{"id":3830,"date":"2017-09-13T07:00:57","date_gmt":"2017-09-13T12:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nybankruptcy.net\/main\/?p=3830"},"modified":"2018-08-08T01:36:19","modified_gmt":"2018-08-08T01:36:19","slug":"equifax-breach-can-protect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nybankruptcy.net\/main\/equifax-breach-can-protect\/","title":{"rendered":"The Equifax Breach: What You Can Do to Protect Yourself"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’re reading this post then chances are you are “potentially affected” by the data breach of Equifax, one of the three major credit-reporting bureaus. It’s probably the largest such breach in U.S. history. Equifax gathers and maintains all the personally identifiable financial information that a thief could want: people’s names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and financial information. Thieves could use this information to start new lines of credit in your name and then ruin you financially. Worse, they can even engage in criminal conduct like applying for a driver’s license and then being charged in your name.<\/p>\n

Sometimes data breaches can force debtors into situations they can only resolve by filing New York bankruptcy. Because of the potential\u2014there’s that word again\u2014severity of the Equifax breach, here are a few things to be aware of.<\/p>\n

(1) \u00a0At this point, it’s probably not worth<\/i> checking Equifax’s Web site to see if your information was affected. The Web site is here, in any case, but if you’re an everyday American (or even a non-everyday American) then Equifax will probably tell you the same thing: You’re potentially affected. In fact a New York Times<\/i> reporter put in a fake name with a fake Social Security number and was told she was potentially affected. Surely the Web site has been fixed since then, but ultimately Equifax has no idea how much of its databases were compromised or how much was stolen.<\/p>\n

(2) \u00a0There are compelling reasons to not<\/i> sign up for Equifax’s offer for one year of free credit protection. For one, you will probably sign an agreement that waives your right to participate in a class-action lawsuit against Equifax for negligently maintaining your information. Instead you’ll be forced to deal with all disputes in arbitration.<\/p>\n

(3) \u00a0For another, the free protection probably won’t do much. You’ll mostly just receive regular email alerts that your credit score went up or down trivially. Moreover, the thieves could simply sit on the information for a year and then sell it later. Finally, once the year is up, Equifax will probably roll participants into its regular non-free service without much warning. Why should only the thieves profit from a data breach?<\/p>\n

(4) \u00a0One way to help yourself is by obtaining a credit report from annualcreditreport.com<\/a>. Consumers can do this three times per year every 12 months for free, once each from the three big credit-reporting agencies. By regularly collecting your credit report, you can see any discrepancies, incorrect information, financial dealings you did not engage in, and even fraudulent bankruptcy filings. The sooner you have a credit report, the sooner you can establish a baseline for what your credit should look like. You can also report errors more easily thanks to a settlement between the State of New York and the credit-reporting bureaus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(5) \u00a0Remember: Your credit information isn’t your bank. The information the thieves took is highly sensitive, but it’s not the same as if they’d obtained your banking information. True, some credit card information may have been stolen, but the point is that it’s unlikely that these thieves can use the information to steal what you already have. Rather, they can engage in financial (or criminal) mayhem using your identity, so watching your bank accounts alone will not tell you if something’s wrong until you start receiving collection notices. That’s why it’s important to look at the credit report.<\/p>\n

Identity theft should not lead to bankruptcy but in some situations it does. For more information on how to resolve identity theft, take a look at the Federal Trade Commission’s identitytheft.gov<\/a> Web site or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s identity-theft site<\/a>. If your financial situation has deteriorated due to an identity theft, then consulting with an experienced New York bankruptcy lawyer can help you strategize your options.<\/p>\n

For answers to more questions about bankruptcy, the automatic stay, effective strategies for dealing with foreclosure, and protecting your assets in bankruptcy please feel free to contact experienced Brooklyn bankruptcy attorney Bruce Weiner for a free initial consultation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you’re reading this post then chances are you are “potentially affected” by the data breach of Equifax, one of the three major credit-reporting bureaus. It’s probably the largest such breach in U.S. history. Equifax gathers and maintains all the personally identifiable financial information that a thief could want: people’s names, addresses, Social Security numbers, …<\/p>\n

The Equifax Breach: What You Can Do to Protect Yourself<\/span> Read More \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[2,56,51,52],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Equifax Breach: What You Can Do to Protect Yourself -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you're reading this post then chances are you are "potentially affected" by the data breach 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