Freeze your credit report
Oct. 16th, 2017 01:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
indigo_rose99I've been getting a surprising number of emails from my credit cards and my investment bank about the recent data breaches. Yes, you should be worried. Both agencies seem to assume that my personal information is already out there and it is just a matter of time before my financial life is ruined. I pulled one of my credit reports last week and it looked fine. So far...?
Today I watched John Oliver's most recent Last Week Tonight about the recent Equifax breach. Ugh. They are evil. The image of us as the fried chicken being sold by KFC, not as the person buying the fried chicken was especially painful. That episode only solidified the idea that I should Do Something To Protect Myself. All articles (and John Oliver) point to freezing my credit. The question is, how? When I recently pulled my credit report, I tried to figure out how to freeze my account... and couldn't find the appropriate link. @LastWeekTonight was more than happy to post those links on their twitter feed.
The first link below each credit agency is the LastWeekTonight link. The 2nd one is the one I got when I followed the first link. Either should work. I also noted how much each cost. It took me about 40 minutes, a credit card and (optionally, but recommended) a printer to go through this process.
Today I watched John Oliver's most recent Last Week Tonight about the recent Equifax breach. Ugh. They are evil. The image of us as the fried chicken being sold by KFC, not as the person buying the fried chicken was especially painful. That episode only solidified the idea that I should Do Something To Protect Myself. All articles (and John Oliver) point to freezing my credit. The question is, how? When I recently pulled my credit report, I tried to figure out how to freeze my account... and couldn't find the appropriate link. @LastWeekTonight was more than happy to post those links on their twitter feed.
The first link below each credit agency is the LastWeekTonight link. The 2nd one is the one I got when I followed the first link. Either should work. I also noted how much each cost. It took me about 40 minutes, a credit card and (optionally, but recommended) a printer to go through this process.
To freeze Equifax,
No fee required
To freeze TransUnion
$10 fee to freeze. It will be another $10 to temporarily lift the freeze for 1-30 days.
To freeze Experion
In Texas, $10.83 to freeze. Did not say if there is a fee to temporarily lift the freeze.
You'll have to unfreeze when you want to apply for new credit, and then freeze again after, and there may be fees to freeze and unfreeze.
