Your 5-min Guide to Protecting Yourself From The Equifax Breach

What this means to you Friend, by now you have probably heard that over 100 million people had their info stolen in the Equifax breach. We hear about these hacks all the time, but this one is different. Since they got so much sensitive info about us each, in theory the bad guys (buying this info on the black market) can open a credit card in your name, go max it out, and then you get the bill in the mail. Not fun - right? Find out if your info was stolen You can just go here to see if your info was likely compromised. After you enter in a little info you might get a message like this (like I did):

Personally, I wouldn't click the enroll button and sign up for ID Theft insurance via them... This isn 't the first time they failed to keep our info safe and I would prefer to look elsewhere (other options below). What to do if you have been compromised If you get the same message that I did above, then your SSN, Drivers Lic Number, and other info is likely in the hands of some bad guys. I am new to this myself, but from the research I have done it seems like getting a Credit Freeze at each of the 3 credit reporting agencies is the smartest thing we can do. And all the credit reporting experts are saying this is strongly recommended for everyone who has had their info compromised. A credit freeze should prevent the bad guys from being able to do much damage by not allowing anyone to take out credit in your name. But this applies to you as well, so if you are trying to get a home or car loan, you need to keep that in mind. Read more about Credit Freezes here. What I did This morning I went to all 3 credit bureaus and put a freeze on my credit with each... It took me about 15 minutes to complete and cost me $15 total (yes 2 of them charge for this unfortunately) Here are the links to each of them for convenience: Equifax Transunion (had to create an acct first) Experian I am not going to lie, entering personal info in order to create the freeze was a little un-nerving. But all things considered, I think it is the safest move. Identity Theft Insurance I had considered ID theft insurance for years, but this was the straw that broke the camels back for me. I decided to pull the trigger and get it today. I have heard too many nightmare stories of people spending dozens and dozens of hours over months trying to get ID theft issues resolved and I just don't have the time (or patience) for that. It cost me about $10/month, but in this day in age, that is well worth it for me. Lifelock is one of the biggest identity theft insurance providers out there. Zander offers it too, and I am sure many others as well.

Hope this helps I wasn't planning on writing about this, because so many others are talking about it, but this is just too important not to mention. So, I hope it helps you and feel free to pass along and share with anyone who needs it. And if you want more info, check out these 16 ways to protect yourself from ID theft and online fraud. Stay safe out there! Bob SeedTime.com

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