, one of the three main credit reporting companies, said this week that a major data breach exposed Social Security numbers and other important information of millions of people. The lawsuit claims Equifax caused harm and it presents two victims of the breach, Brian F. Spector and James McGonnigal. Online information about consumer financial protection issues is available at www.credit.maine.gov.

According to regulatory filings, on 1 August, chief financial officer John Gamble sold shares worth $946,374 and Joseph Loughran, president of United States information solutions, exercised options to dispose of stock worth $584,099. This is the “permanent record” you were told about (well, seven years record, but some stuff – like your Social Security Number – will never change).

Recovering from identity theft could take months or even years.

As of Monday, the options contracts with the largest outstanding bets on the stock profit from a decline of 15% to 19% over the next five weeks, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Equifax’s breach will test measures the financial industry has rolled out to prevent thieves from abusing troves of stolen credit-card numbers. Once at a bar and another time at a gas station.

Ultimately, the onus will probably be on consumers to try to protect themselves. You’ll be okay, I promise. A fraud alert warns creditors you may have been a victim of identity theft and to take additional steps to verify identity.

“My advice is don’t go to Equifax’s website“. Here’s how to do it.

Security expert Brian Krebs has spoken out about the hoo-hah, and has described the website – equifaxsecurity2017.com – as “little more than a stalling tactic or sham at worst”. I completed the process on Friday in about 15 minutes using Clark’s step-by-step guide. Yet it took until September for them to reveal the hack.

According to White, consumers have nearly no control over whether their information is absorbed into credit bureaus like Equifax. It’s an administrative nightmare, and stressing out about it doesn’t do you much good. “If you want a new job, get a new cell phone, get new insurance, they all check your credit”.

Longobardi said he’s waiting to receive a letter to figure out what to do now. This came in handy both times my credit card was stolen. It was a little annoying, but not that big of a deal.

More lawsuits are expected on behalf of shareholders.

Vlcek says that, rather than taking advantage of Equifax’s offer, consumers should “consider looking into a credit freeze that will stop hackers from using your identity to accrue debt” and “closely monitor all email, social, credit card and bank accounts closely for suspicious activities”. They’ve offered one year of free credit monitoring to those affected, but the compromised information isn’t just a username or password.

Stock prices fell almost 14 percent for the Atlanta-based credit monitoring agency Equifax on Friday.

Check your free credit reports.

The company also recommends that you review account statements and credit reports yourself to check for incidents of fraud.

The thing was, I hadn’t applied for a credit card with this company.

The Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection, which administers the Fair Credit Reporting Act in ME, issued a news release Friday afternoon encouraging people to take the breach seriously and consider basic steps to protect their identify, financial accounts and credit reports. And no one is responsible for cleaning up your own mess but you.