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Credit Karma To Launch Free ID Monitoring Following Equifax Hack (reuters.com)
Credit Karma is launching a new free service that will alert customers if their identity data has been compromised in hacks, the San Francisco-based fintech company said on Friday in the wake of massive breach at credit monitoring agency Equifax. From a report: The new ID monitoring service is being tested and will be available in October, the company said on Friday. Similar to services offered by Symantec-owned LifeLock, CreditKarma will keep track of data breaches and tell customers if they are one of the victims. Customers can then check to use the company's credit monitoring services and flag suspicious activities. The company said it was accelerating the launch of the new service in response to the large data breach at Equifax, where thieves may have stolen personal information of 143 million Americans.
You don't give Credit Karma all of your details just enough of them to use in order to identify you.
You give them:
An email address
A password you've never used before
Your legal name
Physical address that would be found on a credit report
Date of birth
Last 4 digits of SSN
With this information they can identify you. They then ask you some multiple choice questions based on the credit history they have access to. Stuff like
Did you get a loan from:
A) Loan company A
B) Loan company B
C) Loan company C
D) None of the above
It may be a true question or a trick question because your loan company was not listed or you don't have a mortgage.
They match the answers with the credit information and then let you see credit information. At all times they never let you see the 4 SSN digits or DOB you submitted. They provide you information about your credit to keep you interested in visiting the site and at the same time suggest their partners credit cards. They make all email communication optional.