Freeze credit?

[HillCountry]

I don’t want new credit card or loan opened under my name anymore.

So I am wondering whether I can achieve this by freezing my credit at the 3 credit bureaus.

I guess many people on this board already done this.

 

[aja8888]

I don’t want new credit card or loan opened under my name anymore.

So I am wondering whether I can achieve this by freezing my credit at the 3 credit bureaus.

I guess many people on this board already done this.

Yep! You guessed right!

 

[Gumby]

This FAQ thread will be helpful

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f47/faq-identity-theft-online-security-privacy-76730.html

 

[HillCountry]

So do you guys just do 3 or try more from the list on FAQ?

 

[aja8888]

So do you guys just do 3 or try more from the list on FAQ?

Did the big 3.

 

[FIREd]

Our credit has been frozen at all big three bureaus since 2015 because our health insurance company was breached. I have had to temporarily lift the freeze on a couple of occasions due to credit checks (the last time was to hook up utilities to my house). It is an annoyance (and an expense) but it beats dealing with the consequences of identity theft.

 

[Dawg52]

I just did the big 3. At the moment I can't think of any reason I will have to lift the freeze, but will deal with it if it occurs.

 

[frank]

If you freeze your credit do you have to lift the freeze in order to buy a new car? does the freeze cover all credit transactions?

 

[MichaelB]

If you freeze your credit do you have to lift the freeze in order to buy a new car? does the freeze cover all credit transactions?

A freeze covers new credit inquiries. So, anyone wanting to check your credit or open a new account would be denied and require you to temporarily lift the freeze.

 

[scrabbler1]

Our credit has been frozen at all big three bureaus since 2015 because our health insurance company was breached. I have had to temporarily lift the freeze on a couple of occasions due to credit checks (the last time was to hook up utilities to my house). It is an annoyance (and an expense) but it beats dealing with the consequences of identity theft.

Same here, except that it wasn't an expense because in my state (NY) we can lift the freeze temporarily without incurring a fee.

I have had two instances since 2015 when I had to contend with the freeze. The first was when I tried to open a Sears CC to get a discount on a purchase. My attempt was denied and I didn't realize why until much later. The second was when I wanted to increase the limit on my existing CC. I dug out the PIN code from the freeze letter from the agency my bank used and in a conference call I authorized a temporary thaw to get the CC limit raised.

 

[tdv2]

Froze the big 3 about 4 years ago. It'd easy to open a time window if a trusted agency needs to get access.

 

[bingybear]

If you freeze your credit do you have to lift the freeze in order to buy a new car? does the freeze cover all credit transactions?

I did not unfreeze to buy a new car, just paid cash.
Fido changed credit card issuers a while back. They were able to process that without unfreezing credit.

If you need a new account listed... the credit company will likely require it to be listed on your credit report and this will require unfreezing the credit reports temporarily

 

[euro]

I have had credit freeze for many years. It CAN be a small hassle when you want to apply for a new credit card, or when you switch cellphone plans or electric/gas utilities (say, because you move to a different place). All of those require a temporary lift which in some states is free and in other states comes with a small fee. Over the years, placing temporary lifts has become much easier and now can be done online in just a few minutes. Well worth it to me.

 

[easysurfer]

I froze my credit a few years ago after falling victim to the IRS Transcript hack. Did have to temporarily thaw a couple of times. Once was to sign up for Obamacare. The other time, I forget why. Is a bit inconvenient but feels safer.

Switched cellphone carriers and credit check got blocked. But the carrier said, no problem, I could have monthly payments made via autopay to my CC instead of credit check, which I did. A few days ago, tried to sign up for Informed Delivery service through USPS website. But error in verifying due to credit freeze. Ended up making a trip in person to get verified at counter, face to face.

 

[HillCountry]

Thanks for the information!

Just froze equifax/experian.

It seems that transunion online freeze portal is down. Will try later.

 

[Sunset]

....
It seems that transunion online freeze portal is down. Will try later.

Probably being hacked ....

 

[MRG]

Probably being hacked .... [emoji23][emoji23]

Sized for their average transaction load! HAHA never seen that before.

 

[Rustic23]

I posted this on another thread, but, remember you need to freeze your's and wife/husband/? in order to be safe. When we were purchasing a car, mine was frozen. When we got to that point, the finance guy said. "That's OK, your wife's isn't frozen" Still paid cash, and have since frozen her accounts.

 

[Nightcap]

Perhaps I'm being naive, but why would I spend the money and put up with the aggravation? I look at my accounts every day, and run the free annual credit check on all three agencies every year - next year's is already in my To Do list.

If some ne'er-do-well opens a credit card in my name and I don't notice it until my annual free credit check, so what? It sounds like an easy problem to fix, I'm in no way liable, and I'll have the added advantage getting to feel justifiably self-righteous and indignant.

 

[audreyh1]

Perhaps I'm being naive, but why would I spend the money and put up with the aggravation? I look at my accounts every day, and run the free annual credit check on all three agencies every year - next year's is already in my To Do list.

If some ne'er-do-well opens a credit card in my name and I don't notice it until my annual free credit check, so what? It sounds like an easy problem to fix, I'm in no way liable, and I'll have the added advantage getting to feel justifiably self-righteous and indignant.

You don't want the ne'er-do-well to access your IRS records, your SS records, and maybe some existing bank accounts.

 

[Nightcap]

You don't want the ne'er-do-well to access your IRS records, your SS records, and maybe some existing bank accounts.

Isn't that horse already out of the barn?

 

[aja8888]

Perhaps I'm being naive, but why would I spend the money and put up with the aggravation? I look at my accounts every day, and run the free annual credit check on all three agencies every year - next year's is already in my To Do list.

If some ne'er-do-well opens a credit card in my name and I don't notice it until my annual free credit check, so what? It sounds like an easy problem to fix, I'm in no way liable, and I'll have the added advantage getting to feel justifiably self-righteous and indignant.

Maybe that well-to-do person will just buy a house in your name, sell it and run off with the cash? That's very possible. Oh, and he will drive away in your newly financed $90 K Porsche.

 

[Nightcap]

Maybe that well-to-do person will just buy a house in your name, sell it and run off with the cash? That's very possible. Oh, and he will drive away in your newly financed $90 K Porsche.

Um, I still don't see how that's anything but Somebody Else's Problem. Certainly don't see why I should pay a sawbuck to a company with whom I've never done business just so they can add aggravation to my life, all to protect a foolish hypothetical lender.

 

[audreyh1]

Isn't that horse already out of the barn?

No. You can prevent these by freezing your credit. That's the whole point.

 

[Nightcap]

No. You can prevent these by freezing your credit. That's the whole point.

The FTC disagrees.

A credit freeze "lets you restrict access to your credit report, which in turn makes it more difficult for identity thieves to open new accounts in your name."

"A credit freeze also does not:

...

prevent a thief from making charges to your existing accounts. You still need to monitor all bank, credit card and insurance statements for fraudulent transactions."

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0497-credit-freeze-faqs

So again, why would I spend money and add aggravation (the need to remember to lift the freeze before I start a new cell phone plan, e.g.) to a company with which I never did business just to protect a hypothetical unwary lender?