No one can steal your identity and open up a line of credit. That is the real PITA scenario that can disrupt your life. Someone getting a hold of your credit card number and buying stuff is no big deal. The CC company covers you and you get a new card. Proving you are not the culprit who got three new CCs at some address you never heard of is a bigger pain. The only downside of a freeze is that if you need to open up a new line (e.g. if you have to finance a car) you have to temporarily unfreeze at all three agencies. I did it once to get a good deal on a new CC.what is the purpose and upside to freezing your credit? just curious as I was reading an article that said that some people should in defense from identity theft.
We know what is was as of last November when we bought a car. The dealer wouldn't "do the deal" unless we financed through them. Okay. I made one payment, and the following month paid off the loan.
Next time I won't bother making the one payment. I wasted $40 on interest.
I had a car dealer pull that on me once. I wanted to pay cash but they wanted me to finance the car thru them. They even told me I could pay it off in full as soon as I received the payment book. They were so insistent, that I finally walked out and they lost a sale. I went to a competitor about 20 mins away and they were more than happy to take my cash.
Just curious, do you know and/or care what your credit score is?
I've looked at it on creditKarma occasionally, but I don't really care anymore. It's always been on the high end, but I don'tdo anything to try an "improve it". I think one time it recommended I needed more accounts to improve my score I think I'll pass.
When I login to my accounts at PenFed, I can see my credit score with one click from the home page.
I know what my credit score is. I'm not particularly concerned. At 67 and FIRE'd for over 8 years, the chances of me participating in a transaction which is dependent on my credit score are pretty small.
OTOH, it's been a year or so since I looked at my credit score/report and I suppose I should do so. What's the best way to do it these days?
Yeah, I've heard that. We've been with the same insurance company for many years (decades actually) but do comparison shop if our rates change. My agent would let me know if I was being re-categorized due to a sharp shift in my credit score. At least I think so........Your credit score can affect the cost of your car insurance (depends on whether the state allows it, but there's a clear correlation, with people with higher credit scores having lower claims potential). So, it's not just for borrowing.
I use annualcreditreport.com. It lets you select one of the 3 major bureaus and run a report. That means you can run one of the bureau reports every 4 months for free. There will be plenty of places where you can order enhanced, paid reporting services, but if you just keep ignoring them you'll get to a report that costs nothing.
Just curious, do you know and/or care what your credit score is?
I know what my credit score is. I'm not particularly concerned. At 67 and FIRE'd for over 8 years, the chances of me participating in a transaction which is dependent on my credit score are pretty small.
OTOH, it's been a year or so since I looked at my credit score/report and I suppose I should do so. What's the best way to do it these days?