A recent conversation with our Chief Information Security Officer impressed upon me the importance of protecting my credit. He talked about how his social security number and other protected information were sold on the dark web which led to problems with his credit and bank accounts. He went through the process of freezing his credit reports and bank account information, which gives a layer of protection against identity theft. This prevents bad actors from opening credit accounts and taking out loans in your name. Fixing these kinds of problems after the fact can be very difficult.
According to Experian, a credit freeze, also known as a security freeze, is a tool designed to help protect you from fraud and identity theft. It limits access to your credit report unless you lift the freeze, or “thaw” your credit. Having a freeze in place won’t affect your credit scores, but it will prevent your credit report from being accessed to calculate scores unless you first lift the freeze.
So I asked Brad for more information, and he was kind enough to send me a list of steps to do this. While he was doing this to stop further compromise of his information, he stressed that proactively freezing your credit and utility accounts can prevent problems before they start.
CAVEAT!
Freezing your accounts creates an inconvenience when you or a creditor need to access them. You have to unfreeze them prior to applying for a loan, or some other form of credit. Not a big deal, but be aware. Sometimes unfreezing a report can take several days. In some cases (such as ChexSystem) you will have to keep up with a PIN they send you to unfreeze the account in the future.
In order to freeze your accounts, take the following steps: