Freeze your credit: the best free identity protection there is
If a criminal has your name, birth date and Social Security number, and after years of breaches many do, they can try to open a credit card or loan in your name. A credit freeze shuts that door. Lenders can't see your credit report, so they won't approve new credit, no matter who applies.
Why it beats paid "identity protection"
Many paid monitoring services tell you after someone has opened an account in your name. A freeze stops the account from being opened at all. Since September 2018, US federal law has required the three national credit bureaus to let you freeze and unfreeze your credit for free.
A freeze:
- Costs nothing, to place or to lift.
- Doesn't affect your credit score or your existing cards and loans.
- Doesn't stop you using credit. You lift it for a day or a week when you apply for something, then it goes back on.
How to do it
Freeze your file at each of the three bureaus. Each has its own website and account:
- Equifax
- Experian
- TransUnion
Go to each bureau's official site directly (type the address yourself rather than clicking an ad), create an account, and choose "freeze". Use your password manager for each login, because you'll need them again whenever you lift the freeze.
Want to go further?
- Freeze your file at Innovis, a smaller fourth credit bureau some lenders use.
- Freeze your ChexSystems report to make it harder for someone to open a bank account in your name.
- Freeze your children's credit too. A child's clean record is a favorite target because the fraud can go unnoticed for years.
When you apply for a mortgage, car loan or new card, ask the lender which bureau they use and lift the freeze only there, for only as long as you need.
Fifteen minutes now saves months of untangling fraud later. It's the most no-fuss privacy step there is.