By Erin Smith
Bladen County’s bankers have offered some tips to those who have been impacted by the Equifax security breach. The most important thing you can do is to monitor your bank account for any type of suspicious activity.
Mike Davis, Branch Manager with First Bank in Elizabethtown, said, “We have not had a great number of issues with it (the Equifax breach).”
He added, there have been clients who have had questions regarding the breach. Davis said there is a link everyone can go to and follow the instructions to learn if they may have been a victim. That link is https://www. equifaxsecurity2017.com.
“This is legit,” said Davis of the link. He says once you have entered the required information, it will tell you if your information may have been breached.
Davis said if you have been affected by the security breach, the first thing you need to do is pull your credit report. He said everyone is allowed to pull their credit report for free annually. You can go to the website www.annualcreditreport.com to get your free credit report.
Davis said you need to make sure that you get your credit report from all three credit reporting agencies—TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. Once you have your credit report, you need to review it very carefully. If you find any errors or discrepancies, Davis said you can contact the credit reporting agency and dispute the information.
Davis said when you contact the agency, they will investigate the dispute and, if the information is found to be erroneous, the credit bureau will make the necessary corrections to your file.
If you suspect a transaction on your credit file is fraudulent, you need to contact the proper authorities as well as the credit bureau.
Davis also suggests after initially pulling your credit report, if you have been a victim of the Equifax security breach, you will want to pull your credit file again in 30 to 45 days to ensure no fraudulent transactions have ocurred.
Lindsay Chadwick with Sate Employees Credit Union said people need to monitor their bank accounts closely for any type of suspicious activity.
“Beware of suspicious telephone calls,” said Chadwick.
She noted that many telephone scams can sound legitimate and scammers are becoming more sophisticated in their methods. Chadwick said never give your personnel information or credit or debit card information over the telephone.
Chadwick, too, encourages everyone to check their credit report once per year and report any thing suspicious to the proper authorities.
Ann Kinlaw, of Elizabethtown, said since the security breach ocurred she has been monitoring her credit cards and bank accounts for any suspicious activity.
She advised following the steps on each of the credit bureau websites to place a freeze on your credit file. A credit freeze prevents access to your credit file without your written permission.
The Federal Trade Commission also offers consumers some tips on what to do if your information is lost of exposed here: https://www.identitytheft.gov/ Info-Lost-or-Stolen.
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