Retire Soon
Full time employment: Posting here.
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2005
- Messages
- 655
In October, DW and I made a decision to freeze our credit. We've heard too many horror stories about people who have been victims of identity theft. In California, where we used to live, they have a state law that says that if an institution has any of their consumer financial records stolen that they must notify all customers involved in writing. Over the years, we found it scary to get one of these letters, which we did on several occasions The latest one was from Fidelity where we had a retirement account. This one came in September, which made us think real hard about protecting our good credit.
I've read in the newspaper about financial institutions that have had their computer records compromised. In one of these cases in particular, an employee took his laptop home where it was later stolen. I don't think this is a good way to protect sensitive information such as social security numbers. Also, there are just too many ways criminals can get your credit information. Computer hackers have become skilled at it in recent years. There are countless stories of inside jobs as well. An example of this is where an employee of a company will sell your credit information to criminals. Owning a shredder and destroying sensitive information is simply not enough. Remember, it's easier for a dishonest person to steal your credit and obtain money illegally than it is for him/her to rob a bank. Also, police agencies are very lax in investigations of identity theft. It is simply not a high priority for them.
Some of the stories that I've read about in magazines and newspapers are very frightening. Some victims of identity theft say that they are treated by their creditors as if they were the criminal. It can take many years and countless hours of your precious time to restore your credit once you've become a victim, so we decided it just wasn't worth it to take a chance.
If you've thought about it and would like to do it, it's actually a very simple process. All you have to do is write a a letter to Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax for both you and your spouse if you're married. You need to give these credit bureaus your full name, address, social security number, a copy of your driver license, a copy of a recent utility bill and finally a check for ten dollars. In our case, we both submitted separate signed letters, as we figured it's too easy to confuse people these days. The cost was sixty dollars. We sent our letters by certified mail with a return receipt request.
In about ten days you'll receive a letter from each agency letting you know that your credit has been frozen. They will give you a password in the event that you decide to temporarily or permanently lift the freeze, which will also cost ten dollars. DW and I do not plan to apply for credit in the near future, but in the event we do, it looks like it will be a very simple process to temporarily lift the freeze. I believe two bureaus would allow you to lift the freeze online, but one required either a letter or phone call. You can do this for either a specific creditor or a specific number of days in which case multiple creditors would have access to your credit scores.
By the way, the fees are waived if you happen to become another unfortunate victim of identity theft.
I've read in the newspaper about financial institutions that have had their computer records compromised. In one of these cases in particular, an employee took his laptop home where it was later stolen. I don't think this is a good way to protect sensitive information such as social security numbers. Also, there are just too many ways criminals can get your credit information. Computer hackers have become skilled at it in recent years. There are countless stories of inside jobs as well. An example of this is where an employee of a company will sell your credit information to criminals. Owning a shredder and destroying sensitive information is simply not enough. Remember, it's easier for a dishonest person to steal your credit and obtain money illegally than it is for him/her to rob a bank. Also, police agencies are very lax in investigations of identity theft. It is simply not a high priority for them.
Some of the stories that I've read about in magazines and newspapers are very frightening. Some victims of identity theft say that they are treated by their creditors as if they were the criminal. It can take many years and countless hours of your precious time to restore your credit once you've become a victim, so we decided it just wasn't worth it to take a chance.
If you've thought about it and would like to do it, it's actually a very simple process. All you have to do is write a a letter to Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax for both you and your spouse if you're married. You need to give these credit bureaus your full name, address, social security number, a copy of your driver license, a copy of a recent utility bill and finally a check for ten dollars. In our case, we both submitted separate signed letters, as we figured it's too easy to confuse people these days. The cost was sixty dollars. We sent our letters by certified mail with a return receipt request.
In about ten days you'll receive a letter from each agency letting you know that your credit has been frozen. They will give you a password in the event that you decide to temporarily or permanently lift the freeze, which will also cost ten dollars. DW and I do not plan to apply for credit in the near future, but in the event we do, it looks like it will be a very simple process to temporarily lift the freeze. I believe two bureaus would allow you to lift the freeze online, but one required either a letter or phone call. You can do this for either a specific creditor or a specific number of days in which case multiple creditors would have access to your credit scores.
By the way, the fees are waived if you happen to become another unfortunate victim of identity theft.
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