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Thread: Equifax leak?

  1. #51
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Jp1, it is nteresting that you sell insurance against this type of thing.

  2. #52
    Williamsmith
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    Well, apparently the rest of the country is still sleeping or hungover so my early morning query at annualcreditreport went through without a hitch. At least I could verify my credit report and document a baseline for any issues down the road.

    Now I have to decide if I want to try the freeze. Hmm.

  3. #53
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    Quote Originally Posted by Williamsmith View Post
    hard copy by snail mail.....and a credit report freeze. Certified mail, return receipt .
    Quote Originally Posted by Williamsmith View Post

    Now I have to decide if I want to try the freeze. Hmm.
    Personally, I would still use the old fashioned certified return receipt (must respond within x number of days) thing. (skip all that EULA pile)

  4. #54
    Williamsmith
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    Well, if I didn't have a family or a longstanding partnership....I wouldn't concern myself in the least. I would just disappear in the mountains of Vermont or New Hampshire and give my financial advisor my post office box to communicate in case my pension check failed to show at the end of every month. Past that, I don't need any part of the consumer culture.

  5. #55
    Senior Member jp1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by iris lilies View Post
    Jp1, it is nteresting that you sell insurance against this type of thing.
    I think so too! I got into this area when we moved to CA 8 years ago. It has definitely worked out to be a good career move for me and the rapidness with which the market is growing and coverage issues change keep things interesting. Our current base policy form is less than 4 years old, but every policy we quote today has probably 20 enhancement endorsements added to it because clients and their insurance brokers are insisting on policies that are that much broader.

    My take on the Equifax breach is that the criminals are probably playing a long game with the information. Unlike credit card data which rapidly becomes worthless after a breach becomes public knowledge, the info they've stolen here won't lose value over time. As such I doubt they're doing anything with it now. Everyone is aware of what's up, getting credit monitoring, putting credit freezes in place, etc. But a couple years from now the credit monitoring will have ended and lots of people who initially put freezes on will have gotten tired of the hassle/expense of having to remove the freeze everytime they want to open new credit or even do something as basic as sign up with a new cell phone carrier and will unfreeze their accounts and just not re-freeze them. That's when all these SSN's will start hitting the black market. Personally I plan to pull my credit reports (it's been about 1 1/2 years since I last did this) and put freezes at the big three bureaus, but I don't see urgency to do it now. I'll wait a week or two or three until the hubbub has died down and everyone's sites are working smoothly and then I'll take care of it.

  6. #56
    Senior Member gimmethesimplelife's Avatar
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    Does anyone other than me find it creepy that this breach makes 143 million or so Americans vulnerable to identity theft the remainder of their lives? This is like having diabetes or HIV or Parkinson's - no cures known but the disease is managed as best as possible. I'm seeing freezing my credit in this way - managing a disease as best as possible. Rob

  7. #57
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    Quote Originally Posted by jp1 View Post
    My take on the Equifax breach is that the criminals are probably playing a long game with the information. Unlike credit card data which rapidly becomes worthless after a breach becomes public knowledge, the info they've stolen here won't lose value over time.
    The benefits to them are probably multiple.
    All the current financial/credit data, they have had time to sell and make money from. Probably could use some algorithm to determine financial payback (who is worth more for financial, or who is worth more for identity for say, medical fraud), etc. Bang for the buck verse chance of being caught/prosecuted. (another reason not to go public right away. Work with Fed's and try to trace the info)
    I would expect that some dead person's ID, could/would be used as a tracker/bait.

  8. #58
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    Quote Originally Posted by gimmethesimplelife View Post
    Does anyone other than me find it creepy that this breach makes 143 million or so Americans vulnerable to identity theft the remainder of their lives? Rob
    100% of us are vulnerable to identity theft for the remainder of our lives, not just the percentage of us that 143 million makes.

  9. #59
    Senior Member jp1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by gimmethesimplelife View Post
    Does anyone other than me find it creepy that this breach makes 143 million or so Americans vulnerable to identity theft the remainder of their lives? This is like having diabetes or HIV or Parkinson's - no cures known but the disease is managed as best as possible. I'm seeing freezing my credit in this way - managing a disease as best as possible. Rob
    A more accurate statement would be "Does anyone other than me find it creepy that this breach HAS MADE 143 million of us victims of identity theft, for which we will suffer consequences for the rest of our lives?"

    Previously I'd contemplated doing credit freezes. However, to my knowledge my SSN had not been stolen and therefore the hassles outweighed the benefits. That has changed now and I will be putting freezes on all 3 bureaus that they will have to pull from my cold dead hands. The credit bureaus make the freeze process a costly hassle because, frankly, it screws up their business model if lots of people have freezes. What SHOULD happen, but almost certainly won't, is that congress should pass a law freezing everyone's credit and enabling us to pick and choose who we want the credit bureaus to release information to at no cost to the individual.

  10. #60
    Williamsmith
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    Quote Originally Posted by jp1 View Post
    A more accurate statement would be "Does anyone other than me find it creepy that this breach HAS MADE 143 million of us victims of identity theft, for which we will suffer consequences for the rest of our lives?"

    Previously I'd contemplated doing credit freezes. However, to my knowledge my SSN had not been stolen and therefore the hassles outweighed the benefits. That has changed now and I will be putting freezes on all 3 bureaus that they will have to pull from my cold dead hands. The credit bureaus make the freeze process a costly hassle because, frankly, it screws up their business model if lots of people have freezes. What SHOULD happen, but almost certainly won't, is that congress should pass a law freezing everyone's credit and enabling us to pick and choose who we want the credit bureaus to release information to at no cost to the individual.
    +1

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