A report just came across the news wires – another “major data breach.” More than 16 billion records leaked. “Unimaginable,” the headline said.
That number of records stolen does sound alarmingly high. But the reality is that a lot of information about most people is probably “out there” and probably has been for a while.
People have become accustomed to data breaches. Some wonder what they can do about it anyway. Good question!
Freezing your credit reports is one thing you can do to substantially protect yourself and your family from hacked information about you being used against you. If you haven’t already frozen your credit reports with the three credit reporting agencies, please freeze them now.
The credit reporting agencies – Equifax, Experian and Transunion – have all made it very easy to freeze your credit report with them in a few minutes online. As Transunion says, “It’s the best way to help prevent new accounts from being opened in your name. It’s absolutely free to freeze or temporarily lift a freeze, and it won’t affect your credit score.”
This is a “door” you can lock and locking it will help keep you from being the victim of identity theft – getting letters regarding new accounts opened in your name which you know nothing about because they were opened by data breach hackers.
Our President & CEO Nick Maffeo also recently wrote about the importance of freezing your credit reports in his Smart About Money column in the Canton Citizen.
Help older relatives and young adult family members freeze their credit reports too. If you have any questions, come see us or call 781-828-8811 x5.