Back in February of this year I was notified by my bank that two of my credit cards had been compromised in late-2008 in a batch theft through a credit card processing company called Heartland Payment Systems.
It’s inconvenient and messy to have credit and debit cards unceremoniously turned off: there’s the scramble to get new cards and to notify anyone who you’ve set up on automatic payments. And when your record-keeping isn’t perfect, there’s the guilty-sounding-regardless-of-actual-innocence round of explanations you have to make, mea culpas for why you’ve become delinquent. I had one very rude customer service rep (ironically, my professional real estate database provider) apparently wearied by a general spike in delinquent accounts actually challenge my explanation because, as he said, “Yeah, right, you and everyone else are victims!”
As it turns out, yes, it was me and everyone else…or at least one hundred thirty million of us! Yesterday’s news coverage by National Public Radio of the Department of Justice’s press release was the first indication I had of how great the scope of cards affected was.
But to clarify reporting errors and ambiguities of yesterday’s news coverage: 1) the indictment was breaking news but the fraud itself took place last year, 2) fraud victims were likely notified long ago so, other than normal precautions, this news should not cause a rush to panic, and 3) there appear to have been no social security numbers compromised — so no identity theft actually transpired.
But it is a wake up call. Transmission of personal and financial data is as abysmally insecure as it is ubiquitous to modern life.
And a misuse of this data can have dramatic impact on your ability to buy or refinance a home.
To lenders, you are only as good as your credit rating. And your credit rating is only as good as you and accuracy combined. Learn how to protect your accounts. Take a moment to review your credit history from all three consumer credit reporting (aka data selling*) companies: contact Experian, Equi-Fax, and TransUnion directly. To the best of my ability to translate legalese, the third-party companies who offer to aggregate and facilitate your credit report requests appear to reserve for themselves the right to sell your contact data yet additional “third-party affiliates.” For this reason alone, I’ll go direct with the reporting agencies. You’ll, of course, balance convenience with paranoia however you see fit.
*CONSUMER ALERT: Why consumer credit reporting corporations should be allowed to make a yet additional layer of massive profit by reselling our personal data, and making us further vulnerable to fraud, is fodder for a future post.
Urban Green 