Equifax, one of the three major credit reporting agencies, recently announced a security breach that compromised personal information of up to 143 million people. There is a good chance that your information, such as your Social Security number, birth date, address, and driver’s license number was compromised.
Equifax Website
You can visit www.equifaxsecurity2017.com to determine if Equifax thinks your personal information has been compromised. Several of our advisors have tested the site, and we are not confident that it is completely accurate. Chances are your information has been compromised or will be in the future.
Suggested Steps to Protect Your Credit
A fraudster with your personal information may be able to access your accounts or open a credit line in your name. The following steps can help prevent fraud:
- Change your passwords to online accounts. We recommend passwords as random as possible.
- Enable all alerts (emails/SMS text messages) associated with any activity on your accounts.
- Consider a credit monitoring service such as LifeLock or Identity Theft Fraud Solutions.
- Freeze your credit.
While credit monitoring is helpful, we recommend that you freeze your credit or at least enroll in a “credit report lock” service for each of the credit agencies. These services may not be free, but may be worth the nominal expense.
- Equifax | 1-800-685-1111 | www.freeze.equifax.com
- Experian | 1-888-397-3742 | www.experian.com/freeze/
center.html - TransUnion | 1-888-909-8872 | www.transunion.com/
securityfreeze
Scam Alert – Equifax isn’t calling
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a warning about potential scams following the Equifax breach. Imposters claiming to be calling from Equifax are tricking consumers into providing their personal information. Equifax will not call you out of the blue.
For more information, see the FTC alert: Equifax Isn’t Calling
Your Accounts at RCG
Resource Consulting Group has internal procedures in place to safeguard your information. We also conduct ongoing intrusion testing to check our systems.
Your investments receive additional protection from the custodian who holds your assets. All custodians guarantee complete coverage of any assets compromised by fraudulent activity. See links below for additional information.
Finally
Security breaches are becoming more frequent during a time when we have even more personal information available online. You may have interest in reading two articles that we’ve authored in past:
The safety of your personal information is of paramount importance to us. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact your advisor.
