Credit Reporting Recommendation Needed

[TrvlBug]

Due to Fido's incompetence in getting my billing address changed in early December, it appears we are the victim of mail theft, namely one of the tax statements. The reason we changed our billing address to a UPS store box is because there's been a LOT of mail theft in our area :face palm:. I'm working with Fido to have this account re-registered, will be changing names & pws of our on-line accounts, and changing future delivery method to on-line only.

DH and I have decided to also utilize a credit monitoring agency...I know we could do it ourselves, but I just don't want to. With all of these breaches and stuff we think it will be worth the nominal yearly cost.

Any recommendations? Anything to look for in services provided? Thank you.

 

[kaudrey]

You could just put a freeze on your credit for a year; if you don't think you'll need a loan....

 

[Big_Hitter]

after my ID got sifted (i.e. some dude in the UK had $180K wired out of a heloc) I called Equifax and opened an account - also had the other two reporting agencies lock my credit

I also got an account with identityguard - prolly overkill.


although it stinks big time, there are way worse things in life than to have your id sifted

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

+1 on the credit freeze. It's usually free (or pretty cheap) and doing a temporary thaw isn't very hard. As a matter of fact, many credit issuers can do a one time thaw if you are willing to provide your "unlock PIN". American Express did this when I opened my Preferred Cash card. Also, Credit Karma is free and an excellent way to keep abreast of what's going w/ your credit. I also believe that they now have credit alerts.

 

[fanmail]

I have never heard of freezing your credit. Does it just mean that you can't get a new loan or credit card while it is frozen? Any impact on existing lines?

 

[TrvlBug]

Thank you for the info.

Wrt the credit freeze, no debt other than a HELOC at a ridiculously low promo rate, so no impact. How does the freeze work with existing companies you have a relationship with, such as insurance, cc, etc., that I understand pull you credit periodically. Do they still have access or do you need to unfreeze at their request?

 

[Corporateburnout]

The freeze will not impact your current lenders as they are able to pull your credit report periodically. It will only affect new credit application. I've had my credit frozen online 5 years ago and I when I recently needed a credit balance increase with my bank I only unfroze it with the credit bureau they deal with (Experian) for a specified time of 2 weeks at a cost of $5.

 

[TrvlBug]

The freeze will not impact your current lenders as they are able to pull your credit report periodically. It will only affect new credit application. I've had my credit frozen online 5 years ago and I when I recently needed a credit balance increase with my bank I only unfroze it with the credit bureau they deal with (Experian) for a specified time of 2 weeks at a cost of $5.

Sounds like the credit freeze is the way to go along with rotating quarterly checks of the 3 credit bureaus via the free annual reporting option. Thank you.

 

[MichaelB]

Sounds like the credit freeze is the way to go along with rotating quarterly checks of the 3 credit bureaus via the free annual reporting option. Thank you.

Right. If mail theft concerns you, instead of delivering to a PO Box, simply stop mail delivery of your statements and get them online. Not just broker, all commercial dealings.

 

[audreyh1]

Right. If mail theft concerns you, instead of delivering to a PO Box, simply stop mail delivery of your statements and get them online. Not just broker, all commercial dealings.

I've always been concerned about mail theft, and switched to getting all financial statements online over a decade ago.

The last little bit was the tax forms. Brokerages finally made it possible for those to be available electronically only. I just hated having those forms sent in the mail.

 

[Choices]

Yep, we froze our accounts recently. If we have to buy anything on credit, we will open the one needed.