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In September of 2017, Equifax announced a data breach that exposed the personal information of 147 million people. The company has agreed to a global settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and 50 U.S. states and territories.
StatusGator reports that Equifax is currently operational. There have been 8 user-submitted reports of outages in the past 24 hours.
The Unethical Act: The Equifax data breach occurred in 2017 when the credit reporting agency suffered a massive cyber attack. The personal information of nearly 147 million individuals was exposed, including names, Social Security numbers, birthdates, addresses, and even some driver's license numbers.
No single credit score is more “accurate.” TransUnion and Equifax are credit bureaus that collect data, while FICO is a scoring model that uses that data to generate scores. Lenders may use different scores depending on the situation, so accuracy depends on which score a lender relies on.
Yes, banks use Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, often pulling data from one or all three to assess creditworthiness for different products like credit cards or loans, with lenders frequently using the middle score (median) from all three for major decisions like mortgages. Which specific bureau a bank uses can depend on the bank, the type of credit, and even your location, so it's important to monitor all three bureaus.
Sharing inaccurate credit scores and data about consumers with lenders: Coding errors in Equifax's internal software caused the company to miscalculate and share inaccurate credit scores for several hundred thousand consumers.
The Equifax data breach occurred when attackers exploited a known vulnerability in the company's web application software. First discovered in July 2017, this breach compromised the sensitive data of approximately 147 million people.
Credit monitoring services can help you stop hackers in their tracks. One of the three major credit bureaus has fallen victim to a cyberattack that exposed the personal data of more than 4.4 million Americans. TransUnion confirmed the breach, which involved a third-party application, on Aug.
Credit scores may drop if you miss a payment or make a change to one of your credit accounts. In some cases, a sudden drop in your credit scores may be due to identity theft. Monitoring your credit report is key to noticing changes to your credit scores.
Lenders generally view those with credit scores of 670 and up as acceptable or lower-risk borrowers. Individuals in this category are often considered “subprime” borrowers. Lenders may consider them higher-risk, and they may have trouble qualifying for new credit.
CFPB Sues Experian for Sham Investigations of Credit Report Errors. WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) sued Experian, the nationwide consumer reporting agency, for unlawfully failing to properly investigate consumer disputes.
Yes, you should take steps to "lock" or protect your Social Security Number (SSN) by using free services like credit freezes and SSN locks (like E-Verify Self Lock), and by being cautious about sharing it, as this significantly helps prevent employment fraud, tax scams, and unauthorized access to accounts. While no single lock stops all identity theft, combining freezes, locks, monitoring your accounts, and limiting SSN disclosure offers strong defense against fraudsters using your SSN for loans, jobs, or benefits.
Clues That Someone Has Stolen Your Information
Merchants refuse your checks. Debt collectors call you about debts that aren't yours. You find unfamiliar accounts or charges on your credit report. Medical providers bill you for services you didn't use.
Lack of transparency, not only put the company at greater levels of company risk, it also served to unknowingly expose millions of consumers to higher levels of personal risk. This in turn makes the General Public less forgiving of Equifax in how it handled the issue.
With multiple options available, you may be wondering which of these sources is the most accurate. Simply put, there is no “more accurate” score when it comes down to receiving your score from the major credit bureaus.
User reports indicate no current problems at Equifax.
It's partly true: most negative items like late payments and collections are removed from your credit report after about seven years, but the underlying debt often still exists, and bankruptcies (Chapter 7) last 10 years, so your credit isn't entirely "clear" but mostly refreshed from old negatives. The 7-year clock starts from the date of the original delinquency, not when you paid it off or sent to collections, and the debt itself can still be pursued by collectors.