Credit Freeze, Please

We all know that Experian surrendered 143 million US citizens’ personal information recently- so you have about a 50/50 chance of having your information compromised. And yes, Experian is giving you a year (really? Only 1 year!?) of free identity protection that should help prevent identity theft. However, you can take action to help further protect yourself- it’s called a credit freeze.
 
A credit freeze prevents any new potential creditors from checking your credit history and score. If a hacker or criminal has your name, social security number, DOB, home address, dog’s name, IQ number, or shoe size and tries to open an account unbeknownst to you- they shouldn’t be able to because that lender would first go to look at your credit file but aha! it is not accessible.  *However, there are certain situations where companies can access your credit file even if it’s frozen per South Carolina state law*
 
So how do you initiate a credit freeze?

1. You can write to Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax- via certified mail- at the following addresses:

Experian
PO Box 9554
Allen, TX 75013
 
Equifax
PO Box 105788
Atlanta, GA 30348
 
 TransUnion 
PO Box 6790
Fullerton, CA 92834-6790

1. You must Include:
   1. Full Name
   2. Address
   3. Social Security Number
   4. Date of Birth
   5. The addresses you’ve resided at over the last 5 years
   6. Proof of current address (i.e. power bill, water bill, etc.)
   7. Copy of your government issued identification (driver’s license, ID card, etc.)
   8. **If you are the victim of identity theft, you must include a police report, investigative report, or complaint to law enforcement)

 
OR- you can do it online, again you must do it for each company by following these links:

Equifax
TransUnion
Experian
*Make sure to remember any usernames, passwords or PIN numbers associated with each freeze initiated
 
Even if this is done, I still recommend getting a copy of your credit report AT LEAST once a year. Every year, you are entitled to a free copy of your credit report from all three agencies, so please do not get suckered into paying for one. 
Personally, I pulled one of my free credit reports yesterday, will view another at the end of the year, and the final in June of 2018- just to make sure nothing fishy is going on with my credit file from the Equifax breach. I highly encourage you to implement the same strategy to do your own monitoring of your credit file.

​Unfortunately, in these situations there is only so much you can do, so good luck!

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