License Plates

[kdonnel]

Freeze your credit. Keep it frozen. Unfreeze it for as short a period as possible when you do need to let a new creditor have access.

As a former victim of identity theft that would have been prevented by having my credit frozen, I can assure you it is much easier if you keep your credit frozen.

Don't be me having to work with the state attorney's office to sue the state to make sure it is on record that the company registered as being owned by me is not really me.

Don't be me having to deal with the bill collector who wants to be paid for the credit card processing terminal debt he bought that was used by the company that was not me.

Don't be me having to deal with the credit card merchant bank to ensure I don't get sent a 1099 for the tens of thousands of dollars in stolen credit cards that were run through the credit card processing terminal.

Don't be me having to talk to the bank about how the commercial account opened in the company registered to me is not me.

Don't be me struggling to get a police report since none of the counties I contacted were willing to talk to me or take a police report.

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[rhougey]

Freeze your credit. Keep it frozen. Unfreeze it for as short a period as possible when you do need to let a new creditor have access.

As a former victim of identity theft that would have been prevented by having my credit frozen, I can assure you it is much easier if you keep your credit frozen.

Don't be me having to work with the state attorney's office to sue the state to make sure it is on record that the company registered as being owned by me is not really me.

Don't be me having to deal with the bill collector who wants to be paid for the credit card processing terminal debt he bought that was used by the company that was not me.

Don't be me having to deal with the credit card merchant bank to ensure I don't get sent a 1099 for the tens of thousands of dollars in stolen credit cards that were run through the credit card processing terminal.

Don't be me having to talk to the bank about how the commercial account opened in the company registered to me is not me.

Don't be me struggling to get a police report since none of the counties I contacted were willing to talk to me or take a police report.

As someone who has never really given a thought to “freezing my credit”, where do you start, what do you do? Is it easy to unfreeze for a limited time? Thank you for your post.

 

[kdonnel]

As someone who has never really given a thought to “freezing my credit”, where do you start, what do you do? Is it easy to unfreeze for a limited time? Thank you for your post.

This page has all the links you should need.

https://www.usa.gov/credit-freeze

Generally an unfreeze is instant. In the past 10+ years I only had one instance where I was asked to mail in a form for the unfreeze to one of the bureau.

When you need someone to access your credit file you have to go to all three credit bureau because rarely can a creditor tell you which they will use, unfreeze, push the apply for credit button or have them do it, and refreeze.

You can also schedule a thaw where it unfreezes for a period of time you define and then automatically refreezes.

Freezes are free. The bureaus will try to push you to their lock/unlock paid feature. So if you are asked to pay, you have gone down the wrong path.

 

[rhougey]

This page has all the links you should need.

https://www.usa.gov/credit-freeze

Generally an unfreeze is instant. In the past 10+ years I only had one instance where I was asked to mail in a form for the unfreeze to one of the bureau.

When you need someone to access your credit file you have to go to all three credit bureau because rarely can a creditor tell you which they will use, unfreeze, push the apply for credit button or have them do it, and refreeze.

You can also schedule a thaw where it unfreezes for a period of time you define and then automatically refreezes.

Freezes are free. The bureaus will try to push you to their lock/unlock paid feature. So if you are asked to pay, you have gone down the wrong path.

I assume husband and wife will freeze credit at all three bureaus separately?

 

[kdonnel]

I assume husband and wife will freeze credit at all three bureaus separately?

Yes.

 

[MellowJohnny]

Thieves today don't need any of this - all they need is your email address and a good social engineering playbook. People today don't have their identity *stolen*, we give it to them.

Get an email recently from "PayPal" about a recent renewal for anti-virus software and a phone number to dispute the $388 charge?

Thieves don't come to us anymore, we go to them.

 

[Old_Norm]

You can find and remove your personal information from the web using Google Search.
Find and remove personal contact info in Google Search results
https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/12719076?hl=en

 

[Old_Norm]

As someone who has never really given a thought to “freezing my credit”, where do you start, what do you do? Is it easy to unfreeze for a limited time? Thank you for your post.

This might help.
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/credit-score/pros-and-cons-of-freezing-credit/

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