Equifax Hack and Protecting Your Privacy and Help

Hi All,

As you might have heard by now, Equifax got hacked in late July 2017.  It was only a few days ago that they revealed that the company got hacked. Click on the following bunch of articles and links (10 of them in fact!) from various sources to learn more about the data breach.  Hope this helps!

Regards,
Stu

FTC - Equifax Data Breach: What to Do?

Get Your Annual - Free - Credit Report

FTC - Consider Placing a Credit Freeze on Your  Credit Report

FTC - All About Credit Scores 

USAToday - How to Freeze Your Credit? 

CBS News - video - How to Protect Yourself Against the Equifax Credit Breach

NYTimes -  Equifax's Instructions Are Confusing. Here's What to Do Now.

NYTimes -  After Equifax Breach - Here's Your Next Worry: Weak PINs

NYTimes - Equifax - Bowing to Public Pressure, Drops Credit Freeze Fees

NYTimes - Equifax Hack Exposes Regulatory Gaps, Leaving Consumers Vulnerable

Hi All,

So by now you probably know the importance of getting your free credit report once a year.  If not, click on this link which will explain why getting a credit report is important - and its even better when its free! This link is from USA Today and also explains why a credit report is important.

How do you get a free credit report you ask? Great question and here's the answer - click on this link from Annual CreditReport.com.


AnnualCreditReport.com is the official site to get your free annual credit reports.  AnnualCreditReport.com is sponsored by Equifax, Experian and TransUnion - which means that you have a single site where you can ask for all three of your free credit reports.

Enjoy the links and next time I'll blog about why credit scores are important and what the actual numbers (scores) mean.

Regards,
Stu

Credit Reports

Hi All,

You've probably heard about something called a 'credit score' in the news lately.  Click here for a fairly recent article about credit scores. (Specifically the big three credit reporting agencies are overhauling their credit reporting practices.)

But what exactly does a credit score do for you?  Interestingly enough, this next article is from Wikipedia - and gives you a good summary of what is, and what is not, a credit score. 

This next link is from myFICO.com and has a section about credit scores.  What makes a good credit score you ask?  Read on!  Credit.com has a good summary of the credit score ranges for various credit agencies.

Note that there are 3 different major companies that generate credit reports: Experian, TransUnion  and Equifax.

How can you get a free copy of your credit report you ask? Great question - click on this link to a get a copy of your credit report.

Readers might want to click on this next link which is from Bankrate.com - an unbiased source for information related to mortgages, bank rates, credit cards, insurance, investments, taxes, retirement, financial planning and much more - titled 'How to Read a Credit Report'.  

You might want to click on this link from the FTC.gov which discusses credit reports in more detail. 

Finally, the library has 9 books on the topic of consumer credit.  Click on this link to see those titles that we have in the library. 

Hope this helps you get a credit score that you need or want or deserve!

Regards,
Stu

Free Credit Reports

Hi All,

You probably have heard about credit reports and how they can affect the various interest rates that you can receive when you buy a house or a car...

There is a lot more than meets the eye when it comes to credit reports.  Click on this link from the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) that discusses 'free credit reports'. 

Believe it or not, free credit reports do exist.

Click on this link - also from the FTC - that discusses ways to increase your credit score.  The basic rule of thumb is that the higher your credit score, the lower the rates will be when you purchase a house or lease a car.

Click on this link that goes into a lot of detail about the actual meaning of your credit score.   The article is from Debt.org...

Finally, click on this link to go to the Wikipedia entry for 'Credit Scores'. It has links, definitions and more information. 

Click on these links to go to each specific credit score company's website:

TransUnion
Experian
Equifax

Hope these links help you get a better credit score and help you understand your credit score.

Regards,
Stu