700Credit data breach: what happened and what to do

If you financed a car in the US in 2025, there's a real chance 700Credit has your data, even if you never heard of the company. 700Credit is a Michigan firm that supplies credit checks and identity verification to car dealerships. Dealers send your information to it when you apply for financing, which is why people end up in a breach at a company they never dealt with directly.

What happened

700Credit says it discovered the incident on October 25, 2025. The attackers took personal data that dealers had submitted between May and October 2025. According to the company, its outside cybersecurity experts concluded that the intrusion was limited to the application layer and did not reach its internal network. It reported the incident to the FBI and the FTC and coordinated notifications to regulators on behalf of dealers, and it began mailing letters to affected people in mid-December.

The count is large. Michigan's Attorney General confirmed at least 5.6 million people nationwide, including more than 160,000 Michigan residents. State listings, such as Washington's, count residents of one state only, so the national figure is the 5.6 million number. One aggregator cited 8 million records based on a dark web listing, but that figure isn't confirmed by the company or a regulator.

What was exposed

The exposed data includes names, addresses, dates of birth and Social Security numbers, according to Michigan's Attorney General and press coverage of the filings. Auto financing applications tend to hold exactly these details, because lenders need them to run a credit check.

What this lets criminals do

This is the full identity theft kit. A name, address, date of birth and Social Security number are what criminals need to apply for credit cards and loans in your name, file a fake tax return or open accounts that take months to surface. Because the data came from car purchases, scammers can also mimic dealerships or lenders, with calls about "a problem with your financing."

The company's response

700Credit offered credit monitoring to affected people and said it had seen no sign of identity theft or fraud tied to the breach as of its notice. Michigan's Attorney General, Dana Nessel, told people not to ignore a letter from 700Credit and to take protective steps as soon as possible, such as a credit freeze or monitoring.

What to do if you got a letter

Read it fully, use the monitoring offer if it suits you and freeze your credit. If you didn't get a letter but financed a car in 2025, consider the freeze anyway. The cost is nothing. 700Credit is mailing letters on behalf of its dealer clients. A notice that arrives by text or asks you to click a link or read out your Social Security number is a red flag, so if you're unsure, ask the dealer you used or go to 700Credit's own site.