How to check if your personal data was compromised in the Equifax hack

Are you one of the 143 million people at risk by the hack into credit monitoring company Equifax?

There is a place you can go to check — but you have to give your name and the last six digits of your social.

A link on the company’s website offers the opportunity “to enroll in complimentary identity theft protection and credit file monitoring.”

If you’re lucky, the response will be: “Based on the information provided, we believe that your personal information was not impacted by this incident.”

The site then invites you to enroll in TrustedID Premier for credit file monitoring and identity theft protection. The service is free for one year. Enrollment ends Nov. 21.

If your information was breached, you will also be invited to enroll in the free credit monitoring service.

But if you enroll, The Washington Post reports, you may forfeit your right to participate in any class action lawsuit that may arise from the breach.

You can also contact a call center at 866-447-7559.

The hack, which occurred between May and July, exposed names, addresses, birth dates and Social Security numbers. But the company said it had “found no evidence of unauthorized activity on Equifax’s core consumer or commercial credit reporting databases.”

In addition to the web link, Equifax said it will send direct mail notices to consumers whose credit card numbers or other personal identifying information were affected.

This story was originally published September 8, 2017 at 12:07 PM with the headline "How to check if your personal data was compromised in the Equifax hack."