Protecting Your Identity! Smart Reasons to Freeze Your Credit!

With all the data breaches, people hacking into websites and getting access to your private information, protecting your identity is more important than ever and, freezing your Credit Report can be a great idea. I’m seeing this come up more and more in other news and on social media. Do you know how to protect your credit and identity?


What is a credit freeze?


A credit freeze, also known as a security freeze, prevents the credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Transunion and Experian) from sharing a consumer’s credit report with third parties.


When should you consider a credit freeze?


If you’ve been notified your information was accessed in a data breach or if you aren’t planning to apply for credit anytime soon, I want to encourage you to place a freeze on your credit file. It’s quick to do and totally free. Plus, you can turn it on and off rather quickly so if anything changes, you are in control.


How it works?


When you apply for a new credit account (credit card, loan, etc), the institution runs your name and social security number to confirm your identity and verify your credit profile.


When you have a credit freeze, the institution isn’t able to check your credit so they can’t approve your account opening. So, if someone attempts to open an account under your name, since your credit file can’t be accessed, they are most likely to have that attempt denied.


How do you place a credit freeze?


To place a freeze, you will need to complete the appropriate steps for each of your 3 credit files - Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. You can complete this via their websites or call them directly. It is fairly quick and painless.


Below are the steps to follow:


*Please note - you do not need the paid membership option for any of these websites in order to place a freeze

Experian

  • Login or create account at EXPERIAN.com.
  • Under profile click “Help Center”.
  • Under “Quick actions” choose “Manage security freeze”.
  • At the top, choose “Frozen”.
  • Get confirmation your account is frozen.
  • You can freeze/unfreeze or even “temporarily thaw” the freeze using these same steps.

Transunion

  • Login or create account at TRANSUNION.com.
  • Choose “Security Center”.
  • Choose “Credit Freeze”.
  • Choose “Freeze”.
  • Get confirmation your account is frozen.
  • You can freeze/unfreeze or “temporarily lift” the freeze using these same steps.

Equifax

  • Login or create account at EQUIFAX.com.
  • Choose “Freeze” on left side bar.
  • Choose “Freeze Credit”.
  • Get confirmation your account is frozen.
  • You can freeze/unfreeze or “temporarily lift” the freeze using these same steps or right from the dashboard when you first login.

Freezing your credit is free, easy to do, and can be lifted at any time, making it a smart move when you want to protect yourself from fraud or identity theft. This cost you nothing, it is FREE, you do not need to purchase anything.

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For over 18 years, I immersed myself in the world of financial services as an advisor, mastering a broad spectrum of areas from insurance (i.e., life, disability, long-term care, health) to investments and comprehensive financial planning. Today, I'm dedicated to helping my clients improve their financial literacy, as too many people are so unprepared — not just for retirement, but for managing their day-to-day finances. This has to change. The ever lurking problem is that money does bring up both anxiety and fear, not just because people lack capability or the ability to grasp or understand money, but because financial literacy was NEVER TAUGHT to them, either by their parents, society, in school or a combination of those three.

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