There is an authoritative website that will tell you if you were breached by the massive NPD data breach in the news this summer. https://npd.pentester.com/. The only information I provided the site was my name, my state, and my birth year.
I clicked on their SEARCH button and was dismayed at the amount of history the NPD breach revealed. Past home addresses for the last 40+ years. Past phone numbers. My social security number. The hacker network has all this personal data and more.
After being sick to my stomach, I promptly checked that I had credit freezes in place at all 3 credit bureaus. It stinks that we have to freeze them at all three. You'd think that a freeze at Equifax would propagate to Transunion and Experian, but they don't.
Why did I freeze my credit? Because it prevents criminals from establishing accounts in my name and social security number.
It's easy to unfreeze when needed. When I refinanced my mortgage a few years ago I was easily able to log in to Equifax and temporarily unfreeze the report so the lender could check my credit. Then I refroze it immediately after they "pulled" my credit report.
Do this. Freeze your credit at ALL THREE BUREAUS. It's possible to use other websites to complete this chore for you (CreditKarma, for example) but I prefer to have logins at all 3 bureaus.
Experian https://www.experian.com/
Transunion https://service.transunion.com/
When you visit those sites, make sure the address is legit. Don't Google it and accidentally click on a fake site. Look at the URL in your browser. It should match one of the above links.
Call me if questions.
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