Equifax has left 143 million Americans vulnerable to identity theft.

As you may know, on September 7, 2017, Equifax, one of the three major consumer credit reporting agencies, announced a data breach potentially impacting 143 million people. Personal information such as name, address, date of birth, driver's license and Social Security numbers may have been stolen. We wanted to provide you with some information and steps you may want to consider:
Who is affected?
Equifax created a website to provide more information about the breach and how this may have impacted you: www.EquifaxSecurity2017.com
What should I do next?
If you feel you may have been impacted, you may consider putting a temporary fraud alert or credit freeze on your file at each of the credit bureaus. See sites for details and costs.

• Placing a temporary fraud alert on your credit report makes it harder for someone to open accounts in your name. When you alert one bureau, it will automatically alert the other two.
  • Equifax: 
    www.equifax.com/CreditReportAssistance / 1-888-766-0008
  • Experian: 
    www.experian.com/fraudalert / 1-888-397-3742
  • TransUnion: 
    www.transunion.com/fraud / 1-800-680-7289
• Placing a freeze on your credit file will prevent any individual or company from accessing your credit data. You may freeze/unfreeze the file at any time but you will need to submit your request with each credit bureau directly.
  • Equifax: 
    www.freeze.equifax.com/Freeze/jsp/SFF_PersonalIDInfo.jsp / 1-800-349-9960
  • Experian: 
    www.experian.com/freeze/center.html / 1-888-397-3742
  • TransUnion: 
    freeze.transunion.com / 1-888-909-8872
• Visit our ID Theft Protection page to learn more about how to detect suspicious activity on your account and what to do if you think you are a victim.

Whether you have been affected or not, it is always good to monitor your bank statements and credit reports. By federal law, you are entitled to check your free credit report and there are various free and fee-paid fraud monitoring services.