At this point, most New York consumers are familiar with the massive Equifax data breach of 2017. This event – one of the largest security hacks of its kind – exposed Social Security numbers and other personal data belonging to 143 million U.S. consumers. Then, after this news went public, there was a steady drip of potentially incriminating information about Equifax from the media. Most recently, important sources revealed that the major credit bureau purchased a for-profit identity protection firm about two weeks after finding out about the data breach. Of course, this may be just a really big coincidence, but it certainly does NOT look good for Equifax.
A Review of Information for New Yorkers Affected by the Equifax Data Breach
Numerous individuals and organizations (Including New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman) are currently suing or investigating Equifax. In addition to the data breach itself, here are a few other suspicions findings.
- Everyone now knows that Equifax knew about the hack for a month before revealing it to the public.
- Three Equifax executives sold off their shares in the company after the breach happened, but before it was announced to the public.
- The year of free credit monitoring offered by Equifax in the wake of the hack originally included an arbitration agreement. So, by signing up for the service, enrollees forfeited their rights to sue the credit bureau privately or join a class action suit. This arbitration clause was later removed.
- One of the top identity theft protection services, LifeLock, has experienced an enrollment surge in the wake of the Equifax hack. LifeLock, it turns out, purchases credit report information from Equifax.
All of this, naturally, makes the latest revelation about Equifax seem even more dubious. Sure, maybe ID Watchdog was a planned acquisition. However, it looks bad. It looks very, very bad. Now, through this paid identity theft protection service, Equifax stands to profit from its own mistake. It makes sense that a lot of New Yorkers, including the Attorney General, are calling FOUL.
One Way that New York Consumers Can Protect Themselves Against the Credit Bureaus
The Equifax data breach has made a lot of New York consumers think twice about trusting the credit bureaus. After all, this isn’t the first significant hack for Equifax, and Experian and TransUnion have recently been under fire for deceptive practices.
Unfortunately, consumers can’t control the actions of the credit reporting agencies. Yet, they can protect their credit reports from their mistakes. Sadly, about 80% of New York credit reports are flawed in some way because creditors and the credit bureaus mishandle consumer information. In addition, many of these inaccuracies are harmful to credit scores.
Luckily, New York residents can fight back by regularly checking their credit reports. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) entitles consumers to accurate credit reports, but you must find the errors yourself. Monitoring your credit reports also gives you an opportunity to look for signs of identity theft.
If you find errors, fraudulent accounts, or bogus transactions on your credit reports, call Credit Repair Lawyers of America in New York. We will connect you with an experienced credit attorney who will clean up your credit reports for FREE. If you’re not sure about whether or not your credit reports contain errors, request copies from TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian at www.annualcreditreport.com. Then, contact our firm, and our credit pros will give you an absolutely free Credit Report Review.
The Free and Legal Way to Get Better Credit in New York
Don’t let identity theft damage or errors on your credit reports bring your credit score down. At Credit Repair Lawyers of America, we’ve been cleaning up credit reports for consumers since 2008 for free. How do we do it? All of our fees come from the defendants in settled cases. This is why our clients pay nothing for the work we do.
Let’s start the conversation about what we can do for your credit. Set up your free consultation today by calling Attorney Carl Schwartz at (646) 859-3045 or sending him a message through our contact page.
For more information about Free Credit Repair, please visit https://creditrepairlawyersam.com/credit-repair-free/. Or, to learn about Free Credit Repair After Identity Theft, check out https://creditrepairlawyersam.com/fixing-identity-theft/.
