Having your private information or identity stolen can be a real pain! It takes quite a while to make it right, so one of the best ways to help ensure that neither happens in the first place is to protect it as much as you can. In light of the multiple data breaches in recent years, it’s a great idea to put a freeze on your credit reports.

WHY FREEZE YOUR CREDIT?

Credit reports contain lots of information about you and your credit. This includes your address, your employer, your creditors, your social security number, payment histories, credit scores, and a great deal of other very valuable information. If it’s stolen, it could be used against you for a whole host of purposes such as credit fraud, income tax fraud, or healthcare fraud. Someone could potentially become you.

WHAT DOES FREEZING YOUR CREDIT MEAN?

When you freeze your credit reports, no one can pull your information from the credit bureaus; including you. That said, if you need to make it available for some reason, such as to apply for credit, you can unfreeze it for a temporary period of time; even for just a day. You just need to plan ahead a little bit.

This also applies to things like requesting your credit score or applying for a home to rent. Landlords often want to check your credit also and you would need to unfreeze it for that too.

DOES IT COST ANYTHING?

It doesn’t cost a thing to freeze your credit. In 2021, following the Equifax data beach which affected nearly half the population of the U.S., Congress passed a bill making it free to freeze and unfreeze your credit.

Should I Freeze My Child’s Credit Report?

Absolutely! Unfortunately, children can be victims of identity theft as well. In fact, more than 1 million children in the U.S. are victims of identity theft each year, and some don’t even know it until they apply for credit as an adult! Thieves can buy a child’s social security number on the dark web for about $2, commit fraud, and no one may notice for years.

HOW CAN I FREEZE MY CREDIT REPORT?

It’s not a one and done situation, unfortunately. You must freeze your credit file with each credit bureau individually. The good news, however, is that it only takes a few minutes to make the requests. Simply visit the websites for Equifax, Transunion, and Experian.

If you prefer to call, you can do that too. Just be sure to get the current phone numbers off their websites directly.

Also remember that credit monitoring is not the same as a credit freeze. Credit monitoring still leaves your credit report accessible. You will just receive notifications if someone tries to access it.