Should I be worried about the EquiFax data breach, what should I do about it?
I see they created a site called: www.equifaxsecurity2017.com where you can see if you're affected, but after I entered my information, it just gives me a date where I can sign up for their identity theft program through TrustedId or something like that.
Is this just a ploy (not really, but you see where I'm going) to get more people to sign up for their service? Is there something else that I/we can do without basically giving them more money for their own f* up? If you signup for TrustedId you can no longer sue them or be part of a class action suit https://trustedidpremier.com/static/terms "PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE SECTION CAREFULLY BECAUSE IT AFFECTS YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS BY REQUIRING ARBITRATION OF DISPUTES (EXCEPT AS SET FORTH BELOW) AND A WAIVER OF THE ABILITY TO BRING OR PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION, CLASS ARBITRATION, OR OTHER REPRESENTATIVE ACTION." via https://twitter.com/Ondores_Lies/status/906152499303911425 LMFAO Good luck trying to get that to hold in a court of law when the identities of roughly half of America is on the line. Remember guys, legalize has absolutely no power until a judge decides it does. That being said, I'm personally not signing up for it. How much does this matter? If a class action suit is filed, does the potential winnings outweigh any value TrustedID brings? The r/personalfinance thread advised to put a 90 day fraud alert on your credit report. If you do this for 1 credit company, they have to tell the others. Here is TransUnion's form to put a fraud alert on your account. https://fraud.transunion.com/fa/fraudAlert/landingPage.jsp Now I'm getting really worried. What's a good identity theft company/product that I should sign up for to handle any potential repercussions from this? Would any of those [potential companies/products] have a clause where they WOULDN'T cover any problems because of known data breaches prior to signing up for their service? When I followed the links they provide to those affected, I went into an infinite loop of sales pitches for - get this - advanced security packages. I thought CAPTCHA on the page where I had to confirm my SS# was an especially nice, seeming-to-care touch.