Whether your personal information has been stolen or not, your best protection against someone opening new credit accounts in your name is the security freeze (also known as the credit freeze), not the often offered, under achieving credit monitoring
Whether your personal information has been stolen or not, your best protection against someone opening new credit accounts in your name is the security freeze (also known as the credit freeze), not the often offered, under achieving credit monitoring."
U.S. Public Interest Research Group, Oct. 2015
Yes, we recommend freezing your credit file.
Here are some guidelines.
There are three credit bureaus and each must be contacted with your freeze order;
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Experian - https://www.experian.com/freeze/
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Equifax - https://www.freeze.equifax.com/
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Transunion - http://www.transunion.com/securityfreeze
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Each bureau will provide you a PIN to use to control, your account.
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The PIN allows you to unfreeze anytime you are applying for credit, and then re-freeze when complete.
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Freezes can be lifted by you with your PIN for any length of time between one day and one year.
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The freeze/unfreeze activity does not affect your credit score.
It’s a little bit tedious on the front-end, but then; you're done! And it makes a big difference toward shoring in risk to financial fraud.
More here:
"Surviving Equifax and the New Normal for Cyber Crime"
