Just in case you hadn't heard, Equifax, one of the credit rating companies, recently had their system hacked and personal information for about 143,000,000 people, nearly half this country's population, was stolen.

Equifax is offering free identity theft protection to consumers.

Here's the link for further information about this situation:

https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/

It really is important that you look into this. The bad guys get your name, social security number, date of birth, driver's license number and those of your spouse all in one place. And I'd be curious to know if there's anyone here who is NOT a victim of this breach. Ever take out a bank loan to buy a house, or a car? You're probably at risk.

Yes, go here:
https://trustedidpremier.com/eligibilit ... ility.html
Enter the required information, and they'll tell you immediately if you were impacted by this. Fortunately, I was not. It actually impacted "only" about 120,000 people, not every one of the 143 million people who have dealt with Equifax, so it's likely that most of us were not affected, luckily.

I do find it a bit funny that I'm supposed to entrust them with my social security number (last 6 digits only) and last name on this site, but that's the way it goes. No other way to check your identity and risk.

FYI, if you use Equifax's site to see if your data was stolen, you *waive your rights* to sue Equifax or be part of a class action suit.

https://twitter.com/zackwhittaker/statu ... service%2F

Just another unbelievable breach of trust from a company we have all been forced to trust with no choice in the matter. Goes hand in hand with several company officers selling large amounts of their stock between the time the hack was discovered and the time the hack was made public.

Yeah, saw that. Bastards.

I'm affected. My wife is affected. Not my parents, though.

But riddle me this: Should I feel right about taking them up on their one-year ID theft protection offer?

The worst part of all that is consumers have absolutely no say in whether or not these companies get our information.

That is being fought in courts right now in NY and should be removed (I can't see how it could stand, it's insane)

I believe from what I read last night that it is an independent company. I would definitely be looking into some sort of ID theft protection if I was affected (I was not).
I'd also look at locking down opening credit - can be done with all three, I think they do it for six months -though it is a pita if you do need to open lines of credit.