Make sure you keep your credit locked

[Big_Hitter]

I unlocked mine about 10 days ago as we are refinancing the house and rental (3% jumbo 10/1 ARM) and forgot to re-lock it.

This morning I got an e-mail from my two credit monitoring services that someone tried to open a Citi credit card with my information. I called Citi and they cancelled the application.

Equifax paid for itself today. Yes, I re-locked my credit.

Dishonest thieves. Why can't people w*rk for a living like the rest of us?

 

[Hershey102]

It's been my experience that you can specify a window (say, 7 days) during which your credit will be unfrozen and then automatically refrozen.

 

[Youngster]

How do one go about locking his credit?

 

[aja8888]

Ours remains locked.

I am surprised at how many of my friends and associates think that a credit monitoring service (like Lifelock) will keep them "safe" from identity theft or fraudulent credit being opened in their name.

 

[Gumby]

How do one go about locking his credit?

These two threads have all the information you need.

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

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/anthem-hacked-80-million-customers-75764.html

 

[Youngster]

Thanks, Gumby.

 

[donheff]

I did this recently and set a 10 day open period with automatic relock. I don't have a credit monitoring service (since I am normally locked I don't see the value). I couldn't find any easy way to find out if someone snuck in to open a line a of credit in the brief window. The credit agencies don't let you sign up for alerts without paying ridiculous fees. Is anyone aware of a free way to find out? Elizabeth Warren needs to push through a requirement that credit bureaus let consumers sign up for free alerts.

 

[bingybear]

I believe when you unfreeze.. you can do it for a specific credit company to make changes and for a short time. This should reduce the chance of fraud.

 

[Ken11]

I keep mine locked at all 3 agencies
I cant understand people paying 30/ month for monitoring services. What a total waste of money.

 

[Big_Hitter]

I keep mine locked at all 3 agencies
I cant understand people paying 30/ month for monitoring services. What a total waste of money.

you get alerts (like I did) when someone tries to open a credit card in your name, you get alerts when someone uses your credit card, you get alerts when you have an account balance that increases or decreases by a significant percentage, you get alerts when.....

it's just $20 a month - live a little

 

[Johnora]

you get alerts (like I did) when someone tries to open a credit card in your name, you get alerts when someone uses your credit card, you get alerts when you have an account balance that increases or decreases by a significant percentage, you get alerts when.....

it's just $20 a month - live a little

+1

 

[gauss]

Ours remains locked.

I am surprised at how many of my friends and associates think that a credit monitoring service (like Lifelock) will keep them "safe" from identity theft or fraudulent credit being opened in their name.

+1

I try to educate them but I suspect fear+marketing tops reason.

-gauss

 

[gauss]

Does anyone have a check (other than applying for new credit) that can be performed that will confirm if Security Freezes are in effect at the various credit bureaus.

This would be a useful check to perform on a somewhat regular basis.

-gauss

 

[Ready]

I setup my new Costco Citi Visa card to email me every time my card is used. It's a nice way of getting an electronic receipt of my purchase, and if the card is ever compromised, I'll immediately see an email for a charge I don't recognize and have the ability to respond quickly. The Fidelity Elan Visa also has this capability.

I no longer use my Capital One Visa, but it did have a nice iPhone app that lets me instantly lock or unlock the card. So if I decide to use it for some reason, I just have to remember to unlock it first, but otherwise, it's frozen from being used by a thief.

 

[Badger]

Glad to see these posts. It reminded me to include the ID numbers for both my wife and I on our "What to do if I lose my marbles and important information" list for all 3 credit bureaus. I keep this as a hard copy only in my fireproof safe. Freezing our credit is not a problem for us since it is not likely we will be needing a credit check for anything in the foreseeable future.

Other than that I am contacted (email) whenever we/someone goes into our credit union accounts, broker accounts, and also from the credit card companies if there are any large credit card charges or charges outside our local area.

I think I've made it about as hard to steal from us as possible other than breaking into our little home. I'm pretty sure they would be disappointed if they did.

Cheers!

 

[aja8888]

Does anyone have a check (other than applying for new credit) that can be performed that will confirm if Security Freezes are in effect at the various credit bureaus.

This would be a useful check to perform on a somewhat regular basis.

-gauss

I can tell you it works as I tested it a couple of months ago. I had an offer for 80,000 IHG hotel points if I opened a new CC and spent $1,000 in three months. Even though I had 200,000+ points with IGH, I decided to test the security freeze process.

What I did was apply online for that CC and wait to see what happened. The app would not approve the card online as they sometimes do.

Within two days, I received a written letter from Chase Bank asking me to provide them a temporary PIN to check my credit at Experian. I called Experian and they provided the PIN for Chase to use. Chase was issuing the CC.

It all worked fine, but as far as I can tell, only with one credit agency. I'm not sure of any other way to test with all three.

 

[wappldw]

Try Credit Karma. Its free and alerted me to two attempts to open credit cards in my name.

 

[H2ODude]

Also note that if you DO want to unfreeze, ask the business who is checking you out who they will use. In the one case I unlocked they told me and that meant only one un-lock, IIRC I just unlocked it for 7 days and forgot about it.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Does Credit Karma work with Frozen Credit Accounts?

 

[mpeirce]

I setup my new Costco Citi Visa card to email me every time my card is used.

I have a similar setup. I have the Citi app installed on my phone and have it send notifications each time the card is used (these show up on my Watch). My DW does the same, so we're always aware of each other's card use.

My DF had his debit card compromised last month, such a pain to deal with!

 

[harley]

Why can't people w*rk for a living like the rest of us?

You're making a huge and unwarranted assumption there, at least on this site.

 

[Major Tom]

You're making a huge and unwarranted assumption there, at least on this site.

 

[explanade]

It sucks having to pay $10 each time to unlock.

Had to unlock two bureaus for a new Chase Explorer card.

 

[gauss]

It sucks having to pay $10 each time to unlock.

Had to unlock two bureaus for a new Chase Explorer card.

My initial thoughts too, but on further reflection it is a small price to pay to allow me to sleep at night and not worry about the latest ID Theft scare.

 

[donheff]

I can tell you it works as I tested it a couple of months ago. I had an offer for 80,000 IHG hotel points if I opened a new CC and spent $1,000 in three months. Even though I had 200,000+ points with IGH, I decided to test the security freeze process.

What I did was apply online for that CC and wait to see what happened. The app would not approve the card online as they sometimes do.

Within two days, I received a written letter from Chase Bank asking me to provide them a temporary PIN to check my credit at Experian. I called Experian and they provided the PIN for Chase to use. Chase was issuing the CC.

It all worked fine, but as far as I can tell, only with one credit agency. I'm not sure of any other way to test with all three.

Also note that if you DO want to unfreeze, ask the business who is checking you out who they will use. In the one case I unlocked they told me and that meant only one un-lock, IIRC I just unlocked it for 7 days and forgot about it.

I recently got a high point bonus card and they told me they check all three so I unfroze them. Next time (if there is one) I will try ajaa888's approach and let the CC company tell me which ONE to use a code with to release one report. If they want more they can pound sand.