PaymentsJournal
No Result
View All Result
SIGN UP
  • Commercial
  • Credit
  • Debit
  • Digital Assets & Crypto
  • Digital Banking
  • Emerging Payments
  • Fraud & Security
  • Merchant
  • Prepaid
PaymentsJournal
  • Commercial
  • Credit
  • Debit
  • Digital Assets & Crypto
  • Digital Banking
  • Emerging Payments
  • Fraud & Security
  • Merchant
  • Prepaid
No Result
View All Result
PaymentsJournal
No Result
View All Result

Survey: Equifax Breach Having Little Impact on Americans’ Readiness to Fight Fraud

By Brian Karimzad
October 10, 2017
in Industry Opinions
0
3
SHARES
0
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedIn
Credit Cards

Credit Cards

Most respondents still don’t plan to take preventive action, even after the well-publicized breach.

The recent Equifax data breach may have grabbed headlines, but it has thus far done little to change Americans’ actions or attitudes toward fraud preparedness and prevention.

That’s according to a recent survey from CompareCards.com by LendingTree, which queried 1,000 credit or debit card-holding American adults on issues related to fraud prevention and detection.

The survey was done Sept. 22-25, well after the Equifax breach was disclosed and began making front-page news. (Its margin of error was +/- 3 percent.) It reveals that the great majority of Americans remain unmotivated or unwilling to take the steps needed to better guard against fraud.

According to the survey, only 10 percent of cardholders have placed a freeze on their credit since learning about the Equifax breach, while 76 percent of cardholders claim they still have no plans to freeze their credit at any point in the next two months.

In the wake of a massive breach in which the Social Security numbers, birthdates, residential addresses and even driver’s license numbers of 143 million Americans were compromised, the survey paints the picture of a nation alarmingly unprepared to protect itself against the now heightened threat that fraud represents.

 Proactive prevention lags

Most Americans are simply not taking the steps necessary to proactively safeguard against fraud. That applies to simple protections such as changing PINs, as well as to more complex protections like initiating a credit freeze.

According to the survey, more than three-quarters of consumers (78 percent) have never put a freeze on their credit, while less than a quarter (22 percent) pay for a credit monitoring service. Similarly, just 25 percent of respondents report having free alerts set up on all their credit and debit cards. At the same time, eschewing the most basic of fraud prevention techniques, 60 percent of Americans have not changed their PIN in the last year, with 30 percent have never changed it.

Credit Freez Chart

The apparent apathy toward proactive prevention is made all the more surprising by the fact that 42 percent of survey respondents report having had fraudulent charges on a credit card, debit card or bank account at some point in the past two years.

Part education, part indifference

 Lack of education and awareness plays a key role in limiting Americans’ overall fraud preparedness.

Among survey respondents who do not have free alerts set up on any of their credit or debit cards, 41 percent didn’t know such alerts existed in the first place.

Similarly, among respondents who have never placed a freeze on their credit, 22 percent weren’t even aware that it’s possible to do so, while 15 percent don’t know how.

Lack of education isn’t the only culprit, however. General indifference is also a factor. Among respondents who have never placed a freeze on their credit, nearly half (47 percent) report that they just aren’t concerned about identity theft.

Card Alert ChartAge-related variance

 The CompareCards.com survey also revealed significant variance between the behaviors of baby boomers and millennials, with the latter group far more likely to take advantage of fraud prevention techniques. For example, 74 percent of millennials leverage credit alerts in some form or fashion. By contrast, 46 percent of baby boomers don’t use credit alerts.

Card AlertsMillennials are also nearly twice as likely as people 55 and up (28 percent versus 15 percent) to pay for a credit monitoring service. The irony, of course, is that baby boomers, as a consequence of their age, naturally tend to have a wider array of credit accounts — with higher balances and credit limits — than their millennial counterparts, making them a more appealing target for identity thieves.

Simple steps, big impact

 Given the scope and seriousness of the Equifax breach, and the growing prevalence of identity theft in general, the time is now for everyone — young and old alike — to get educated and proactive about preventing fraud. The good news: There are many simple steps everyone can take to better guard against this growing threat. When it comes to fraud prevention, basic steps such as changing your PIN numbers, setting up credit alerts, signing up for credit monitoring and putting a freeze on your credit reports can make a major difference.

Change PIN Chart

Article originally appears on Compare Cards: http://www.comparecards.com/blog/most-americans-still-unprepared-forfraud-after-equifax-breach/

3
SHARES
0
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedIn
Tags: CreditEquifaxFraud Risk and Analytics

    Get the Latest News and Insights Delivered Daily

    Subscribe to the PaymentsJournal Newsletter for exclusive insight and data from Javelin Strategy & Research analysts and industry professionals.

    Must Reads

    Banking-as-a-service BaaS

    Remodeling Main Street: How Community Banks Can Leverage the Banking-as-a-Service Paradigm

    June 12, 2025
    How Employee Performance Enhances the Customer Experience

    Three Strategies to Maximize Loyalty in the AI-Driven World 

    June 11, 2025
    PFM tools

    How FIs Are Cutting Through Subscription Clutter with PFM Tools

    June 10, 2025
    child identity theft

    Stranger Danger: Protecting Your Children from Identity Theft

    June 9, 2025
    agentic commerce

    The Agentic Advent: How the Next Iteration of AI is Shaping Commerce

    June 6, 2025
    payments hub, digital banking

    All in One: How a Payments Hub Eliminates the Pain Points

    June 5, 2025
    Vertical SaaS

    From Underdogs to Industry Leaders: How Vertical SaaS Powers Mid-Sized Firms

    June 4, 2025
    credit card surcharging

    A Perfectly Understandable Bad Idea: Why Merchants Should Reconsider Surcharging

    June 3, 2025

    Linkedin-in X-twitter
    • Commercial
    • Credit
    • Debit
    • Digital Assets & Crypto
    • Digital Banking
    • Commercial
    • Credit
    • Debit
    • Digital Assets & Crypto
    • Digital Banking
    • Emerging Payments
    • Fraud & Security
    • Merchant
    • Prepaid
    • Emerging Payments
    • Fraud & Security
    • Merchant
    • Prepaid
    • About Us
    • Advertise With Us
    • Sign Up for Our Newsletter
    • About Us
    • Advertise With Us
    • Sign Up for Our Newsletter

    ©2024 PaymentsJournal.com |  Terms of Use | Privacy Policy

    • Commercial Payments
    • Credit
    • Debit
    • Digital Assets & Crypto
    • Emerging Payments
    • Fraud & Security
    • Merchant
    • Prepaid
    No Result
    View All Result