It can happen to anyone. Your information could be stolen online, you could lose your wallet or a company you trust could have a data breach.

If you think someone has stolen your identity, you should act immediately:

• Check your statements for unauthorised transactions
• Cancel your credit card(s)
• Contact your bank
• Change your email address(es)
• Change passwords
• File a police report
• Place a ban on your credit report

Other steps to take include:

Don’t panic, we’re with you. Log on to the secure members portal and go to the Identity Protection tab and select Identity Watch in the drop down menu. We will provide you with the information we have about what has been found to be compromised, with advice on what to do next. Or just contact us. We are here to help.

It’s a type of fraud which involves stealing money or gaining other benefits (maybe a mortgage, a passport or a new phone account) by pretending to be someone else. Identity theft happens in a new way every day – from somebody using your credit card details illegally … to having your entire identity assumed by another person in order to open bank accounts, take out loans and conducting illegal business under your name. Sounds awful, doesn’t it? Best if it’s stopped in its tracks …

Credit Alerts let you know if there are certain changes made to your Credit File, this could be someone trying to apply for credit in your name. Equifax Credit Alerts can help protect your Equifax Score before any damage is done.
Identity Watch, available with an Equifax ID Basic or Equifax Ultimate monthly subscription, monitors criminal trading and selling of identity information such as phone numbers, email addresses and credit card numbers online. You’ll receive an alert if we discover your details are compromised, so you can proactively protect your identity.

All you need to do is provide us with the information you would like monitored, such as credit or debit card numbers, phone numbers and email addresses. We then store this information securely in our system and use tools such as web crawlers and forum extraction to locate possible compromised data online.

Identity Watch works to prevent identity theft before it occurs. It monitors your details – such as credit and debit card numbers, phone numbers and email addresses – not your transactions.

While your bank or credit card company may do a great job of letting you know when your account has been used overseas or for an excessive number of transactions, they do not actively search for evidence that your details have been compromised in the first place.

Your credit report contains information that may affect your chance of securing credit in the future, so it’s important to find out what’s on your file so that you can work to improve it if you need to.

Check your credit report regularly, so you know where you stand
Reviewing your credit report may alert you to any incorrect information and help you uncover potential identity theft. Consider signing up for Credit Alerts, so you are aware when certain changes occur on your credit report.

Your Equifax Score may change when new information is recorded in your credit report, such as your application for a loan (known as a credit enquiry), or when information reaches its expiry date and is removed from your report, such as an overdue-debt that has reached its expiry date.

When you sign up to an Equifax annual subscription package that includes the Score Tracker tool, your Equifax Score will be generated every month and reflect the information that is in your credit file at that time.

Score Tracker is a valuable tool that tracks your Equifax Score over time, so you can take steps to improve your Equifax Score if needed, and determine the best time to put in your application for credit.

When you sign up to an Equifax Plus or Equifax Premium subscription package, we’ll generate an Equifax Score monthly which you will receive together with a graph that charts your score.  You’ll also receive information regarding what items on your credit report contributed to your score at that point in time.

Can shopping around for credit impact my credit report?
Every time you apply for credit and a credit provider obtains a copy of your report, an enquiry is added to your credit report. This can include any loan, mortgage or utilities applications you may make. Credit providers may take a negative view of a relatively high number of enquiries made in a short space of time, which may in turn affect your ability to obtain credit.