Credit Freeze???

[Wingshooter]

Does anyone have any experience with "freezing" your credit report? I have been reading about this a little recently, but I don't know a whole lot about it. I have not been a victim of identity theft yet that I know of, but it seems like being proactive is not a bad idea.

I have heard that all that the companies like Life Lock and others do is freeze your credit reports, and this prevents ANYONE from opening ANYTHING in your name until your credit is "thawed". Apparently, anyone can freeze or thaw their own credit for about $10 without paying a third-party company. If/when I want to buy another house or car, I would just have to thaw my credit first.

I am currently on a quest to pay off all my debt and improve my credit score (not bad but could be better). I would be interested if anyone knows more about this. Are their any cons to doing this? So far, it seems like a good idea...

[Krull]

Yea I like this more info please!!!

[Guest db99wj]

Never heard of it, interested as well. My credit score has bounced between 790 and 825, very good by the way, but I have built up a little debt, on the plan to pay off all credit card debt and equity line, by year end. If my business keeps going like it is, I will/could have it paid off by summer. Woot!

[MacGyver]

A credit freeze is a good idea, as a creditor (bank, car dealership, etc...) is prohibited by lay from opening any credit account in your name while a freeze is on the account. Essentially, when a creditor pulls a report on you, the report will come back saying the person has a credit freeze on their account. They won't be able to pull credit until you remove the freeze. The (possible) downside is you going to apply for credit and forgetting you have the freeze in place. It takes a couple days to process the information, so you may have to wait while it's lifted if you forget about it.

In Tennesse it costs 7.50 to institute a freeze, and is free to lift it. If you are an identity theft victim, it's free. So, for instance, if you have received one of the Blue Cross Blue Shield letters recently, you can get it for free.

You have to apply with all three bureaus - Transunion, Equifax and Experian.

Don't go with Lifelock, they are a waste of money and currently involved in several class actions regarding the legitimacy of their product.

PM me if you have questions. As a forensics specialist, this is something that I am involved in a lot. I'd be happy to have you give me a call and point you in the right direction.

Here's a quick link to Transunion's information TransUnion Personal: Security Freeze ? Freezing Your TransUnion Credit File

[Wingshooter]

Awesome info MacGyver! Thanks.

I just recently stumbled onto the concept, and I wanted to confirm that is was legit and get the downsides. This sounds like something I will do.

Question: Does it prevent existing creditors from updating your report? Say, for example, I pay something off..

Edited February 4, 2010 by Batman

[MacGyver]

No, for the most part companies that you already have an existing financial relationship with are not affected by the freeze. They can update information on you, and also still see your credit.

[Guest mustangdave]

I had this done when I got divorced in 1995....

[Volzfan]

I just placed a freeze on my Dad's credit. He has been sending in a bunch of sweepstakes entries and they have started calling his house. My Mom said that he has given SS# and credit card #'s. He says he hasn't but as a precaution I froze his credit file. It cost $7.50 and can be done over the phone with their auto system.

I have been told that if someone tries to apply for credit and they don't actually check the credit history that credit can still be issued in his name.

[Alpha7]

Interesting concept so who do you call basically?

[Guest Drewsett]

After there was a laptop from the election commission lost in Davidson County that contained all Davidson County voter's SSN's and other personal info, Davidson paid for Debix Identity Protection Services for a year. The way it works is that there is a flag on your file, so anytime someone runs your credit report to issue credit, you get a phone call from an automated system where you either allow or disallow the new account by inputting a pin number. If you disallow it, they put you on the phone with a counselor who then figures out what's going on with the application and they notify police. I actually got a guy arrested who tried to buy a car in my name. They insure you for up to a million bucks just in case something gets through.

I liked the service so much I've renewed it for the last couple years. They just recently started charging by the month, I think I'm paying 7.50 a month now. Worth the peace of mind.

[dralarms]

After there was a laptop from the election commission lost in Davidson County that contained all Davidson County voter's SSN's and other personal info, Davidson paid for Debix Identity Protection Services for a year. The way it works is that there is a flag on your file, so anytime someone runs your credit report to issue credit, you get a phone call from an automated system where you either allow or disallow the new account by inputting a pin number. If you disallow it, they put you on the phone with a counselor who then figures out what's going on with the application and they notify police. I actually got a guy arrested who tried to buy a car in my name. They insure you for up to a million bucks just in case something gets through.

I liked the service so much I've renewed it for the last couple years. They just recently started charging by the month, I think I'm paying 7.50 a month now. Worth the peace of mind.

Is that 7.50 for just you or is it a family (wife and you) plan? how about post a link so I can get more info.

Edited February 4, 2010 by dralarms

[Guest jackdm3]

Vol, how did they let you freeze your dad's credit?

[DavidD]

Great thread guys. Thanks for all the info MacGyver. I currently have a free membership through my bank to a credit monitoring service and all it does is email me anytime an inquiry or change has been posted to my credit. I have often wondered if it is enough.

[MacGyver]

Be careful here when you purchase services from a company. I won't discuss any by name (other than my Lifelock reference above), because for the most part they all operate the same.

1. Credit monitoring is not really preventative for identity theft, but may be of use if you don't keep up with the stuff yourself (i.e. your bank statements stack up, you don't know what your credit report looks like, etc...). It's kind of like a smoke alarm. If it goes off, you've already got a problem. I have a big problem with companies that claim that their credit monitoring "prevents identity theft". It doesn't. You might find out about it faster than you would have otherwise, but you're still on fire.

2. Don't pay attention to the monetary guarantees if they fail to fix your problem. It's marketing smoke and mirrors. All of these companies pay a very few "fixers" to recover people's identities if there is an out of band problem. These are specialists who WILL get you back to what we call a pre-event status. No one has ever paid out on one of these. Ever. Some of the class actions out there concern this.

3. Really only one thing matters when you've been hit. That is, "who can recover my identity for me the fastest, and with the least pain." There are a a couple terms you should know. Partially managed, or assisted recovery and Full recovery. Partial or assisted recovery is the rough equivalent of calling AAA when you have a flat, and them telling you how to change a tire. The FTC reports that it takes the average consumer 110-130 hours to recover their identities. You don't want to deal with this. You want fully managed recovery. This is just like it sounds, you call them, they verify that you've been hit, and then they take care of it. There are no silver bullets. They sit on hold with the banks instead of you. If you are going to pay for an identity theft recovery service, make sure it's fully managed. The way to tell is to ask if they require a Limited Power of Attorney. Without it, you aren't getting fully managed recovery.

Other than that, the biggest things you can do are as follows:

1. Open you bark statements and credit card statements every month. Review them. You are protected by Federal law from loss so long as you report it within a certain period of time.

2. Get your free credit reports. Again, by law you are entitled to one a year from each of the bureaus. If you play it right, you will review one about every 4 months. Go to annualcreditreport.com as opposed to freecreditreport.com. The site you see in the commercials is going to try and sell you a bunch of stuff like your FICO score and monitoring. Annualcreditreport.com gets you your reports as required by law - for free.

3. Make sure you are on the do-not-call list - http://www.donotcall.gov

4. Opt out of junkmail - here's a link https://www.dmachoice.org/dma/member/regist.action - Direct Marketing Association

http://www.valassis.com/consumersupport.html - Red Plum /ADVO

www.coxtarget.com/mailsuppression/s/DisplayMailSuppressionForm - Val-PAK

5. Pay Attention - If you are doing business with a company - pay attention to how they treat your data. If you look across a desk and see a big pile of other customers' information, yours is going to be in that stack when you leave. Do business with companies that earn your trust.

Finally, don't forget the elderly and children. As soon as you are born today, you go into the SSA system. If you have children, or care for elderly parents or relatives, help them with this stuff. One of the most prevalent targets of identity theives is the elderly - because they don't have anyone looking out for them.

Good luck

Edited February 4, 2010 by MacGyver

[MacGyver]

Here's a dirty trick you can use, that is more effective than the DoNotCall registry.

Telemarketing firms today are multinational corporations. Above anything else, they care about their bottom line. You can game the system against them. Call centers use auto-dialers to call you. That's while there is a pause at the beginning of a telemarketing call. It is waiting for the computer to connect you to a live body after it recognizes that some idiot is actually on the other end of the line.

These companies databases know A LOT about you. For instance, they know that you specifically are most likely to answer the phone at 6:17CDT - because that's when your phone rings 4 times instead of 2 (meaning you are likely home because your answering machine is empty). They know that you will spend an average of 35 seconds on the phone with a female between the ages of 18 and 25, and will spend on average 4 seconds on the phone with another male. They track all of this stuff. But, at the end of the day, all they care about is the bottom line.

Everytime they make a phone call it costs them money. If you answer, it costs them money. If your answering machine answers, it costs them money. They only way to make them quit calling is to make them think they are wasting money.

Here's the trick - download this tone and put it at the beginning of your answering machine.

http://www.scn.org/~bk269/errorbeeps45.wav

The above link is to the SIT (Special Information Tone) for a disconnected number. If one of your friends calls you, they are going to hear the tone, and then your voice on the answering machine. They'll think - "that's weird" and leave their message. A computer will think differently. As soon as it hears that tone, it thinks - "uh oh, my data is corrupt. This number is not in service." It will delete your record from it's database.

That's not the best part. At the end of the day, most of these companies share data through a couple of different providers, so once the auto-dialer marks you as an error, they report that back to the main computer, which will delete your record from their database. You get deleted from the Matrix if you will.

[DavidD]

.....If you play it right, you will review one about every 4 months.....

Thanks once again for all the input. I just got my free credit report from Equifax. I am assuming that by your statement above I should wait 4 months then get one from Trans Union, wait another 4 months then get one from Experian etc.

When I get home, I'm going to run one on the wife and daughter as well.

[MacGyver]

I am assuming that by your statement above I should wait 4 months then get one from Trans Union, wait another 4 months then get one from Experian etc.

That's the best way to do it. Just put it on your calendar, into Outlook, whatever.

[DavidD]

Well, it wouldn't let me run one on my 16 year old but I did get one on the wife. Thanks again.

Explanation:

According to your order form, you are not yet 18 years of age. Due to federal law, we cannot provide a minor with an online credit report.

[Guest jackdm3]

Open season on minors?!

[DavidD]

Open season on minors?!

Makes one wonder.......

[MacGyver]

By law, you are not supposed to be able to open a credit account if you are under 18. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Daily.

We have worked a bunch of cases over the last couple years of "credit card companies" setting up in student centers and offering free t-shirts or whatever to get students to fill out credit apps. When they do, they are handing a ready made identity theft form over to organized crime. They never get the credit card, and forget about it until they try and by a car or something and figure out that they've become a victim of identity theft.

Also, everyone associates identity theft with financial loss. It is also used by criminals for insurance fraud, medical fraud and actually using your identity when they get busted for a crime. These problems are just as big as the financial ones.

Bottom line. If you've got kids, start now teaching them about the sensitivity of their information. We need kids who can be advocates for themselves when they go out into the world.