Getting an official looking letter in the mail is rarely good news. Oftentimes it means a jury summons or a property tax bill or as is becoming very common in the last few years, a notice that you have been the victim of a data breach. Companies often use the mail to notify you that their records have been compromised and your personal and private information may have been released into the wrong hands or lost.
Of course, a data breach letter can be a rather upsetting piece of mail to get, but the first thing to remember is not to panic. Just because you receive a breach notification does not mean that identity thieves have run up your credit card and are on the way to Venezuela. Instead, here is what you should do.
1. Read the letter carefully. A thoughtfully written statement should tell you the exact details of the information that was stolen or otherwise released. In some cases, it may be minor information, such as your name and address. In others, it will be a more serious situation, such as a breach of account numbers, passwords or Social Security number.
2. If some of your more sensitive information was disclosed, make haste and cancel the accounts in question. Call your credit card issuers, insurance company or bank as need be. Most will have 24-hour hotlines set up for this purpose.
3. Place a fraud alert on your credit file. Hopefully, you found out about the breach in a timely fashion and can prevent identity thieves from using your information. With a fraud alert on your file creditors are required to verify your identity, routinely done by phoning you for verification, before opening any new accounts in your name. Fraud alerts do not affect your credit negatively in any way. Fraud alerts need to be renewed every 90 days.
4. If you believe that an identity thief is already misusing your information, file a report with the local police department where the theft occurred and contact the Federal Trade Commission at 1-877-IDTHEFT for information on how to proceed. Consider freezing your account at each of the three main credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.
Many companies will supply victims of data breaches with free credit monitoring for a limited time and offer to assist you with any expenses you incur due to their negligence. It is well within your right to take advantage of these offers and even to file a lawsuit if it comes to that. Placing a fraud alert to go along with the credit monitoring is a great idea as it can prevent the theft from occurring in the first place. This way you don’t have to worry about cleaning up the mess or clearing your good name.
Since you never know when a previous data breach will come back to haunt you, many identity thieves wait up to two years, you may also want to consider signing up for identity theft protection with one of the leading companies on our site. In addition to placing and renewing fraud alerts, ordering credit reports and other beneficial services, you also get identity theft insurance from $25,000 to $1 million. Prices are also very reasonable with Debix offering their service for $24 per year, TrustedID $89 per year and LifeLock $99 per year. Most services offer family discounts so you can protect your entire family for a very affordable price.
Some plans, like TrustedID even offer options to freeze your credit so that no one, but existing creditors, can access it. All identity theft services offer identity theft experts to help you if you do become a victim. Since hundreds of breaches happen yearly in the United States alone, and close to 10 million Americans fall victim each year, it’s great to have a professional advocate on your side if identity theft happens to you. Take the time to explore our site to learn about your options and how you can protect yourself from this devastating crime.