MSE News: Massive Equifax data breach - what you need to know

sargeantsalt

Doc_N wrote: »

An interesting viewpoint, but legally flawed. There may or may not be English solicitors looking to take this on with contingency fee arrangements (I suspect there will be) but the English concept of negligence, if established, is certainly wide enough to cover this situation, and damages are not restricted just to financial losses.

My viewpoint is legally flawed and incorrect in that there is indeed a concept of negligence and a theoretical right to damages for distress.

http://www.kennedyslaw.com/casereview/data-breach-damages-how-much/

However, in practice, you still have no rights unless you have at least £100K+ to spare for funding a case you have a low chance of winning due to the woolly wording of data protection laws. The amount of compensation would be about £2K if you win.

So, to be technically correct, you do have the right to risk £100K+ for a small chance of gaining £2K compensation.

Mrs_Ryan

I got one of these letters too but I’m not really all that bothered. I always use my landline number when I sign up to these things and it hasn’t worked in over 5 years

Doc_N

sargeantsalt wrote: »

My viewpoint is legally flawed and incorrect in that there is indeed a concept of negligence and a theoretical right to damages for distress.

http://www.kennedyslaw.com/casereview/data-breach-damages-how-much/

However, in practice, you still have no rights unless you have at least £100K+ to spare for funding a case you have a low chance of winning due to the woolly wording of data protection laws. The amount of compensation would be about £2K if you win.

So, to be technically correct, you do have the right to risk £100K+ for a small chance of gaining £2K compensation.

Which is precisely why contingency fee (no win, no fee) arrangements exist. As I suspect they soon will be for anyone affected by this fiasco. The numbers are large and this is exactly the sort of situation that lends itself to contingency fee arrangements.

eribaman

After receiving the Equifax letter belatedly informing me that my data has been hacked, wonder what other readers are doing about free Equifax offers.
That is free Equifax Protect, Equifax WebDefend, Equifax Postal Service and links to other credit report companies.
Are any of them any good?
No mention in the letter of UK government agencies that should be involved.
What can the hacked info get apart from the annoying landline calls?

597money

[cross posted from thread Equifax Fraud Alert Letter]

What is funny is this letter says they can offer you services to protect my data.

If they think I am going to give them a list of all my bank account numbers, credit card numbers, driving license number, phone numbers and national insurance number so they can protect them they must think I am barking mad! Just think about why they have sent the letter in the first place.

I am not signing up for anything new from Equifax that may have terms and conditions in them that absolve Equifax from their massive mess up.

What I have done is check the following sites (was already registered with them) and have checked my recent credit searches on all three and nothing suspicious so far.

www.clearscore.com (this uses Equifax data, not sure what relationship they have with Equifax but as I was already a member I checked it anyway)

www.noddle.co.uk (Call Credit - not used by many companies but still needs checking)

MSE Credit Club (Experian - used by many companies - the main competitor to Equifax - not mentioned on the letter no surprise).

Like everyone else is probably thinking why was this data stored in the US anyway. I hope there is going to be compensation due to UK "customers" also as this is unforgivable. The data should have been locked up safely and only accessible by Tom Cruise on an impossible mission.

Doc_N

eribaman wrote: »

What can the hacked info get apart from the annoying landline calls?

The main risk is not so much annoying calls - they can be dealt with very easily, although they do present a problem for a vulnerable section of society who are easily duped.

The real risk is identity fraud, and the more information that's held about you the greater the risk of a fake identity being set up. That's the real problem with the Equifax hack - the extent (and accuracy) of the data.

Doc_N

597money wrote: »

[cross posted from thread Equifax Fraud Alert Letter]

What is funny is this letter says they can offer you services to protect my data.

If they think I am going to give them a list of all my bank account numbers, credit card numbers, driving license number, phone numbers and national insurance number so they can protect them they must think I am barking mad! Just think about why they have sent the letter in the first place.

Odd that, isn't it? Given that they already hold most of that information about us all anyway!

I can only assume they're using it as an opportunity for gathering and cross-checking even more personal information.

BucksLady

Doc_N wrote: »

The real risk is identity fraud, and the more information that's held about you the greater the risk of a fake identity being set up. That's the real problem with the Equifax hack - the extent (and accuracy) of the data.

You have hit the nail on the head - but how best to proceed - that's the question because I just don't know what to do

Doc_N

BucksLady wrote: »

You have hit the nail on the head - but how best to proceed - that's the question because I just don't know what to do

Likewise. I'm still considering the options, and there isn't an obvious route to take.

I'm still rather hoping that Martin Lewis will involve himself in this now that it's becoming clear how big an issue it is. An awful lot of people still think it's just a matter of a few unwanted phone calls, and Equifax are more than happy to allow people to carry on thinking that way.

This isn't just a TalkTalk-style breach (though that was bad enough). It's in an altogether different league.

EllaGee

I've received one of the standard "snail-mail" letters from Equifax dated 30th October 2017 advising me that there was a breach back in May 2017 ..... "snail-mail" indeed!

If that's not enough to get a person worried sick, now they can't be reached on the number they quote in their letter; its just dead! I obtained another 0800 number. That gives two options to choose but if you choose option 2 (which I assume would relate to my problem) the line goes dead!

Another point; I live with and care for my 93 year old mother so why haven't we received two letters. Is it possible that in sharing the same surname, home address and having a joint bank account she wouldn't be affected??? Seems unlikely to me!

So what can the thousands upon thousands of affected Brits do to make contact? I don't fancy contacting them on the web and its clear they're not taking any phone calls!

Any ideas on how to find out if I've actually been affected will help.

EllaGee