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My fellow Americans, freeze your credit report now to protect yourself from fraud!
Why? Because there is roughly a 50% chance that Equifax has lost your confidential information to the black market. What information exactly? Your social security number, your birthdate, your addresses, your name… basically everything that can be used to open credit cards, purchase a house in your name, or collect your tax returns while claiming your children as their dependents!
First, I’m going to give you my experience in freezing my credit report today while I show you how you can easily do it yourself, as well.
Then, I’ll answer a few simple questions you may have that are burning inside your mind.
Don’t forget to check your annual credit report for free here.
How to Freeze Your Credit Report
There are three credit companies you will need to contact in order to freeze your account: Experian, TransUnion, and, the data breach culprits themselves, Equifax.
I tried doing it online through their websites and was unsuccessful on each attempt. So I moved to a method that I found was much easier to freeze your credit report: through the phone!
Before I give you the numbers you’ll have to call, make sure you have the following:
- your social security number
- your address (also your previous addresses if you have lived in your current residence for less than two years)
- your birthdate
- a credit card
- pen and paper to record your Pin and Confirmation numbers
If you have those things, you won’t be scrambling during the phone call to retrieve them.
Equifax: 1-800-349-9960
- Time to complete: 5 minutes
- Cost: $0 Why? Because they know they dropped the ball and they’re trying to save face.
- Pin and Confirmation delivered over the phone
This was the easiest of the three to complete. A simple robot asks for your information, you provide it, boom! Your credit report is frozen and you can sleep well again!
TransUnion: 1-888-909-8872
- Time to complete: 30 minutes
- I had to be transferred to an operator and I waited on the line for most of this time, once I was connected, the process took just a few minutes.
- Cost: $10 (I’m from Michigan, each state is different, but Michigan is in the most expensive bracket)
- Pin and Confirmation number delivered via snail-mail
Again, easy to complete, as long as you don’t mind waiting on the phone for an operator.
Experian: 1-888-397-3742
- Time to complete: 6 minutes
- Cost: $10 (Again, the Michigan rate for this company, and again, the highest cost bracket)
- Pin and Confirmation number delivered via snail-mail
Though the phone call only took 6 minutes. I had to make this call twice to get through. For whatever reason, the robot system just didn’t recognize or understand what I was trying to do the first time. The second effort was a breeze, however.
So now, a few answers to some simple questions you probably have.
Common Questions About What Happens When You Freeze Your Credit Report
Here are a few quick answers to questions about what happens when you freeze your credit report.
Does it impact my credit score?
No, not at all.
Can I still rent an apartment, buy insurance, or open a new account?
You can, but you’ll have to temporarily lift the freeze on your report. Simply contact the companies again to do this. If you’re wise, you’ll ask your new bank, insurance agency, or landlord which company they will contact to check your credit report and you can just do your temporarily lift for that company to save you time and a little bit of cash.
Does a freeze impact my current accounts?
No. However, if your current information is stolen, like, say a credit card number, a thief can still damage you in that way. The credit freeze just prevents any new, unauthorized accounts from opening in your name.
Why can’t I just use a fraud protection agency like LifeLock?
You can, but understand that the company you are using is likely just funneling your money back to Equifax, the same company that lost your information in the first place.
Likewise, the fraud protection companies can’t prevent everything. Remember the buffoon for LifeLock who braggingly plastered his Social Security number on the side of a truck and broadcasted it in television ads to show how solid LifeLock was? His identity was stolen 13 times as a result. Real nice.
How long should I keep the freeze in place?
Until you die. I’m not fear-mongering when I say this: your data may never be safe again. Thanks a lot, overly-confident, under-prepared, super-incompetent credit monitoring companies.
Do you have any other questions about the Equifax breach, how to freeze your credit report, or how it impacts you? I’m happy to help so leave a comment with your concern 🙂