Why Doesn't Everyone Freeze Their Credit?

[Alan]

Good info on registering online for SS statements (and for opening a Penfed account). I hadn't realized that a credit check is done at that point, but it does make sense. Certainly excellent advice to register online for SS before doing a credit freeze.

 

[golftrek]

Everyone, no matter what age, should register online with Social Security and check their online statement to be sure all is correct. THEN freeze your credit!

Jo Ann

 

[mpeirce]

> Everyone, no matter what age, should register online with Social Security

I liked getting the SS statement in the mail. They no longer send it out. But you can get the same statement as a PDF on the web site.

It's worth checking to see if everything is correct (as golftrek said), but also to see how far our earnings have (hopefully) improved over the years.

 

[H2ODude]

If nothing else, if you're getting up there (I'm 62) it's interesting to see those SS statements and try to remember why on earth you show $900 earning back in 1968...Hmmm, what was I doing then??!! Mainly summer earnings at the local sheet metal shop, I think! Then for me there was that period of 15 years with no entries (worked for a local gov that didn't want to participate in SS). Anyway, it can be interesting to see the ups and downs and try to connect it with what you were doing...especially if you floated around and had significant changes.

I agree that you should check to verify but how on earth would you contest any of their records? I generally have dumped all paper records more than 3 years old when I've changed jobs. i'm sure that I can't even remember the names of places I worked summers, and the first job from college, they were bought and absorbed. I'd be interested if anyone a) found errors and b) contested the record; and what the result was.

 

[Rustic23]

Question for anyone that has unfrozen an agency.

Lets say you want to switch from at&t to Verizon. Verizon would require you to unfreeze you account. Do you have to unfreeze all three or just the one Verizon uses?

 

[ohyes]

DH received a new debit card from our bank today, with a letter explaining it was because of Target breach. (I did not receive a new card.) We use cash most of the time, and shop at Target very rarely. We have a credit freeze. Thinking we must have used debit card at Target; it may have happened.

Hmmmm, but not arguing. Seems like a good thing for us....

 

[golftrek]

We we moved we switched from Direct TV to Time Warner Cable. Time Warner could not check our credit because of the freeze. They gave us a choice, we could either unfreeze our accounts or put down a small deposit we would get back in a year. We put down the deposit (I think it was $100). The gas company also wanted a deposit, I think $30, which we get back in a year. Our Landlord asked about our freeze but he did not require us to unfreeze, he just checked our references. Landlord said he also had his credit frozen so he understood.

It is a hassle in some instances to have frozen credit accounts, but in our situation, I think it is well worth it. We are in the Target mess plus a few years ago DH had his personal info stolen from a former employer. We have also had our credit card numbers stolen twice, once at a restaurant and the other who knows how.

Jo Ann

 

[audreyh1]

Even though you are not explicitly borrowing money, a credit check is also sometimes done when opening a checking account so that they can offer you "courtesy" overdraft protection..

(At $30 per instance combined with not being able to opt-out, I find the term "courtesy" one of the biggest misnomers ever! LOL)

-gauss

I'm pretty sure the inquiries flagged by our monitoring service recently must be due to this from opening our PenFed account. I had better look at the details.

 

[sengsational]

I've had mine frozen ever since the first year we, in NC, could do it for free. I've unfrozen a few times, but sometimes it doesn't work. For instance, I never succeeded in getting signed-up with bankofinternet.com, and although I unfroze, it still seemed to snag their system.

But I wouldn't have it any other way. Being frozen is the way to go. As Clark Howard says, the credit agencies hate it because they no longer can sell your information. So, since I'm a skeptical guy, I'd say if the agencies just happen to cause a glitch or two for people who have frozen credit, they're probably not going to put a whole lot of focus on fixing those glitches.

 

[gindie]

Question for anyone that has unfrozen an agency.

Lets say you want to switch from at&t to Verizon. Verizon would require you to unfreeze you account. Do you have to unfreeze all three or just the one Verizon uses?

You can ask the new company (in your example Verizon) which agency they will be checking. Hopefully, they will tell you and that is the only one you will need to thaw.

Since I froze mine, I have bought a car and a home security system. In each case I asked, and they told me. No problems.