As you may be aware, Equifax has experienced another major industry data breach. Reportedly, hackers may have accessed personal information from 143 million Americans, including social security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and in some cases driver’s license numbers. They also stole credit card numbers for about 209,000 people and dispute documents with personal identifying information for about 182,000 people.

Our partner, BALANCE, is available to help you navigate this situation and take actionable steps to protect yourself if you have been impacted by this data breach. As a nonprofit dedicated to consumer financial health, BALANCE has a variety of resources that can minimize the fallout from data breaches.

First and foremost, I would like to remind you that through BALANCE, you can…

• • Speak to a financial coach. BALANCE’s certified experts can help resolve any issues related to identity theft, or help review a credit report for suspicious activity.

• • Attend an Identity Theft Solutions webinar. BALANCE created a special webinar in September covering everything you need to know about fraud prevention and recovery. We are offering this webinar for FREE to help provide valuable information on Identity Theft solutions on Wednesday, September 20 from 2 to 3 pm PST. You can register here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/rt/7781040765373536001

• • View the Identity Theft Toolkit. Our online toolkit is packed with practical tips and resources. It can be found here: https://www.balancepro.org/resources/toolkits/identity-theft/

Equifax has set up a dedicated site at: https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/ for consumers to determine if they have been impacted by the breach. Remind your members to access this site from a secure computer. They can also enroll in one free year of credit report monitoring from Equifax when visiting this site.