Equifax, one of the three major credit bureaus that assess and assign consumer credit ratings, has announced a major data breach that has potentially compromised up to 143 million individuals, enabling cybercriminals to steal identification and financial information including names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, and addresses, as well as driver's license numbers and credit card numbers.
While no accounts at On Tap Credit Union® are directly impacted by this Equifax breach, we encourage members to protect themselves by determining if other accounts are at risk. For more information and to learn what On Tap is doing to help you, click here.
- Go to www.equifaxsecurity2017.com to check whether your data may have been compromised by this breach. Equifax will send direct mail notices to consumers whose credit card numbers or dispute documents with personal identifying information were impacted.
- Set fraud alerts with all three credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
- Monitor your credit activity periodically by reviewing your credit reports through the free annual reports available through each of the three credit bureaus or other services such as www.annualcreditreport.com.
- Reset your account passwords, PIN codes and other log-in credentials for all financial accounts that may be vulnerable.
- Establish multiple-authentication protocols for financial accounts and email, when possible.
- Establish an ongoing credit monitoring service through a credit bureau or other service provider.
What We Are We Doing at On Tap Credit Union
Here are the safeguards we have in place to help protect our members' information:- Free Credit Report Reviews. We welcome our members to come in for a free financial analysis that includes a review of their credit report. We can help them review the details of their report to ensure accuracy and help them discover opportunities to save money and make money.
- Lock It Card Control™. We provide Lock It Card Control as a security measure for our members available in our mobile banking app. This allows members to temporarily lock their own debit and credit cards.
- New EMV Chip Credit and Debit Cards. These new smart chip cards generate a unique transaction code every time the card is used, providing valuable security. In addition, our new EMV chip card have an added security feature called SecurLOCK® that scans your card activity 24/7. With SecurLOCK®, if fraudulent debit or credit card activity is detected on your account, you will be contacted by a representative to verify the transaction
- E-statements. We encourage members to use e-statements to review accounts, balances and activity to help avoid mail fraud.
- Multi-Factor Authentication on Online / Mobile Banking. On Tap Credit Union utilizes a second layer of security by requiring members to enter a Secure Access Code, further helping us authenticate members and safeguard their information.
What You Can Do and How We Can Help
- Periodically review your credit report. On Tap Credit Union members can access their credit report for free, once a year, by visiting www.annualcreditreport.com.
- Review your bank and credit card statements to make sure there is no fraudulent activity.
- Review the Equifax website to stay informed. The website provides information on steps consumers can take to protect their personal information. Equifax recommends that consumers with additional questions visit www.equifaxsecurity2017.com or contact a dedicated call center at 866-447-7559, which the company has set up to assist consumers. The call center is open every day, including weekends, from 7 a.m.to 1 a.m. Eastern time.
- Be careful of vendors who try to capitalize on the Equifax data breach with illegal or deceptive offers.
- Change your passwords periodically. At On Tap Credit Union, you can now do this on your own! Use the following guidelines in setting your passwords:
- Make all new passwords different and difficult to guess.
Include upper- and lower-case letters, numbers and symbols to make passwords harder to breach. - Be careful with your security questions: information such as your mother’s real maiden name is easy to track down.
- Use two-factor authentication wherever possible.
- Change your passwords periodically. At On Tap Credit Union, you can now do this on your own! Use the following guidelines in setting your passwords: