HOLLAND, Mich. -- If you think you were impacted by the data breach earlier this month at Hope College, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel urges you to consider placing a freeze on your credit report. That will prevent identity thieves from opening a new credit account in your name.
In late September, Hope College discovered potential unauthorized access to its network. Once it was discovered that certain files may have been accessed by an unauthorized party, Hope College said it undertook a comprehensive review process to identify what personal information, if any, was present within the potentially impacted files, and to whom that information belonged.
Anyone with questions about the incident should contact the dedicated external call center at 1-833-540-0798, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday, except holidays.
Potentially affected individuals can find contact information for the three major credit reporting agencies below, as well as offering advice on how to obtain free credit reports and how to place fraud alerts and security freezes on their credit files. The relevant contact information for each bureau is: Experian PO Box 9554 Allen, TX 75013 1-888-397-3742 www.experian.com/help/ TransUnion P.O. Box 2000 Chester, PA 19016 1-888-395-6938 www.transunion.com/credithelp Equifax PO Box 105069 Atlanta, GA 30348-5788 1-888-298-0045 www.equifax.com/personal/creditreport-services
Impacted individuals may also find information regarding identity theft, fraud alerts, security freezes and the steps they may take to protect their information by contacting the credit bureaus, the Federal Trade Commission or their state Attorney General. The Federal Trade Commission can be reached at: 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20580; www.identitytheft.gov; 1-877-ID-THEFT (1-877-438- 4338); and TTY: 1-866-653-4261.
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