“Please note: This article is intended to be a general resource for you and is not intended to reference any specific incident."
It may have happened to you already. A large company that holds personal data about you has reported that their data system was compromised. Despite ongoing innovations in data protection, data breaches are inevitable. The good news is that there are things you can do to protect your personal information and restore your privacy even after a data breach has occurred.
Credit Monitoring Helps, but It’s Not Enough
Reputable companies will offer some identity protection in the wake of a data breach, including credit monitoring by at least one of the three major credit reporting agencies
– Experian, TransUnion or Equifax. However, while services like these will give you access to your credit reports, they usually won’t alert you to fraudulent activity. In addition to reviewing your credit reports regularly, you’ll also want to review each of your monthly credit statements with a careful eye. If you see unauthorized activity on any of your accounts, contact the company that holds the account and the credit reporting services immediately. Don’t forget Total Identity Monitoring with
IDProtect™ monitors over 1,000 databases for suspicious activity! If you are an Arvest myBlue™, Preferred Club, Arvest Club or Private Banking customer, the IDProtect™ service is included with your account. If you would like to learn more about this service and the benefits of it, please call Arvest at (866) 952-9523, or visit an Arvest branch near you.
Fighting Fraud Takes a Thorough Plan
Overcoming fraud and repairing your credit can be a complicated process. To do that, you’ll need to contact each of your credit providers (credit cards, store cards, banks) to notify them of your identity theft and resolve any issues with your accounts. You’ll also need to determine if your Social Security number has been compromised and protect yourself from criminals who may try to open new accounts in your name. Depending on where the original data breach occurred, you may also need to contact medical service providers and insurance companies to ensure that no one is filing medical claims in your name.
Blog updated by Blog Admin on 10/13/15.