Freeze credit?
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hesperus
Full time employment: Posting here.
Just froze credit at the big three yesterday. Quite easy to do!
I see no reason why I wouldn't freeze. We have no need for further credit, as we pay everything in cash, and just use cards for perks.
Is there any other reason why, as a retiree, freezing credit would prove to be a hassle?
I see no reason why I wouldn't freeze. We have no need for further credit, as we pay everything in cash, and just use cards for perks.
Is there any other reason why, as a retiree, freezing credit would prove to be a hassle?
Corporateburnout
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We have not checked but I would think with a 50% exposure odds are our information was hacked as well. Our exposure to identity theft would be limited with a credit freeze in place. We monitor our CC accounts every week and other than monitoring my social security account I don't think there is much we can do at this point.
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Corporateburnout
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My credit freeze has been in place for more than 7 years and DW's for 2. I had to unfreeze it on a couple of occasions but the process was simple. I did not experience any problems.
hesperus
Full time employment: Posting here.
That's good to know. I had never considered it before, but now that it's done I can see myself keeping it frozen indefinitely. It does appear to be a simple process to temporarily thaw if ever necessary
timo2
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I unfroze my credit with the agencies in 2016 to buy a house, but scheduled it to refreeze last July 1, which it did. It was easy to do except for transunion, which seems to be archaic in its practices.
Here's something that might be of interest to CapitalOne cardholders. They have a deal with TransUnion that monitors my credit, and it's free. It's called CreditWise. Among other things, it tracks credit inquiries and new lines of credit opened in the last two years.
Did I mention it was free?
(Also, they notify me by email every time my credit card is used. Usually I can't even get out of the store before I've received notification.)
Did I mention it was free?
(Also, they notify me by email every time my credit card is used. Usually I can't even get out of the store before I've received notification.)
Changing cell phone service? I'm about to.
Cost to freeze: up to $30, depending on what state you live in. Ditto to unfreeze.
And then there's the principle of the thing. You're paying them to exercise the sort of discretion that they ought to be doing anyway. It's a shakedown. As I wrote earlier, "Nice credit rating youse gots there. Be a shame if sumpthin' was to *happen* to it."
audreyh1
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I mainly run into credit checks when opening CDs. Not for me if I already have an account with the institution, but for some reason when I make the CD joint, some institutions have DH go through the "ID verification" which uses one of the credit reporting agencies. Even though he is listed jointly with me on all our accounts. Annoying!
I agree with this and Nightcap. I can't see paying protection money for protection that has as many holes as a porcupine's underwear.
I believe it was transunion... but they could not tell me definitively. I unlocked all three because I was also shopping for a car and figured it would be easier to jump on a deal and get it done if the credit was unlocked. (I was in process of playing 2 dealerships off each other - and the 2017 models came with 0% financing for the car I was looking at.)
As someone else mentioned - CapitalOne visa comes with creditwise - and it indicated that t-mobile was transunion... but I may have misread that. Transunion reports that t-mobile pulled my credit.
gayl
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I haven't read all the posts so maybe somebody else is already stated this. When I froze Transunion and Equifax I had no ongoing relationship with anyone associated with them. But I get Experion through my USAA account. And when I froze them they said anyone that had an ongoing relationship with them through USAA they would have access to my credit. So I'm a little confused. But in that I don't need it I really don't care. It's not like I'm buying anything on credit in the near future and it's only $10 to unfreeze
DD's SSN was used to open a cc which ran up 5k (jerk never pd) then she moved back home (2009 - unrelated) so that shows up on my credit report as a bad debt because she lived at my house wbile resolving that she didnt owe. I've argue with it, put a discrepancy notice in each one of my free files, but still I can't get my credit rate over 780. It is a hassle and I wish that she had frozen hers but she didn't. It any rate that 10-year window is almost up so it should fall off
DD's SSN was used to open a cc which ran up 5k (jerk never pd) then she moved back home (2009 - unrelated) so that shows up on my credit report as a bad debt because she lived at my house wbile resolving that she didnt owe. I've argue with it, put a discrepancy notice in each one of my free files, but still I can't get my credit rate over 780. It is a hassle and I wish that she had frozen hers but she didn't. It any rate that 10-year window is almost up so it should fall off
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Corporateburnout
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It cost me $5 to unfreeze mine with the only bureau that my vehicle finance company uses. Cheap peace of mind.....
audreyh1
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Yes, if you have an ongoing relationship with a business, they still have access to your credit history. Freezing your credit doesn't change that. But it does protect you from someone using your identity to open accounts at other businesses.
Golden sunsets
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Being retired has its advantages. If I have time to argue with strangers on the Internet, I have time to deal with imprudent defrauded lenders.
This is not to say that I won't take advantage of Equifax's free year of identity protection and credit monitoring.
Warning on taking advantage of the one year free monitoring. I have read that the terms and conditions require that your sign up includes an automatic renewal which is not free. You would have to remember to cancel the service a year from now in order to avoid future fees. I'm not sure how they would get that money from you though, unless they require a cc # at the initial sign up for the free year. This means that Equifax's poor cybersecurity may in the end lead to new business for them. I have instead chosen to place a freeze on our credit at the big three. There is no cost to this, nor to the lifting of the freeze because my state requires that there be no fee. I think most, but perhaps not all States have passed the same protections regarding fees to freeze.
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Fermion
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I think it is only 9 or so states that have passed the protections against fees, so most states still allow the credit mafia to extort you to protect you from them.
ocean view
Full time employment: Posting here.
Has anyone put a credit freeze on for their kids? Or can you if they have no credit history? DS is in high school and taking SAT/ACT this year where he has to provide is SSN, which puts his ID in someone's database that could be vulnerable to a hack. It would be a bit inconvenient when he actually starts establishing credit, but perhaps it is worth it.
And should he claim his SSN with SS as well? Or am I over thinking this?
And should he claim his SSN with SS as well? Or am I over thinking this?
Credit Freeze was free for DW and me
Nevada credit freezes are FREE if you are OVER 65.
Had no problem doing TransUnion and Equifax freezes on line and they automatically knew they were free. Experian requires DW and me to mail the
freeze request, just like they required a mail request of the free annual credit report for DW and me.
Any ideas on why Experian is so difficult?
Nevada credit freezes are FREE if you are OVER 65.
Had no problem doing TransUnion and Equifax freezes on line and they automatically knew they were free. Experian requires DW and me to mail the
freeze request, just like they required a mail request of the free annual credit report for DW and me.
Any ideas on why Experian is so difficult?
athena53
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Mine was $5 for each bureau and it will be $5 to lift them temporarily. Happy to have it done anyway.
One additional need I can see outside of applications for loans and credit cards is insurance, where rates are a function of credit rating. I'll see what happens at my renewal.
So, if I freeze my credit reports and I wish to obtain insurance quotes from three potential insurers, I would need to find out which agency each insurer uses, then unfreeze my reports from those agencies, then once I get the quotes, refreeze my reports - is this correct? And do I need to do that for both myself and DW? I'm counting $90 for this at $10 each?
This world has gotten messy!!
This world has gotten messy!!
audreyh1
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I think you can temporarily unfreeze which is one charge, not two, and perhaps not as expensive.
Sunset
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Guessing you are in IL, as I understand, it is free to set the freeze if you are over 65 or a ID theft victim. But it costs $10 to temporairly thaw it if you want a new CC.
OR am I missing something that says now its free all the time ?
dixonge
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So what you are saying is that things like this story can never happen to you?
The guy who stole my identity 15 years ago just resurfaced in my life - LA Times
prototype
Recycles dryer sheets
Two questions:
Just finished doing freezes with the the big 3 but things did not (are not?) seem right. On a side note I am in one of those $10 to freeze states (Va.).
1. I did Equifax first. Was never asked for a credit card info to cover $10. A "Security Freeze Placement Confirmation " web-page came up with some "blah, blah,...and 10 digit PIN and finishing with, "Please print and keep this page for your records". Received no email confirmation.
2. Did Expirian next. They seemed to worked correctly. Had to enter a CC info to pay $10. Was able to select my own PIN. Received email confirmation also.
3. Transunion, I am totally confused on this one. It wanted me to create an account. When I tried to do that and entered all my personal info it said I already had an account. I don't remember ever creating an account with them...strange. So I went to recover my username and entered basic personal data included answer to "Secret Question". It said my my birth date was incorrect. Tried again but put in different (wrong) answer to secret question and it said both were wrong.
Ok- so I called then, took a while waiting but was able to get a freeze put on (had to pay $10 by giving them CC info). They said the would snail mail me the PIN and other info in 5 to 7 days. They also gave me an 855 number to call (open weekdays only) to check on issues with "my account".
Questions:
1. Did anybody get a freebie with Equifax that lives in a "$10 state" or are they going to send me a bill?
2. Did anybody find they had a Transunion account/login that they don't remember ever creating when they went their to freeze their act.?
TIA
Just finished doing freezes with the the big 3 but things did not (are not?) seem right. On a side note I am in one of those $10 to freeze states (Va.).
1. I did Equifax first. Was never asked for a credit card info to cover $10. A "Security Freeze Placement Confirmation " web-page came up with some "blah, blah,...and 10 digit PIN and finishing with, "Please print and keep this page for your records". Received no email confirmation.
2. Did Expirian next. They seemed to worked correctly. Had to enter a CC info to pay $10. Was able to select my own PIN. Received email confirmation also.
3. Transunion, I am totally confused on this one. It wanted me to create an account. When I tried to do that and entered all my personal info it said I already had an account. I don't remember ever creating an account with them...strange. So I went to recover my username and entered basic personal data included answer to "Secret Question". It said my my birth date was incorrect. Tried again but put in different (wrong) answer to secret question and it said both were wrong.
Ok- so I called then, took a while waiting but was able to get a freeze put on (had to pay $10 by giving them CC info). They said the would snail mail me the PIN and other info in 5 to 7 days. They also gave me an 855 number to call (open weekdays only) to check on issues with "my account".
Questions:
1. Did anybody get a freebie with Equifax that lives in a "$10 state" or are they going to send me a bill?
2. Did anybody find they had a Transunion account/login that they don't remember ever creating when they went their to freeze their act.?
TIA
