{"id":6945,"date":"2017-09-25T09:29:26","date_gmt":"2017-09-25T14:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.santanderconsumerusa.com\/?p=6945"},"modified":"2021-06-23T09:40:51","modified_gmt":"2021-06-23T14:40:51","slug":"seven-steps-you-can-take-to-reduce-chances-equifax-breach-will-hurt-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/santanderconsumerusa.com\/blog\/seven-steps-you-can-take-to-reduce-chances-equifax-breach-will-hurt-you","title":{"rendered":"Seven steps you can take to reduce chances Equifax breach will hurt you"},"content":{"rendered":"

As bad as you might think the Equifax credit bureau data theft was \u2026 think again.<\/p>\n

It probably was worse than you imagined.<\/p>\n

The credit bureau, one of the nation\u2019s three major reporting agencies, reported that records of 143 million Americans were stolen \u2013 names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some cases, driver\u2019s license numbers.<\/p>\n

In short, everything you need to go fill out an application with an auto lender for example.<\/p>\n

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That means more than half of Americans with credit bureau records are vulnerable to identity theft, Frank McKenna, chief strategist for fraud prevention consulting firm PointPredictive, told an auto industry news outlet. And that the effects of the breach could be felt for 10 years or more.<\/p>\n

McKenna called the stolen data \u201cthe keys to the kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here are the steps the Federal Trade Commission<\/strong><\/a> (FTC) recommends for affected consumers:<\/p>\n