How to Freeze Your Credit

Identity theft is the worst. And sadly, it’s happening more and more these days. Now, it’s no longer a matter of if someone will try to steal your personal information—it’s a matter of when. In fact, 47% of Americans were victims of financial identity theft in 2020.¹ That’s not okay! But there’s a way you can protect your info and lower the risk of strangers taking out credit in your name—by freezing your credit.

Just like Mr. Freeze from Batman, credit freezing can stop your enemies (aka fraudsters) in their tracks and keep them from doing more harm. Here’s what you need to know about how to freeze your credit so you can protect yourself and your loved ones from identity thieves.

What Is a Credit Freeze?

A credit freeze is a way to lower your risk of identity theft by locking others out of your credit report—think of it as storing your valuables in a safe. Most creditors (the people who loan you money) check your credit before letting you do things like buy a house, lease a car, or take out a loan. By freezing your credit, you can stop creditors from approving new accounts—which helps prevent random people from opening up new lines of credit in your name (without you knowing).

Of course, if your credit is frozen, that means you won’t be able to open a new account either (like to take out a mortgage). But you can always unfreeze your credit—or temporarily lift the freeze—whenever you want.

What happens when you freeze your credit?

Here’s the deal: Freezing your credit is a smart move. Not only does it keep someone’s greedy paws off your personal info, but it also gives you the control of who can run your credit report and when. But while freezing your credit is a good thing, there are some things you should know before diving in headfirst:

• Freezing your credit does not guarantee a creditor won’t still give a credit card to someone pretending to be you. There’s always a chance they won’t look up your credit first. But freezing your credit does lower the risk.
   
• Someone can still try to hack into your existing accounts and go on a shopping spree with your hard-earned money. But if someone does steal your identity, credit freezing can help stop them from opening new accounts and causing even more trouble.
   
• Freezing your credit does not affect your credit score—but if you’ve got any errors on your credit report, you’ll want to fix those before you decide to freeze your credit.
   
• You—and your current creditors, debt collectors and some government agencies (like child support)—will still be able to see your credit report. It just won’t be available for any new lenders to see.   
   
• A credit freeze does not keep credit card companies and other businesses from trying to sell you preapproved credit offers based on your current credit info. (Junk mail is the worst!)

How to Freeze Your Credit

Freezing your credit is a lot like doing the dishes. It’s not hard—it just takes some time . . . but not as much time as it would take to untangle the web of a stolen identity.

All you have to do is contact the three major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) and let them know you want to freeze your credit. You can do this through their websites, by mail, or by calling them directly. If you prefer doing your business over the phone, you can contact each of the credit bureaus at the numbers below:

Experian: 888-397‑3742

Equifax: 888-378-4329

TransUnion: 888-909-8872

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Make sure you have your personal information handy when placing your credit freeze (like your social security number, birth date and current address). They might ask you for proof of address, your driver’s license or a passport depending on how you decide to place your freeze.

Next, you’ll set up a PIN that allows you to freeze and unfreeze your credit report whenever you want. So, even if someone has your social security number or other personal information, they can’t touch your frozen credit without that PIN. (So you really, really don’t want to lose it!)

It doesn’t take long for the freeze to kick in—credit bureaus have to place it within one business day if you request it online or by phone, and within three business days if you mailed in your request.

What Does It Cost?

Absolutely nothing! You used to have to pay $3–12 to each credit bureau whenever you wanted to freeze or unfreeze your credit. But after the great Equifax data breach of 2017 (which leaked the personal information of 147 million Americans), the government decided to make it easier and cheaper to protect your personal information.² 

So, now you can freeze and unfreeze your credit for free! And don’t forget that you can also request a free credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus once a year, even if your credit is frozen.

When Should You Freeze Your Credit?

Personal Data Breaches

We hear a lot about data breaches (think Target or Capital One), but what exactly are they? A data breach is when someone gets their hands on private or sensitive information—like credit card or social security numbers—without permission. And since so many of us store important info like that online, there’s a higher chance people will be able to steal it.

Now, freezing your credit can’t prevent someone from stealing your information, but it can stop them from using it to open up new lines of credit—and leasing a brand-new Tesla in your name. Ouch! So, if you know there’s been a breach of your personal account or a breach in a company that stores your data, put your shields up with a credit freeze.

Identity Theft

Identity theft is when someone uses your personal information (from a data breach or even by digging through your mail) to get into your accounts, open new accounts, or make purchases using your money. Unfortunately, identity theft is pretty common these days. It can be an absolute nightmare trying to clean up the mess someone else makes while pretending to be you.

That’s why it’s so important to defend yourself from identity theft by doing things like checking your cybersecurity and changing your passwords. But the good news is that freezing your credit can keep identity thieves from going out and opening accounts in your name from here to Timbuktu.

Protect Your Child’s Credit

Sadly, even your kids aren’t safe from identity theft. But did you know you can freeze your child’s credit to stop people from opening accounts in their name too? Since you have to be at least 18 years old to use credit, a credit bureau will have to open a credit file for your child in order to freeze it.

It’s super simple—all you have to do is fill out a child credit freeze request form and mail it to each of the credit bureaus, along with copies of important documents (like a birth certificate, social security card, etc.). If your child is 16 or older, they can do this themselves. You can also check your child’s credit online for free to make sure they aren’t already a victim of identity theft.

How to Unfreeze Your Credit

To unfreeze your credit, all you have to do is let the credit bureaus know you want to lift the freeze. Remember that PIN we talked about earlier? You’ll need to give that number to the folks at the credit agencies to unfreeze your report. There’s even an option to lift the freeze temporarily if you want to apply for something that needs a credit check.

Keep in mind that it could take anywhere from several seconds to several days for your credit report to “thaw” so creditors can see it again. Yeah, it’s kind of a pain to keep contacting each credit bureau every time someone needs to see your credit report, but it’s less of a pain than having someone try to take out a mortgage in your name.

Pro tip: If a potential employer needs your credit report because you’re applying for a job, you can always ask them which credit bureau they’ll check with so you don’t have to contact all three.

Pros and Cons of Freezing Your Credit

Now that we’ve covered the basics, here’s a look at some of the pros and cons of freezing your credit:

Pros of Freezing Your Credit:

• Identity thieves can’t open new credit accounts in your name.
• There are usually fewer cases of fraud if someone steals your identity.
• It’s free to freeze or unfreeze your credit.
• It doesn’t affect your credit score.
• You can still see your credit report.

Cons of Freezing Your Credit:

• It doesn’t stop someone from stealing your personal information or hacking into an existing account.
• You have to lift the freeze if you want to open a new line of credit.
• It could slow down any applications that require a credit check.
• You have to keep track of a PIN number.

Now that we’ve covered the credit freezing basics, let’s take a look at some other ways to protect your identity.

Credit Freeze vs Credit Lock: What’s the Difference?

Once the government put the free in credit freeze, credit bureaus quickly realized they weren’t going to make money every time someone decided to freeze or unfreeze their credit report. So, they came up with credit locks. These are basically the same thing as credit freezes—except they’re usually not free.

The only benefit to a credit lock is that you can immediately freeze and unfreeze your credit with the touch of a button on your phone. But credit locks offer less legal protection because they’re not controlled by state law like credit freezes are. Even if they seem more convenient, credit locks are just a way for credit bureaus to try and make back the money they were getting before the 2017 data breach—so you’d be better off sticking with a credit freeze.

Other Ways to Defend Against Identity Theft

Credit Monitoring

Even if you have a freeze on your credit and your cybersecurity seems to be as secure as Fort Knox, you still need to check your credit and bank statements regularly to make sure no one’s trying to break in.

Credit monitoring services are great because they keep an eye on your credit for you and alert you any time they notice something fishy going on. But while credit monitoring is important, it only makes you aware of a problem—it doesn’t stop it from happening. So, you’ll want to make sure you have other defenses in place to combat identity theft.

Fraud Alerts

Let’s say a credit monitoring service spots some strange activity on one of your accounts and you think you might be a victim of identity theft. Or maybe you’re worried it might happen because your information is at risk (like if someone stole important documents or cards from you). If that happens, you can immediately place a fraud alert. A fraud alert is similar to a credit freeze because it helps keep people from opening up new accounts in your name.

The main difference is that creditors can still see your credit report—they just have to verify your identity first. And when you contact one of the credit bureaus about the fraud alert, they’ll let the other two know (so you don’t have to).

The downside is that there’s no penalty for the credit bureau if they choose to ignore a fraud alert and give a creditor your information anyway without confirming your identity first. (Seriously?) Plus, fraud alerts only last for up to a year, so they aren’t going to be as effective as a credit freeze. But it doesn’t hurt to place a fraud alert as extra protection if you think someone has your personal info.

Identity Theft Protection

Identity theft can rob you of more than just money or good credit. Police reports, phone calls, going through bank statements—it can cost you countless hours and sleepless nights. But imagine having someone on your side who will do the work for you.

Identity theft protection is one of the best things you can get to save yourself the time and stress of trying to fight off cyber thieves by yourself. With Zander Insurance, you get a Certified Recovery Specialist who will contact creditors on your behalf. They take the time to explain what happened and provide the necessary info so you can get your identity—and your life—back. It’s too much of a risk to not have it—get identity theft protection today!

Cut Credit From Your Life for Good

Let’s face it: Our world loves the “almighty credit score.” But have you ever thought about what a credit score really means? It’s just a tool that measures how you handle debt. Yep. That’s it. And when you think about it that way, it changes things. Get this: The credit industry wants to keep you in debt.

Doesn’t that make you mad? Listen: We’re not shy about how we feel about it. Debt is dumb (with a capital D), and you don’t need it to live your life. In fact, you can live life without credit—or a credit score for that matter!

And one of the best ways to lower the chance of someone hacking into your credit accounts is by swearing off credit in the first place. When you don’t borrow money, you can freeze your credit report—and let it stay frozen! (We’re talking deep freeze here, folks.) But quitting credit does more than just help protect you from identity theft. It frees you up to actually start winning with money!

Sound too good to be true? Financial Peace University (FPU) will show you how! In this course, you'll learn how to ditch debt for good so you can focus on saving for emergencies and building wealth for the future.

It's time to give credit the cold shoulder. Start FPU today!