What is the cost of identity theft on an annual basis?

It appears to only affect credit cards? But the credit card companies limit liability for fraud so maybe that's why there isn't a huge uproar?

Not enough people are being bankrupted by these kinds of breaches?

It's not just credit that could be an issue. For example: http://www.idtheftcenter.org/Identit...ocent-man.html

For how long and why?

1. The breach occurred a couple months ago (even if it just got in the news).

2. People are complaining left and right (both here and even on the news) that the free compensation from Equifax only lasts a year but the data may be used years from now.

So I don't understand, either you take a pause for many years, or you don't take a pause at all.

What's the point of taking a short pause when the data is going to be out there "forever"? :confused:

Wouldn't this require a face to face meeting to sign papers , etc as well as an ID ? Seems like quite the risk compared to getting 100 or so fake credit cards and jacking up $10K in charges on each card from behind a monitor possibly in a different country.

A simple internet search will confirm that mortgage and HELOC fraud are not figments of my imagination.

There is all sorts of mortgage fraud, simply inflating your income is fraud.

Typically to get a mortgage you are going to need some $$ down and years of income history. Most ecrow deposits ( to place an offer) are done by personal check. If somebody has all your info including where you work, a checkbook and access to provide official documentation of your income history chances are you know that person pretty well.............For a refi you will need the income verification plus you better pick a house with some equity, not all that common these days.

I wonder how many cases had a banker in on the deal ?

I'm not saying it has never happened but credit card fraud is FAR more likely.

Even if 10000 individuals of questionable moral character try to use 10 identities each this still only has 0.1% chance of impacting a particular person. And even then this can be sorted out after some headaches.
I can live with that - no need to lose sleep or freeze anything...
As a matter of fact from standpoint of impact on a particular person the bigger the breach, the better...

You would also think the lenders are more on guard.

BTW, Equifax is waiving credit freeze fees until November 21: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/12/y...iver.html?_r=0

How magnanimous of them. I'm whelmed.

I froze my credit with Equifax for now. I'll evaluate what I want to do before their "waiving of fees" ends in a couple of months in regards to freezing at the other bureaus. I love to churn, but I'm on hold for a possible mortgage next year anyway, and worst case scenario is I have to deal with ID theft right when I want to move.

Churning has been awesome. But many of the "good" bonuses I can't get for another year or so anyway, and I have enough spending thresholds or targeted spending bonuses on my existing cards to keep me occupied.

I locked my Innovis credit report this morning; I'm holding off on the other three until I'm fully signed up for TrustedID. Why the latter requires waiting hours/days for an email is beyond me.

I also printed their current Terms of Use in case they try to go back on the arbitration thing. :rolleyes:

What identity theft can be like....
 

Just got this in my email today -

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...bloombergdaily

I grabbed a Discover card, they have a service that tells you if your SS # was used

From here:

Based on that, wouldn't it be fairly straightforward for someone to make a convincing enough fake ID to convince the credit bureaus to reset one's PINs?

It gets better.

Just log in with admin/admin and it's all in clear text. Up until earlier today, that is.

Ayuda! (Help!) Equifax Has My Data!

That's a BALLSY move to go face to face with a banker as you try to steal an ID. You could easily be caught and you are on camera the entire time.

I have to wonder ( especially since we know how Fargo operates) if the banker wasn't also in on the scam.

I wouldn't rely on that alone. Discover only lets you know when an account is opened and not when an inquiry is made. You could end up receiving notice of a new account a month after the account was created (they normally show up in your report when the first statement is cut).

Better than nothing IMO unless you plan on permanently freezing your credit.

They also let you know if they find your SSN on the "dark web". But obviously only in the places they know how to look, it's unclear if they know all of the places on the "dark web" to look.

So, when I freeze all 3 bureaus, and then want to apply for a new credit card, do I need to un-freeze all 3? Or will 1 suffice?

It depends on the issuer. Most only check one bureau but there are exceptions (Capital One, for example, pulls all three.)

OK, but if I only un-freeze one, will the card issuer check THAT bureau? Or is it an unknown which they will check, so one needs to un-freeze all three to be sure? Or does each issuer (Chase, Citi, Barclay, etc) has their own 'favorite' so if I know which bureau each prefers, I only need to un-freeze that one? If that is true, we should add that info to the wiki :)

Equifax stock plummeted another $18 today after last week's $20 drop. If the company isn't going out of business, they've at least lost an enormous share of their support from investors over the last week or so.

I was able to finally "enroll" in their credit monitoring services; however, they said to wait for an e-mail to finishing enrolling... I signed up early yesterday morning and haven't even received the e-mail yet. Why the need to take so long?

They seem to have their own favorite based on the state you're in. Doctor of Credit has a post series that collects that info for the major issuers.

The dark web scan Discover provides is intriguing, but I already froze my Equifax report and don't feel like unfreezing...and according to DoC, they won't approve you with a frozen report.

I guess anything is better than nothing, but I just wanted to highlight that what Discover offers has a huge gap as it doesn't notify you about inquiries. Another good example of where knowing about inquiries is important is cellphone plan purchases. While most cellphone companies run your credit to open new lines and sell you a device at the store, those accounts don't end up showing in your CR. You only find out when the bills start showing up.

When I opened my Verizon account I was asked a series of questions very few people would know the answer ( one answer was none ) about where I was born, brothers and sisters, car loans I may have had , mortgages, credit cards , etc that I may have had at one time.

A person with my basic info could never answer those correclty

I also had similar questions for my last Barclay card

Still no email from Equifax. Maybe I should give up on their free monitoring and just lock my reports now. :rolleyes:

One of my Chase cards was used for 13 charges on steamgames.com. All occurring within 5 minutes.

Card cancelled.

That could be random and not related to the Equifax breach. Several years ago my husband's Chase ATM card, which was in the drawer and NEVER used, was used somewhere - I think South America. I've had 2 different Chase cards used in Brazil for small amounts - picked up by Chase fraud department. We've never been to South America....you have to wonder how that happens.

We also had an Amex card used in Colombia...mostly fast food restaurants, small purchases. We also had never been there. Amex said they often try small purchases first before revving up for a big hit.

It's like Whack-a-Mole - you can protect yourself on one front, and then another breach pops up.

Very little $$$ for you
 

Interesting article at Market Watch, via Morningstar: http://www.morningstar.com/news/mark...pensation.html Class action suit, if successful, might get you enough $$$ for a lunch or dinner.

A better result of the class action suit would be that Equifax is required to provide credit monitoring for the lifetime of the affected person, as well as unlimited locking and unlocking of credit reporting at every credit reporting entity. My opinion, of course.

Now read this
 

Just hit my email -

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...bloombergdaily

Sale of identity (extensive info including mother's maiden name), credit card info on the Dark Web - super cheap, worldwide, including high value / high limit cards and business cards. Unnerving, to put it mildly.

I'm tired of waiting for Equifax; I just froze all three major bureaus today as well as ChexSystems. (I froze Innovis a couple days ago.) According to the CFPB there are a ton of other companies that report stuff; is it worth going down the list and freezing those that have that option?

In my opinion you're good. I'm definitely way more cautious than the "I have a CreditKarma account and I'll just monitor that" crowd and I only froze the Big Three (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.)

What will be interesting to see is if banks start moving away from Equifax and embracing Innovis.

I guess (to come finding out) i am somewhat naive to credit monitoring. What is the difference with the " I have Credit Karma..." to other options? And better due diligence?

I belong to Amex's Creditsecure for many years. Pull the 3 Credit Report at least once a month, have alerts set up. Plus I use Mint (mostly for budgetary but also can spot any unathourized transactions ) and review all my CC transactions and investments daily.

So I am unsure if that is enough or not.

I requested my Innovis credit report because I'm kinda curious as to what's on it. I didn't think any of the major issuers reported to them but I could be wrong on that.

I think many folks are taking the Equifax hack much too nonchalantly. I've seen many, many people saying "Ill just monitor my credit report, no problem."

The problem with that is identity theft is not limited to credit cards. If someone opens a payday loan with your SSN in - say - Vermillion, SD, you won't know until after the fact. Then you'll have to prove you didn't take that loan. If someone commits a crime and gives your identity, it's on you to prove it wasn't you.

Some seem to think they can just call and say "that wasn't me". Good luck with that. The onus will be on you to prove it wasn't you. The loan company isn't going to just take your word for it. The police won't take your word for it. The collection agency calls won't stop either.

I'm sure others will be posting to call me paranoid but identity theft is not an easy thing to disprove and requires a lot of resources to overcome.