On his show the other night, John Oliver says we all ought to “freeze our credit” with the major credit-reporting agencies. Further, he has provided a handy link to do so.
Honestly, I have no idea if my information has been stolen, but of course we all ought to presume the worst.
Anyone understand all this? What do you think?
Moderator Action
Since this is seeking opinions, let’s move it to IMHO (from GQ).
Considering the scope of the Equifax hack, the only safe assumption to make is that your information has been compromised. However, since so many millions of people have been affected, that does reduce the chance of your number being pulled out of the hat by those who would use it for nefarious purposes. That said, considering John Oliver has been only one of many telling everyone to freeze their credit, there are probably so many people doing that now that the number of people with un-frozen credit is shrinking considerably, thus increasing the chance of you being picked at random if you are still among them.
That said, I still haven’t done it myself. I am seriously considering it, though, for the above reasons, but I think I am more likely to do something else I’ve done before: place a fraud alert on my credit instead of a freeze.
A fraud alert doesn’t freeze my credit, but rather just ensures that I am contacted whenever an account is being opened with my information. That basically keeps my credit pretty much as safe as if it was frozen, while avoiding the hassle of getting it un-frozen if I ever need to get a loan or something like that.
IMHO yes. Not just because of Equifax but because your info has been comprimised somewhere else already or will be comprimised in the near future. Freezing your credit is the only way to get across-the-board protection.
If you don’t foresee needing credit in the near future (really, I don’t think many people need new credit at the drop of a hat) then it’s an easy and cheap way to protect yourself.
I froze my credit about 3 weeks ago. It was easy and cost $10 (free from Equifax, $5 each from the other two. I think the costs & availability are based on where you live and maybe what type of accounts you have).
My friend Andy had his info stolen last week. Or rather, had it started to be used by a crook last week. His banks all told him to freeze his credit. Last night he posted a letter from Sprint showing that a credit account was attempted and blocked just 17 min after he finished with his credit freeze. He is still having to deal with the fallout of all the fake accounts made in his name.
I don’t know of any downsides to freezing your credit. In my opinion, you should do it now with no delay.
A few days ago I froze my Equifax report since it was free with TrustedID, I also placed a Fraud Alert on all of them. I did this mainly because there was an charge on one of my credit cards (almost $300 with Uber) that wasn’t mine. In almost 20 years of having credit cards, this is the first time that’s happened. Probably a coincidence…maybe not.
I know the fraud alert doesn’t do a whole lot and there’s a good chance that anyone with the data may just wait a few months or even a few years for all of this to blow over, I just figured it was better than doing nothing.
I froze mine for all three. In California it is free if you are over 65, which was nice. It just saves having to worry about it. Plus, as a benefit, when a store bugs you to open a credit card account with them, you can just say, sorry, frozen, and the conversation is over.
I’ll be paying cash for my next car, whenever that is, and the way things are now if I move into a smaller house in a cheaper place I can pay cash for that also.
Another plus - if enough of us freeze our reports, the customers of these agencies, the ones who want our credit at the drop of a hat, will get pissed off and then maybe we’ll have some real reform.
Example. Though I always intended to pay cash for my last car, they insisted on running a credit report to try to sell me a loan. Now they can’t, and if they get upset I’ll tell them I’m walking rather than unfreezing my account, which should help stop this obnoxious practice.
Just a heads up, a fraud alert is only as good as the creditor. They have to see the alert and then “verify” that they called you. There’s nothing really stopping them.
My CC providers have their own fraud detection algorithms which seem to be a bit capricious. I have had quite small transactions queried, while large, even very large ones go through without problems. For example I bought a car last year and pad £18k on a card without any query; on the other hand, the same provider queried a <£10 transaction from a major retail store’s website. I realise that some crooks might put a small transaction through to see if it works before going for the kill, but surely not Marks and Spencer?
I do check online frequently, looking for suspicious transactions and have only spotted one in the last ten years.
My wife and I froze our accounts several days ago (after watching the recent John Oliver show), and there was no charge involved on any of them. I suspect they all dropped their freeze charges temporarily after the Equifax breach.
Nope. I have to pay for TransUnion and Experian. Equifax was free. Experian didn’t even work, I have to mail in an application. I think it depends on which state you live in. I assume there are local regulations that restrict what they can charge.
I froze mine with 4 agencies, all over the phone, took about a half hour. I don’t remember specifically without looking at some notes I took, but I believe I had to pay 2 of them. Ten bucks or so well spent.
Freezing your credit is not related to someone compromising your credit card. Freezing your credit stops someone from opening NEW lines of credit in your name. Existing lines of credit (your credit card) will continue to be as vulnerable as ever. I am used to getting new credit cards every 1-2 years after they become compromised. A pain in the ass to update all your automatic payments but not nearly the pain in the ass if someone opens a NEW credit card in your name that you are unaware of.
And yes, my wife and I have frozen our credit from the main three sources. We don’t figure we’ll ever need credit again in our life unless we decide to open a new credit card. We’ll use cash for future car purchases are for our retirement home purchase.
Absolutely do it. If your information was part of the theft, then gone is gone, but at least you can prevent it from being used to obtain credit cards, etc.
I froze all of mine at the end of 2015 when I first saw a recommendation to do so, unfroze them briefly when I bought a car last March, then froze them again.
Just keep in mind that you need to unfreeze it if you apply for a new job or apartment. In either case the person pulling your credit might simply move on to the next applicant when their request fails, rather than advising you it is frozen.
Also put a freeze on your report at Chexsystems. 80% of banks and credit unions use reports from Chexsystems or Early Warning Systems to determine if they will open an account for you. The latter doesn’t appear to offer a freeze option.
More information on Chexsystems here.
Freeze link.
I’m guessing I can’t do this for my husband? I normally handle all this crap, but us this something he will have to handle himself, or can I do it for both of us?
Yes, you can do it for both of you as long as you have his SSN and probably his driver’s license number (in the case of Chexsys). I did it for both my wife and me online.
Okay, say I just started a new job today. Does that mean I’m clear to freeze everything? How long and how much does it take to unfreeze?
I have also seen recommendations to freeze your credit with Innovis.
If you haven’t done so already, it would be a good idea to set up your “my Social Security” account with the Social Security Administration and get the login and PIN for that account. It’s best to do this before freezing your credit, because then you can do it online or by phone. If your credit is already frozen, you will have to go to the nearest SSA Office and do it in person, which will probably mean a long wait in line. (If you HAVE to go in person, try calling to set up an appointment in advance.)
Unfreezing may depend on how many people are in the queue in front of you, but it’s generally very fast. After you freeze your accounts, you’ll receive a PIN in the mail from each service. Do NOT lose them, as that’s what you’ll need to unfreeze your account(s). It’s just a matter of going on line and clicking on an ‘unfreeze account’ link. You can also specify how many days you want it unfrozen. If you are applying for a bank card or buying a car, etc., ask then which service they specifically use for credit checks and only unfreeze that one.