Protecting Yourself in the Wake of the Equifax Data Breach
On September 7, 2017 the credit reporting agency Equifax announced that their systems had been breached. Over the next few days it became clear that the breach had gone on for several months, from May through July 2017, with an earlier, smaller breach in March 2017.
Over145 million Americans discovered that their personal information and financial data - names, birthdates, addresses, credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, and in some cases driver's license numbers and dispute documents - had been accessed by hackers.
It soon came out that the CEO of Equifax had been infomed of the breach on July 29th, but did not inform the board until mid August. …
ACORN's First Time Homebuyer Program
Intimidating to nearly everyone, the home buying process can seem impossible to millions of low- and moderate-income Americans.
Beginning in 1986, ACORN Housing’s mortgage counseling program started a program to help first time homebuyers learn about and be better prepared for the process of buying a home. In their first 15 years, they helped over 50,000 families achieve their dreams of homeownership.
ACORN Housing also helped thousands of existing homeowners avoid foreclosure and preserve their homes by helping them negotiate with lenders. They frequently worked with victims of predatory lending as well as those who were facing serious and unexpected financial hardships.