If you wanted a vehicle car tag or a license in Montgomery County, Ala., this week, you were out of luck. Hackers knocked many county computers offline with a ransomware attack, local officials say. The probate office took the worst of the attack, which hit late Monday, so business licenses, [Keep reading]
US consumers broke through quite a barrier earlier this year, when total credit card debt topped $1 trillion for the first time since the Great Recession. Then in June, total credit card debt reached $1.021 trillion, besting the previous record set back in April 2008, just as the Great Recession [Keep reading]
Many Americans are learning the words “security freeze” recently, courtesy of Equifax. Really, they should be thanking their state lawmakers and a tireless group of consumer advocates. More important, it should give people new appreciation for the disaster that is the legal maneuvering called “state pre-emption,” and why consumers should [Keep reading]
I’ve been telling victims of the Equifax data hack (everyone?) to sit tight and not do ANYTHING because I don’t want people paying money for the WRONG thing. (Like this person I wrote about today). Also, I think eventually the RIGHT thing is going to happen, and people will have [Keep reading]
Like millions of Americans, John decided he had to do something to protect himself in the wake of the massive data hack at credit bureau Equifax. So he clicked around the Internet trying to do the right thing, looking to sign up for a credit freeze or anything that might [Keep reading]
Consumers are still struggling with what to do in the wake of the huge Equifax hack, and the credit reporting agencies aren’t necessarily helping much. Trans Union’s website for credit freezes is still showing an “unavailable” message (You can, however sign up for…). Meanwhile, Equifax still hasn’t provided additional details [Keep reading]
I’ve always said ID theft is basically a marketing ploy. We stick with an outdated system that hurts people all so cashiers can try to upsell credit cards (“Do you want to save 20% today?”). And I’ve often said one of the best things that could happen would be publication [Keep reading]
Something strange has happened to the Trans Union webpage devoted to security freezes. It’s been changed to push visitors to sign up for a Trans Union ID theft service rather than place a security freeze. Consumers who follow a link on the Federal Trade Commision’s security freeze information page expecting [Keep reading]
What do to now? Freeze, I’d say. And breathe. Consumers continue to wrestle with their options in the wake of news that the Equifax credit reporting agency had been hacked, potentially exposing a majority of Americans to identity theft. It’s a natural impulse to “do something” after an incident like [Keep reading]
I can tell from the email I’m getting (and, honestly, from friends calling me and even stopping me at church). You still have many questions about the Equifax hack last week. So do I. Equifax is still not providing enough answers, so I can’t be as helpful as I’d like. [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan