Two immediate actions will greatly help you — and six more things will happen over the next 6 to 12 months. Immediately, you’ll want to:
1. Take Equifax up on their offer of the free monitoring service.
2. Place a “freeze” on all credit reports on each of the 3 services (yes, you have to pay some of them, but it’s worth it). Also do a freeze on the business-to-business company called Innovis.
Note: If your kids already have a social security number, put a freeze on their credit reports, too. (They shouldn’t have anything in the report except their name, address, and social security number.)
What Next?
Over the next 6 to 12 months, banks, auto financing firms, and landlords will implement more and more bureaucratic requirements to prove your identity.
1. Whenever a bank, brokerage, or insurance company provides 2-factor authentication for web log in, use it. Same for voice biometrics at their call centers.
2. Whenever you get a notice from a bank for a credit card you did not apply for, follow up in 2 calls. First, call the toll-free number and stop the application. Second, get the number for the ID theft department and ask for a 7-year fraud alert on your credit report.
3. Don’t let your drivers license or state ID expire. Make sure you keep it up to date. An expired ID is no longer good enough.
4. Likewise keep your passport up-to-date. If you do not have one, get one. In the US, an expired passport is no longer considered valid ID. The law changed.
5. Make sure you have a copy of your birth certificate. Order one now from the Bureau of Vital Records in your county or state. You’ll need to send a photocopy of your ID.
6. Be prepared for more and more bank/financial documents to require a thumbprint and Medallion Guaranteed Signature (which credit unions cannot provide — only commercial banks).