Anthem: post security breach credit freezing, etc

[Spork]

With 80 million customer records potentially exposed by Anthem, I'm sure there are more than a few of us on the list.  From reports I've read they are likely to have names, member id numbers, social security numbers, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and employment data (including salary info).**

There are lots of promises of credit monitoring and notification (via paper mail) to come....  But that takes time (and they only provide monitoring for a year, while your data is leaked forever.)

It looks like credit freeze charges vary by state, but for me it looks to cost $10 per credit bureau per person -- so $60 to freeze/thaw your data for a married couple.   Yes they'll wave the fee if you have the Anthem letter in hand, but no telling when that will arrive.

Just curious for those affected: Do you have any plans of immediate action or are you waiting on Anthem? 

Personally: I'm leaning towards paying for a credit freeze, minimally.



** unclear if this is limited to Amthem employee data or if this is employment data of folks that get Anthem through their employer.

[johnny847]

My data was possibly involved in the breach.

If I receive word from Anthem that is in fact the case, then I will request credit freezes at all bureaus. Otherwise, I will sit tight. Simply because well....it's $30. It's hard to say whether it's worth spending $30 preemptively for something that may not actually affect me at all. Then again, the consequences of having my identity stolen could be pretty annoying (nothing that can't be fixed...but would be a huge hassle).

[Lyngi]

The breach was for people who have Anthem as their insurance provider.  ME.  I already have freezes in place for 2 of the 3 credit  bureaus.  The third required a LETTER-so I just never got around to it.  I'm also concerned about someone filing my tax return!  I saw Turbo Tax has suspended state returns due to suspicious activity.  I mentioned to DH that we should file now, and file an amended return later, but he likes to wait until April 15th 11pm to file.  It drives me crazy

[TheOfficeLady]

I handle my uncle's insurance stuff online. He is a customer and I saw the e-mail. I was thinking about calling to inquire in case they called him but he didn't pick up because he thought it was a telemarketer or something. I don't want to jump the gun but I also feel like I should be a little proactive here.

[brooklynguy]

I'm sitting tight for now, because I regularly apply for new credit in connection with my credit card churning activity and I therefore don't want to trade the certainty of experiencing the pain in the ass that would result from a self-imposed credit freeze for protection against the possibility of experiencing the (admittedly larger) pain in the ass that would result from an incident of identity theft.

[MayDay]

H already froze his. I'm probably going to freeze mine now, too.

[Rural]

Just got an email from our HR. There's a phishing email going out purporting to offer credit monitoring service to people affected by the breach. Anthem says they're doing snail mail only.

Think we'll be doing the credit freeze. We don't really use it anyway.

[JimLahey]

I applied a credit freeze to all three bureaus earlier today. I don't plan on applying for any lines of credit anytime soon and it's free in Indiana.

[GardenFun]

Would a service such as Credit Karma have the ability to inform you of any credit activity - fraudulent or legit?  I've only had the service for about 8 months, but did receive an email regarding a credit card application I completed a few months ago.  Only caveat is that I cannot remember the time delay between the application and the email. 

[johnny847]

Would a service such as Credit Karma have the ability to inform you of any credit activity - fraudulent or legit?  I've only had the service for about 8 months, but did receive an email regarding a credit card application I completed a few months ago.  Only caveat is that I cannot remember the time delay between the application and the email.

In my experience they notify you within a day if there is an inquiry or new account reported on your credit report.