Equifax theft will cause big headaches for years

The catastrophic theft of 143 million consumers’ personal data from national credit bureau Equifax could cause financial grief for years for homebuyers.

The odds are that some of your sensitive information was stolen — possibly your address, Social Security number, driver’s license number, credit card numbers — and could now be up for grabs on the Dark Web. Equifax and the other two national bureaus, Experian and TransUnion, keep files on about 220 million individuals, so roughly two-thirds of those consumers are potentially at risk.

Take this scenario: Say your Equifax file was looted but you’ve done little to detect fraudulent activity. You sign a contract to buy a house and apply for a mortgage. The lender rejects you with shocking news: Your FICO credit score is too low because there’s a new account on your files that has put you deep in debt — even though you really had nothing to do with it.

Smack in the middle of a major lifetime investment, you’d be stuck with having to correct your credit file, which takes time and can be a pain. In the meantime, what happens to your purchase? Will the sellers bear with you, essentially putting off the transaction indefinitely, and possibly blowing up their own plans to move into another house? It could all get really messy.

Terry W. Clemans, executive director of the National Consumer Reporting Association, many of whose members provide credit-bureau reports to mortgage companies, said the theft of driver’s licenses is especially worrisome because they could help thieves “create a more credible fake I.D.” — credible enough to fool lenders into believing they are dealing with the real you.

Clemans advises consumers to “lock down your files” with fraud alerts or credit freezes.