Image: photos.com credit score

Sept 8 2017 – Kevin Yaworski

Over 200k US credit files with Equifax accessed by hackers. An undisclosed number of Canadians affected.

Here is some info and links to learn more, check if your credit report has been hacked, freeze it if needed and enroll in free or paid credit monitoring.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/household-finances/what-to-do-if-you-fear-your-credit-report-has-been-hacked/article36214718/

https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/

https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/potential-impact/

General info

There is three main credit reporting agencies in Canada and the US. Equifax is the largest and Transunion is one of the another two.

Your lender decides which one they report your credit status to. They are each required to provide you a free copy of your report if you request it. They will send by post or you can pay to access “securely” electronically but in this case Equifax is offering this service for free for at least US customers as a result of the breaches to help restore confidence.

Like any confidential information make sure you take precautions when storing it. Consider locked cabinet, pswd protected computer and files, drive encyption etc… Follow other security recommendation with routers, wifi, devices etc…

For more info see my blog post about protecting your computers and devices …