When the big news hit that Equifax had cyber theft of over 143 million people, it left us stunned. At Robert Floris’ Mortgage Architects office in Hamilton, we are consumers of Equifax. In fact, most of Canada uses them as their credit checking facility. It was most disturbing that it took the company 10 weeks to discover the breach. More importantly, it took six weeks to report the cyber theft to the public. That was very poor handling of this massive problem. Most Canadians could not care less, but they should. Names, addresses, SIN Numbers, credit card companies and lenders could have been shared with these thieves.

Evidently, most of the damage was done in the United States, however, many Canadians will be affected as well. The problem is Equifax Canada has not done a great job of informing us as to what is going on. Credit has become one of the most important criteria in getting a mortgage. Many of our mortgage clients have had their credit compromised and have credit alerts on the bureau. A credit alert basically means that no credit can be given until the client has contacted personally. Remember, bad credit results in higher mortgage rates. Be very protective of it.

What have we learned and what can we do? The first thing us Canadians can do is be very guarded with our information and who we give it to. Secondly, until Equifax Canada comes up with a response to this breach, you can go on Credit Karma Canada at www.creditkarma.ca to get an indication of your credit score and any other insights on your bureau.

Robert can be contacted at 905-574-9200 Ext. 215 OR by email at mortgages@robertfloris.com. You can fill out an application online at https://application.malink.ca:8112/App/MARC/FLORISR/en-ca/1896 with absolutely no pressure and no obligation.

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