Why I haven't frozen my credit in wake of Equifaxiasco

[Colonel Hogan]

1. The last time there was a security breach with my healthcare insurance provider I blocked my credit account with all three national agencies and when it was time to reactivate the account, it was a pain in the ass. It is almost impossible to talk with a live customer service representative at several of these companies.

2. Prior to the latest records breach, if someone wanted to steal my identity and hack my credit, they had to pick me out as a target from the hundreds of millions of my fellow American consumers.

3. Since the most recent records breach is said to affect almost every single American, anyone wanting to steal my identity STILL has to select me as a target from the hundreds of millions of my fellow American consumers whose records the criminals now have access to.

My odds of being a cyber-crime victim haven't really changed. I'll still monitor my credit score which I receive monthly, but I think sitting this one out and not pushing the panic button is far safer than riding out a hurricane on the second floor of a Daytona Beach condo.

 

[Ishmael]

1. The last time there was a security breach with my healthcare insurance provider I blocked my credit account with all three national agencies and when it was time to reactivate the account, it was a pain in the ass. It is almost impossible to talk with a live customer service representative at several of these companies.

2. Prior to the latest records breach, if someone wanted to steal my identity and hack my credit, they had to pick me out as a target from the hundreds of millions of my fellow American consumers.

3. Since the most recent records breach is said to affect almost every single American, anyone wanting to steal my identity STILL has to select me as a target from the hundreds of millions of my fellow American consumers whose records the criminals now have access to.

My odds of being a cyber-crime victim haven't really changed. I'll still monitor my credit score which I receive monthly, but I think sitting this one out and not pushing the panic button is far safer than riding out a hurricane on the second floor of a Daytona Beach condo.

Monitoring your accounts daily is going to yield more productive results. The CR folks are all 'after the fact' agencies. Your bank(s), etc are pretty much real time.

I don't know this so I'll ask, can you request that the various CR agencies notify you immediately upon someone, even you, making application for credit? If not, they're fucking worthless.

Ishmael

 

[Ishmael]

As an addendum, I read the news blurb as reporting that only 'subscribers' to their services were at risk. I'm not going to pay the bastards a damn penny to do what they do, and have done, without me anyway.

Ishmael

 

[Ishmael]

Another side note.

I have two AmEx accounts, two Visa, and two MC. One each of the Visa and MC accounts have had to be cancelled over the years. The most notable was the Home Depot hack back in 2013(?) that compromised one of my MC accounts.

I noticed that more and more vendors are no longer accepting AmEx as payment. So I looked into that. It seems that MC and Visa have dropped their merchant processing fees to gain more biz., AmEx hasn't. Depending on the biz. the fee difference may be 1% to tenths of a percent. So they drop AmEx. But AmEx has never been hacked, that could change, but as of today that is a fact. Could it be that AmEx is investing more in security than MC or Visa?

Ishmael

 

[Colonel Hogan]

Monitoring your accounts daily is going to yield more productive results. The CR folks are all 'after the fact' agencies. Your bank(s), etc are pretty much real time.

I don't know this so I'll ask, can you request that the various CR agencies notify you immediately upon someone, even you, making application for credit? If not, they're fucking worthless.

Ishmael

With regard to your specific question, I'm not certain. I wondered the same thing. But I'm with you that banks are the real time entity I should be most concerned about. I don't use my credit enough to be worried about someone else trying to do so fraudulently. If that happens I suspect I will find out soon enough.

 

[Bert Notorius]

You have 60 days to notify the bank.
If they can't prove you withdrew the funds,
it's on them.

 

[Colonel Hogan]

You have 60 days to notify the bank.
If they can't prove you withdrew the funds,
it's on them.

I didn't know that. Thanks, Bert!

 

[Ishmael]

You have 60 days to notify the bank.
If they can't prove you withdrew the funds,
it's on them.

True, but the sooner the better. I've been double debited by convenience stores twice now. Minor purchases that may have escaped my notice had I waited even a couple of weeks to review my accounts. Trivial? Yeah, but business is business and there's no way I'm going to let a company like 7-11 double dip.

Ishmael

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Colonel, I got your number...



Be afraid, be very, very afraid.

 

[Saint Peter]

Equifax has now removed from its site the language related to that possible waiver. In its place is a sentence that reads:

“We have removed that language from the TrustedID Premier Terms of Use and it will not apply to the free products offered in response to the cybersecurity incident or for claims related to the cybersecurity incident itself. The arbitration language will not apply to any consumer who signed up before the language was removed.”

Hey, thanks!

See you in court.

 

[adrina]

Set up notification alerts.

You'll get notified via email or text when a transaction happens.

If so inclined, get Lifelock and you'll receive notifications if credit is taken out in your name.

Check your accounts weekly. Online access was made for the vigilant.

 

[Ishmael]

Hey, thanks!

See you in court.

Translation, "Hey, we charged you for nothing, you fell for it. Now that we got caught we're just clearing that up with 'less' obtuse language."

P. T. Barnum is alive and well.

Ishmael

 

[Lancecastor]

Online access was made for the vigilant.

My high school sweetheart looked like raindancer, only 18.

Damn she was hot. If i had command of the time space continuum, she'd be my first stop.

She worked part time at the bank.

Old ladies would line up before opening time on the first of each month to have their bank books updated, having of course already calculated the Interest.

Vigilant? Far too kind a word for that behavior.

 

[Saint Peter]

Translation, "Hey, we charged you for nothing, you fell for it. Now that we got caught we're just clearing that up with 'less' obtuse language."

P. T. Barnum is alive and well.

Ishmael

The retraction was reactionary but very telling. Fucking snakes.

I also think Col Hogan is correct. With so much data being compromised it is a needle in the haystack chance of being singled out. That being said, I froze my accounts. The credit accounts I use I watch. I never open a store credit cards no matter what kind of "deals" they offer. There is no need to leave that window open.

 

[UberDriver]

1. The last time there was a security breach with my healthcare insurance provider I blocked my credit account with all three national agencies and when it was time to reactivate the account, it was a pain in the ass. It is almost impossible to talk with a live customer service representative at several of these companies.

2. Prior to the latest records breach, if someone wanted to steal my identity and hack my credit, they had to pick me out as a target from the hundreds of millions of my fellow American consumers.

3. Since the most recent records breach is said to affect almost every single American, anyone wanting to steal my identity STILL has to select me as a target from the hundreds of millions of my fellow American consumers whose records the criminals now have access to.

My odds of being a cyber-crime victim haven't really changed. I'll still monitor my credit score which I receive monthly, but I think sitting this one out and not pushing the panic button is far safer than riding out a hurricane on the second floor of a Daytona Beach condo.

What you said is ridiculous. Credit monitoring is done by young people working their way up through
life. On the other hand, you are an retired old fart living in a house that's been paid off for twenty or
thirty years.

Your problem is watching too much television and being influenced by commercials.

 

[oggbashan]

Locally the typical online fraud victim is someone over 80 years old who doesn't really understand modern banking; or the 40 year old who is juggling credit card transfers to get low interest rates.

Both are targeted by scammers.

 

[Rightguide]

1. The last time there was a security breach with my healthcare insurance provider I blocked my credit account with all three national agencies and when it was time to reactivate the account, it was a pain in the ass. It is almost impossible to talk with a live customer service representative at several of these companies.

2. Prior to the latest records breach, if someone wanted to steal my identity and hack my credit, they had to pick me out as a target from the hundreds of millions of my fellow American consumers.

3. Since the most recent records breach is said to affect almost every single American, anyone wanting to steal my identity STILL has to select me as a target from the hundreds of millions of my fellow American consumers whose records the criminals now have access to.

My odds of being a cyber-crime victim haven't really changed. I'll still monitor my credit score which I receive monthly, but I think sitting this one out and not pushing the panic button is far safer than riding out a hurricane on the second floor of a Daytona Beach condo.

Good thinking, for a change.

 

[Rightguide]

What you said is ridiculous. Credit monitoring is done by young people working their way up through
life. On the other hand, you are an retired old fart living in a house that's been paid off for twenty or
thirty years.

Your problem is watching too much television and being influenced by commercials.

Your problem is a severely diminished IQ.

 

[RobDownSouth]

I have two AmEx accounts, two Visa, and two MC. One each of the Visa and MC accounts have had to be cancelled over the years.

That happens when you don't pay your bills.

I noticed that more and more vendors are no longer accepting AmEx as payment. So I looked into that. It seems that MC and Visa have dropped their merchant processing fees to gain more biz., AmEx hasn't. Depending on the biz. the fee difference may be 1% to tenths of a percent. So they drop AmEx. But AmEx has never been hacked, that could change, but as of today that is a fact. Could it be that AmEx is investing more in security than MC or Visa?

Ishmael

Dotard, Amex has always been a percentage point above Visa/MC and has been that way since the 1960s....back when even YOU had a job.

 

[Colonel Hogan]

Colonel, I got your number...



Be afraid, be very, very afraid.

Who are you kidding? You're a marshmallow.

 

[Saint Peter]

fluff with no substance?
fat?
nauseatingly sweet?


So many choices.

 

[Aglaopheme]

That happens when you don't pay your bills.


Dotard, Amex has always been a percentage point above Visa/MC and has been that way since the 1960s....back when even YOU had a job.

Oh, that little Kim is good for something.

 

[ryan8558]

The problem is not so much they will access your existing accounts, but they will open up new ones. Open up credit cards, buy cars, etc it could take you years to clear your credit.

If you freeze your credit, no one can open accounts in your name. So after a while and you want to lease or buy a car, you have to unfreeze your credit.

 

[Colonel Hogan]

Set up notification alerts.

You'll get notified via email or text when a transaction happens.

If so inclined, get Lifelock and you'll receive notifications if credit is taken out in your name.

Check your accounts weekly. Online access was made for the vigilant.

Here's a pretty good article on the subject. I like your suggestion about notification alerts rather than an all-out freeze. But apparently Lifelock's skirts aren't perfectly clean in this area either.

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-lifelock-equifax-20170918-story.html

 

[Colonel Hogan]

The problem is not so much they will access your existing accounts, but they will open up new ones. Open up credit cards, buy cars, etc it could take you years to clear your credit.

If you freeze your credit, no one can open accounts in your name. So after a while and you want to lease or buy a car, you have to unfreeze your credit.

I'm sort of relying on the fact that one of my credit cards sends me a credit score every month with my bill. It varies very little from month to month. If someone started opening credit in my name, I am assuming I would see that score drop with the next billing cycle or two and could take action.

But I still like Adrina's tip.