Discover, protect against credit-card security breaches

A major credit bureau admits that nearly half of Americans’ files recently may have been compromised by computer hackers. There are steps that consumers can take to protect themselves.

Q. I recently heard thatEqui fax had a major breach of its security that could expose millions of people to identity theft.

How can I find out if my own information was stolen? If it was, what should I do now?

A. Sadly, there’s a good chance that either you or someone you know was affected by the computer-hacking thieves. That’s because the breach could have affected as many as 143 million Americans, nearly half the nation’s population.

From mid-May through July, according to Equifax, the hacker (or hackers) had access to all of the information needed to steal identities. That information includes Social Security numbers, birth dates, home addresses and (in some cases) driver’slicense and credit-card numbers.

To find out if your own files were exposed, start by calling the company’s special telephone hot line (866447-7559), or for faster service, visit www.equifax-security-2017.com/ potential-impact.

You’ll be asked for your last name and the final six digits of your Social Security number; then you’ll quickly find out whether your credit file was among those that were stolen.

Even if Equifax shows that your file wasn’t part of the breach, you still should check your credit report. You can get free copies from each of the three major bureaus by visiting www.

annualcreditreport.com or by calling the agency at 877-322-8228, provided that you haven’t made such a request in the past 12 months. If you ordered one or more report recently, you’ll pay about $10 or $20 for each document.

Check each report you obtain for accounts you don’t recognize, an incorrect address or other information that appears suspicious. If you find any discrepancies, contact each of the three big bureaus’ fraud units: Equifax (866-349-5186), TransUnion (800-916-8800) and Experian (888-397-3742).

You also can place a free 90-day “fraud alert” with each company, which would require lenders to take extra precautions to verify your identity if anyone applies for a loan or other type of credit in your name. Consumers who are confirmed victims of ID theft can place a free alert for seven years.

If you want to be even more cautious, you can put a “freeze” on your credit files at little or no cost.

A freeze prevents creditors from accessing your files altogether, which makes it even harder for identity thieves to open an account in your name. But a freeze can eventually prove cumbersome because you’ll have to lift it first if you personally want to apply for a mortgage or other credit in the future — and perhaps even pay to thaw it.

REAL ESTATE TRIVIA About $16 billion was stolen from 15.4 million Americans by identity thieves last year, according to credit experts at California-based Javelin Strategy & Research, up from the $15.3 billion ripped off from 13.1 million consumers the year before.

Q. What is a “due-on-sale” clause? A. It’s a clause, found in nearly every mortgage contract, that allows a lender to demand payment in full if the borrower sells or refinances the house that was used to secure the bank’s original loan.

That’s a reasonable provision because the lender would lose a lot of money if the borrower could instead sell the house and pocket the profit without paying the first lender on the property.

Q. We purchased our home in August, but the roof leaked during a recent rainstorm and ruined the TV, some furniture and part of the carpet in our living room. Our home insurer is willing to pay to replace the damaged items in the living room but will not pay to repair or replace the roof.

Can we sue the sellers, or the guy who

inspected our house before we agreed to buy it, to recover the cost of fixing the roof and the damage the rain caused to our ceiling?

You can sue both the sellers and the inspector, but there’s no guarantee that you will win.

The sellers could be held financially liable, but only if they knew the roof was faulty and failed to disclose the problem when they were negotiating the purchase offer with you. That’s a tough thing for you to prove.

A better option would be to contact the inspector you hired before you agreed to buy the house. He might be willing to pay for the roof repairs himself, or may have a professional-liability insurance policy that he can tap for the cost of the needed work.

Before you contact the inspector, though, reread the inspection report that he originally prepared. Many reports today include a clause or two that’s aimed at limiting a general inspector’s liability for defects that may be overlooked, especially if the review suggests that the buyer also have the roof or other components of the property checked by an inspector with such specialized expertise.

Such clauses don’t prohibit you from filing a lawsuit to recover your financial damages, but they can make it harder to win if you didn’t follow the general inspector’s recommendation to hire a specialist.

Send questions to David Myers, P.O. Box 4405, Culver City, CA 90231-2960, and we’ll try to respond in a future column.