Credit

Updated: September 10th, 2017 by Kara Downing, CFP®

Back in 2017, one of the three largest credit reporting bureaus, Equifax, was hacked. The breach lasted more than a month, from mid-May until July and hackers gained access to names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and even some driver’s license numbers of 143 million Americans—or nearly 50% of the country. Credit card numbers for 209,000 consumers were stolen, while documents with personal information used in disputes for 182,000 people were also taken. The breach was not reported to the public until early September.

If you have a credit report, as most of us do, your data was likely exposed. Here are some steps you can take to determine whether your information was compromised and what you can do about it: