The head of the Better Business Bureau in South Dakota is recommending freezing your credit after another major lending company announced a data breach this week.
State director Jessie Schmidt says when your credit is frozen, no one can steal your information– but you do have to contact Equifax, Trans Union and Experian individually.
She says freezing or thawing your credit is easy to do.
Schmidt also encourages parents to freeze their children’s credit.
She recommends checking your credit rating on a regular basis.
Schmidt says freezing or thawing your credit does not negatively impact your rating.
This week, Capital One reported a hacker got access to the personal information of over 100 million individuals applying for credit and took the info of about 140,000 customers. 33-year-old Paige Thompson of Seattle, WA, has been arrested. Authorities don’t believe she sold or distributed any of the information.
Last week, Equifax reached a $700 million settlement over the 2017 data breach that exposed the personal information of 147 million people. The bulk of that money is intended for consumers impacted by the breach.
(DRG)