In an effort to rebuild consumer trust, Equifax will offer a new, free service starting at the end of January, 2018. From this point forward, consumers in Florida and every other state can lock and unlock their Equifax credit report as many times as they like – for life. This type of service is more user-friendly than credit freezes because it is faster and offers easier consumer access. Interestingly enough, though, TransUnion has offered its own free credit report locking and unlocking service – TrueIdentity – for a while. It is unclear yet as to how far this gesture will go toward pacifying angry consumers and lawmakers. Also, while it will help, free credit locks won’t fix all of the damage done by the Equifax data breach of 2017.
Why Free Credit Locks are Not Enough to Fully Protect Florida Consumers Against Identity Theft in the Wake of the Equifax Data Breach
Locking access to your Equifax credit report should deter some would-be identity thieves from opening fraudulent accounts in your name. However, Florida consumers must also consider their credit reports from TransUnion and Experian. As mentioned, TransUnion offers free credit locks through its TrueIdentity service. After signing up for TrueIdentity, Florida consumers can lock and unlock their TransUnion credit report. To do this, they can either go online or use an app. Experian, on the other hand, does not offer free credit locks.
Florida residents must also remember that along with Social Security and driver’s license numbers, hackers stole credit card numbers in the Equifax data breach. Sure, credit freezes and locks can prevent identity thieves from opening bogus accounts. Yet, these actions won’t stop them from running fraudulent transactions through your existing credit cards. This is why Florida consumers who take advantage of these free credit locks should still take additional measures.
For interested Florida consumers, Equifax now offers one year of its TrustedID Premier credit monitoring service. There are also paid identity theft protection services available from TransUnion, Experian, and various other companies like LifeLock and Credit Sesame. Of course, checking your credit reports every 12 months is a good way to catch suspicious credit activity.
Why Florida Consumers Should Check their Credit Reports in the Wake of the Equifax Data Breach
The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) entitles consumers to one free copy of their credit report from each of the major credit bureaus every 12 months. Also, the easiest way to request all three at once is to visit www.annualcreditreport.com.
While looking over their credit reports, Florida consumers should check for fraudulent accounts and bogus transactions. At the same time, they should look for errors caused by creditors and the credit reporting bureaus. These types of mistakes are not at all uncommon on credit reports. And many of them are harmful to credit scores.
If you find suspicious items or inaccuracies on any of your credit reports, contact Credit Repair Lawyers of America in Florida. Our firm offers free credit repair to consumers with identity theft damage or errors on their credit reports. We don’t think that you should have to deal with credit dispute process on your own. So, we will provide you with an experienced credit attorney to handle everything for you – at absolutely no cost.
The Free and Legal Way to Get Better Credit
Don’t let fraudulent accounts 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 Gary Nitzkin at (855) 956-2089 or sending him a message through our contact page.
For more information about Free Credit Repair, please visit https://creditrepairlawyersam.com/florida/credit-repair/. Or, to learn more about Free Credit Repair After Identity Theft, check out https://creditrepairlawyersam.com/florida/fix-identity-theft/.
