What should I do if my Social Security Number has been compromised?
Many of us have received a notification recently that our Social Security Number (SSN) was part of the nationwide data breach. So what does that mean? Well, without being too alarming, it means that your SSN may now be in the open and may now be in the hands of bad actors. Those bad actors can sell your SSN or use it themselves to create fictitious accounts in your name to open credit, apply for loans and make large purchases all in your good name using your good credit. When the bad actor no longer makes payments, collectors come looking for you to make the payments and all the legal actions start. You can likely get out of the payments but it’s going to be a hassle just to be blunt. But, you can take some practical steps to protect yourself.
Your first step should be to obtain a free copy of your credit report at www.AnnualCreditRreport.com. Your credit history is tracked and reported by three nationwide credit reporting agencies…Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Each collect information about you and the combination of information from all three will be a comprehensive credit report. You are entitled to a free copy from the three credit reporting agencies once each year and you can get a copy from the website or by phone at 1.877.322.8228. There is also an option to receive a copy by mail. Once you have a copy, you will want to review the report and verify that all open accounts listed are in fact yours. If you find any account that is not yours, you should contact the business listed on the credit report that opened it or the NCRA’s (their contact information will be below). Also, if you need help reading your credit report, I’m sure your local banker, CPA or attorney will be happy to sit down and review it with you.
Even if your credit report is unharmed, you should still take action to preserve your credit and protect your identity. It could be the bad actors just haven’t had time to use your SSN. There are two possible courses of action. The first is a fraud alert that you can place on your credit history by contacting any one of the three agencies. A fraud alert basically tells any prospective creditor that you have had or are suspicious of fraudulent activity and that additional steps are warranted to verify the identity of the applicant. There are short-term and long-term alerts and both are free. The short-term is good for one year and can be obtained with a visit to the website of one of the three NCRA’s or by phone. The long-term alert is good for seven years and requires either a police report or a Federal Trade Commission Identity Theft Report. You can file that report at www.IdentityTheft.gov.
The second course of action is to consider a credit freeze. This action basically locks down your credit report and prevents anyone from obtaining information from it. If you are in the process of applying for credit, a credit freeze will likely result in a denial since the creditor can’t see your credit history. However, if you know you are about to apply for credit, you can unfreeze your credit report temporarily. Conversely, if you feel you won’t be applying for credit anytime soon, this action is probably the more conservative approach compared to the alert although it is not foolproof. To implement a credit freeze, you have to freeze your credit with all three agencies.
As promised, the contact for the three credit reporting agencies is as follows:
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Experian 888.397.3742 www.Experian.com
TransUnion 800.916.8800 www.TransUnion.com
Equifax 888.298.0045 www.Equifax.com
There is a third course of action that is worth considering. There are private services who provide credit monitoring and/or protection. Some may have a cost involved but a quick search online will show you there are several options for you to consider if you choose to go that route. In fact, if your information has been compromised, the company whose data was breached may offer to provide you such a service free for a period of time. It’s worth thinking about.
Although this most recent breach is a nuisance, the fact is that it is part of the data-driven world we live in today. Your credit history has real value in the open market and people all over the world are literally trying to steal it every day. But, by implementing some of these strategies, you can minimize your chances of fraud. Let me add this…this information is not all-inclusive. If you feel you need help or have been compromised, please consult someone you trust such as law enforcement, your banker, a CPA or attorney. The information contained herein is based on my personal opinions and research and should not be considered as expert information or information provided by Volunteer State Bank.