Consumer Alert — Home Depot data breach info: how to sign up for free credit monitoring

If you have purchased items with a credit or debit card at the Home Depot from April 2014 onward, your credit and debit cards have been subject to a security breach. Home Depot is offering one year of free credit monitoring through All Clear ID Pro.

Home Depot confirmed the breach after banks notified the company they were seeing fraud victims. The breach announcement is here.

WPF encourages all consumers who have made purchases with credit or debit cards to monitor their accounts closely as a general rule. But for Home Depot shoppers who purchased items April and later, because this is a confirmed breach and there are already victims, we encourage you to sign up for the free credit monitoring. Because of the large scope of the breach, you may not receive a personal breach notification email from the company.

Here’s how to sign up for Home Depot’s credit monitoring:

1. If you know you are part of this breach, go to Home Depot’s customer data breach page https://homedepot.allclearid.com.

2. On this page, fill out the form in the lower right hand corner (see a screen shot of this form below). Check the box if you have made a purchase in April 2014 or later, then fill out your name and email address and click Submit.

Home Depot’s form for starting free credit monitoring for customers affected by the data breach

3. You will receive an email from All Clear ID with a confirmation code in the email. Copy that confirmation code, and use the link provided in the email to go to the activation page. On our emails, the link was https://homedepot.allclearid.com/PRO. You will find a box where you can enter your confirmation code.

4. You will need to fill in some personal information at AllClearID, then go through an activation process. This took us less than 10 minutes. You will receive a confirmation when you have completed the process (see below).

A confirmation screen from AllClearID let’s you know you have completed sign up. A confirmation email will follow.

5. Even after you sign up for free credit monitoring, continue to review your credit card and debit card statements regularly. Watch for any transactions that you did not make, including small transactions under $10 that you did not authorize.

6. If you have questions for Home Depot, the breach notification page here has links to more information, including a FAQ.

Again, this breach already has victims. It’s wise to address the breach by signing up for the free credit monitoring and being diligent with checking your card transaction activities.

Posted September 9, 2014 in Consumer Alert, Data Breach

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