Several years ago, with identity theft on the rise and highly publicized hacks of major financial companies abounding, the concept of freezing one’s credit was popularized. The effectiveness of a credit freeze is undeniable. Done properly, it is the most efficient way to prevent identity theft or fraudulent use of your hard-earned kala (money). So it is puzzling why more folks aren’t doing it.
What exactly is a credit freeze? The term is somewhat of a misnomer. You are not freezing your credit; rather, you are freezing access to your credit report. No one will be able to retrieve your credit report, thereby preventing accounts from being opened in your name, regardless of whether that person has any of your personally identifiable information — PII, in geek-speak. PII includes your name, date of birth, address and Social Security number, among other pieces of information; they are basically all the data needed to open, for example, a credit card in your name.
To freeze your credit, contact the credit reporting agencies as follows:
>> Go to equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-freeze or call 800-349-9960.
>> Go to experian.com/freeze/center.html or 888‑397‑3742.
>> Go to transunion.com/credit-freeze or 888-909-8872.
Credit freezes are free! The easiest way to deal with all three of the agencies is to set up an online account with them. Over the past few years, the process has matured greatly to the point of simplicity.
In addition to applying for credit, there are other cases for which someone may run a credit report for you, such as applying for a job or security clearance, or renting an apartment or house. In all of these cases, you can temporarily lift the freeze, again at no cost. You can ask the requester which credit reporting agency they use and unfreeze only that agency’s report. In some cases they may not be willing or able to share that information, and you will need to unfreeze your report with all three agencies.
An unfreeze is as simple as logging in and setting the dates for which you want your credit report to be available. Most creditors make the request immediately — after all, they want to sign you up before you change your mind. As such, a week is usually plenty long enough to schedule the unfreeze.
Every agency will tell you that it takes at least one business day for an unfreeze to take effect, but anecdotal evidence suggests that unfreezes happen virtually immediately. So if you find yourself needing to unfreeze your credit right away, you can schedule it for today, assuming it’s a weekday, and it will probably take effect instantly.
There is absolutely no reason not to freeze your credit, and it is perplexing that so few do it. Most studies say that fewer than a third of consumers freeze their credit. Those who do will be less of a target than those who don’t. As the old, oft-repeated adage says, you don’t have to out-swim the shark, you just have to out-swim the other folks in the water.
John Agsalud is an IT expert with more than 25 years of information technology experience in Hawaii and around the world. He can be reached at jagsalud@live.com.
