MSE News: Got an Equifax letter saying you were hacked? The helpline's struggling...

silversurfer43 · 23 January 2018 at 5:15PM

I too have received a letter from Equifax dated 20th January stating that the data accessed included :
Name and date of birth
Your landline telephone number
but no indication of what else (if anything) had been accessed. Does anyone know how to find out what else has slipped through their fingers - or don't Equifax know either?!
I think CRAs usefulness is in danger of being outweighed by the risks to consumers.

Lorian · 24 January 2018 at 11:00AM

I have an elderly relative who had the letter yesterday.

Lucklily we have already installed a call filtering device for their phone, and assuming Equifax are being honest about the 3 pieces of information disclosed then this is a useful defence.

He had no direct customer contact with equifax. It beggers belief they would wait so long to tell him he was affected. Perhaps the staff responsible used to work for Intel.

Joy123 · 24 January 2018 at 12:58PM

Lorian wrote: »

I have an elderly relative who had the letter yesterday.

Lucklily we have already installed a call filtering device for their phone, and assuming Equifax are being honest about the 3 pieces of information disclosed then this is a useful defence.

He had no direct customer contact with equifax. It beggers belief they would wait so long to tell him he was affected. Perhaps the staff responsible used to work for Intel.

I am of an age that the media sometimes regard as elderly nowadays. My letter stated personal date had been accessed but it did not state which personal data other than "included your: Name and date of birth, Your landline telephone number". If it was solely those, then they can be found easily anyway, but it would have been helpful if the company had informed me what else was included.
I have not had contact from the company before this week.

Flydrive · 24 January 2018 at 2:44PM

Looks as though another large batch of letters has just been sent out, some 8 months after the event! Its the 'including' bit that worries slightly as they don't seem to know just what has been taken, or don't want to say. Having searched for 'data hacks' on MSE website there was a long list of well known UK companies named so I think I will up my vigilance and trust that I will get lost in a VERY big crowd as I try not to give out any more personal info than is absolutely necessary.

eastcott5 · 25 January 2018 at 2:46PM

Got an Equifax letter today. Jan 25th 2018. Never used them.They say their 'clients' checked us out and created a file- can't think why as not changed anything as we are boring and retired. Can't get through on any of the lines. We are already on telephone preference but that has limited success. Equifax suggest that we change our landline number and go ex- directory.!

TrulyVonScrumptious · 29 January 2018 at 7:18PM

I too received a letter in November re the cyber hack and from reading the posts I didn’t think there was anything I could do as ringing the helpline in Manilla proved fruitless. However today when I wanted to set up a mobile phone contract I have been declined as there is a discrepancy with my date of birth on my credit file. Soooo annoyed. Can anyone advise what I need to do to get this sorted and put right please? I called Equifax again and although very polite they directed me back to the letter and the free services available.

keiran · 29 January 2018 at 8:49PM

keiran wrote: »

I've just had the most surreal experience
I decided to take up Equifax Protect and telephoned the Filipino centre. The letter said it would take 15 minutes. The lady asked me questions on my report (I have a very substantial report as I use a lot of financial services - 0% balance transfers, bank switching offers, etc). I am certain I answered correctly. She said I had to send in ID documents... I went ballistic

So Equifax allows hackers and criminals unimpeded access to my confidential and privileged information, and yet it makes me go through hurdles to access my own report!

I thought it would be incumbent on Equifax to make this process as smooth and stress-free as possible. Instead of this, they are making me do more work in the face of their incompetence.

I have raised a complaint, for what it's worth.

Are others being asked for ID documents to be sent?

If any fraud does occur due to this hack, will Equifax be liable and cover all costs?

I telephoned again later that day and spoke to someone in the executive team based in the UK who managed to get me access straightaway to my reports without the need to send in ID

And I did complain to Equifax about the breach itself and the arduous process of activating the credit monitoring service. This was done on the phone ( I was irate and didn't have time before going away to compose a full letter as would be my usual style).

I was somewhat surprised that their review upheld my complaint about Customer Services (they didn't allude to the breach at all with regard to compensation) and they offered me £150 which I accepted as I thought the FOS wouldn't have gone higher. We'd all rather this breach hadn't occurred, but I hope the above spurs on those who've had customer service problems as a result

orrery · 12 February 2018 at 3:39PM

I've had the same letter and am far from happy with Equifax.

The letter told me that I could avail myself of their free service to protect myself and enrol by phone.

The call centre agent had a reasonable command of English, but not to a level where they could have a discussion that was outside of their formal script.

They told me that I couldn't enrol by phone - I had to do it online, setting up a username and password, and entering my financial details, despite the letter clearly stating I could do it by phone. I pointed out that I didn't trust Equifax with my data and I would be foolish, in my opinion, to share further personal and financial data with them having had them lose my data already. It is also reasonable to expect that some people impacted by this wouldn't be happy to transact online.

I asked that they provide me with protection using the information they already have (which is obviously substantial, as that is their business) without me taking out an online account and sharing more data. They indicated that the only thing that they could so was provide me with my Credit Report by post, and that I would have to mark up anything that I didn't like and return it to them - no use whatsoever in protecting me from further problems. No ability to trigger further communications in case of a sudden unexpected deterioration in my credit report.

Hopeless - Equifax could easily provide a perfectly reasonable service in this way, but would rather we all become potential fee paying customers and subject to ongoing marketing for their chargeable services when the free service runs out.

I asked to make a formal complaint but they couldn't help with that. I've since had a summary letter explaining that I had made a complaint and that they were delighted that it was all resolved over the phone - which it most certainly wasn't.

I now await a response to my formal complaint.

Missus_Hyde · 13 February 2018 at 3:25PM

Luv2save wrote: »

I’ve just received this Equifax letter - dated 20 January 2018. They say that my name, date of birth and landline number were accessed as part of the May 2017 cyberattack. It seems to be exactly the same as other people’s letters from last November, offering free Protect, WebDefend etc.
Why on earth has it taken them so long to inform me? Does this mean that there are thousands more people at risk than they originally identified?

Luv2save wrote: »

The Equifax website explains that the January letters are being sent to those people who were rated as lower risk, due to less of their data being accessed. So that’s a relief!.

I’ve also joined the “Letter in January” brigade!

I’m not unduly worried, as apparently the hacked info has been merrily circulating since May 2017 and I always check all my credit reports every month and would notice if there was anything untoward on them.

There is no way I would sign up for any of the “protections” Equifax offer; they’re quite cavalier enough with my data and I don’t intend to give them anymore, thanks very much!! :mad:

Good luck to any cold callers who may ring me on the strength of any data they’ve managed to collect; one of my simple pleasures is stringing cold callers along and then being extremely rude to them after I get bored with them.:p

Joy123 · 23 February 2018 at 9:36AM

Joy123 wrote: »

I am of an age that the media sometimes regard as elderly nowadays. My letter stated personal date had been accessed but it did not state which personal data other than "included your: Name and date of birth, Your landline telephone number". If it was solely those, then they can be found easily anyway, but it would have been helpful if the company had informed me what else was included.
I have not had contact from the company before this week.

I am still unsure what to do about the letter.

MSE News: Got an Equifax letter saying you were hacked? The helpline's struggling...

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