Personal Data Sold - Get your Free Credit Report

Past employees of Roanoke City Public Schools are receiving free credit monitoring services after school officials ended up selling eight computers as surplus units. The hard drives of these computers still stored the personal information of school employees from 2006 onward, and included their names, locations, and Social Security numbers, leaving their personal information at risk for identity theft.

Since this incident occurred, the hard drives have been recovered by school officials, and it is believed that none of the data was used inappropriately. However, due to the questions and concerns the school has been receiving due to this incident, they are offering a year of free credit monitoring services to their employees to ensure that nothing is done with their information due to this data breach.

YOUR RIGHT TO FREE ANNUAL CREDIT REPORTS FROM OTHER, "SPECIALTY" CREDIT REPORTING COMPANIES

You also have a right to order free annual credit reports from other "nationwide specialty consumer reporting agencies." These are companies that maintain specific types of files on consumers, such as employment history, tenant history, medical records, and insurance claims. There are many specialty CRCs, and each must maintain a toll-free telephone number through which consumers may request a free copy of their credit report once every 12 months.

Neither the FTC nor the trade association of credit bureaus (CDIA) has chosen to publicize contact information for the specialty CRCs, and the Attorney General's Office does not currently have access to a list of these toll-free numbers. However, the following web page maintains a partial list of specialty CRCs and their contact information:

What to do about inaccuracy in your Free Personal Credit Report

• Clearly identify the inaccurate information on your credit report and dispute it, IN WRITING, with both the CRC that issued the report with inaccurate information and any creditors with which the information is associated.
• For more information, review the FTC's summary on disputing credit errors: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre21.shtm
• If accurate information is not removed or reappears, you may wish to consult with a private attorney regarding possible legal actions.
• Here is contact information for the 3 credit reporting agencies and links to their web pages informing consumers how to dispute inaccurate information:
  

Equifax - www.equifax.com
To report fraud, call: 1-800-525-6285
and write: P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
For information on disputing errors, you may visit:
www.econsumer.equifax.com/consumer/sitepage.ehtml?forward=elearning_credit13

Experian - www.experian.com
To report fraud, call: 1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742)
and write: P.O. Box 9532, Allen TX 75013
For information on disputing errors, you may visit:
www.experian.com/disputes/index.html (online dispute form)

TransUnion - www.transunion.com
To report fraud, call: 1-800-680-7289
and write: Fraud Victim Assistance Division
P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790
For information on disputing errors, you may visit:
www.transunion.com/content/page.jsp?id=/personalsolutions/general/data/DisputeCreditReport.xml

• If you believe you are a victim of ID theft, ask for a "fraud alert" to be placed on your file and request that no new credit be granted without your express, personal approval. Ask how long your account will be flagged. Record the expiration date of the fraud alert, and call back as this date approaches if you wish the alert to remain on your file. Review the Attorney General's Consumer Alert on ID theft for further information: www.michigan.gov/ag/0,1607,7-164-17343_18163-80479--,00.html