![]() ![]() The specific cost varied by state and it was a pain for everyone. Interestingly enough, it used to cost money to freeze your credit. Every other option is a cheap imitation that will cost you money.īut freezing your credit won’t cost you anything! Freezing your credit won’t cost you a dime The only option worth considering is freezing your credit. So while there are lots of similar-sounding options that all claim to help you keep fraudsters from stealing your identity while keeping your credit in tip-top shape, don’t believe them. ![]() Locking your credit with the major bureaus is basically like tossing a few hundred bucks directly into the incinerator. That’s almost $300 a year! And it would still leave your credit at risk with the other major bureaus. Go with credit freezes!Įxperian, for instance, charges $24.99 a month to lock your credit. But, credit locks are expensive (and less effective) and credit freezes are FREE (and offer more protection!). Credit Freezeīoth credit locks and credit freezes do kind of the same thing: limit access to your credit report. That’s because they stand to benefit financially if you sign up. The bureaus, of course, want to make the credit lock products that they offer sound like the greatest thing since sliced bread. In addition to that, locking your credit via one of the bureaus or third-party service will often cost you money in the form of recurring subscription fees! And those fees aren’t cheap. And there’s an added layer of security to the credit freeze that doesn’t exist with a credit lock. Credit locks are subject to the policies and fine-print of each of the credit bureaus. ![]() That’s because credit freeze is a right guaranteed and governed by federal law. But similar to credit monitoring, it’s not as good of a tool as the credit freeze either. If you want a company to help you keep taps on your credit, at least opt to get it for free from a company like Credit Karma instead.Ĭredit locks have become another option for folks looking to shut down scammers who might attempt to steal their identity. Those costs add up.Īnd what are you really getting for your money? Credit monitoring is inferior to freezing your credit in basically every way. That didn’t work out too well for him though as his identity has been stolen 13 times! So if you decide not to freeze your credit and instead opt to pay a company to monitor your credit, that will often set you back around $10 a month. The CEO of one of the major monitoring companies even put his social security number out there for everyone to see on national commercials. You’ve probably seen an ad for credit monitoring before. These options are inferior to freezing your credit You’re not financially responsible for the fraudulent activity that might occur if you don’t freeze your credit, but the hassle of fixing the damage that an identity thief might create can’t be overstated. You need a credit freeze to prevent criminal activity using your name and good credit. If they can’t see your file, they won’t approve it. That’s because most creditors need to see your credit report before they approve a new account. It shuts would-be criminals down cold.Įven if a nefarious person has your private information in their possession and tries to use it to open a new credit card account, let’s say, they won’t be able to do it because of the added security that your new credit freeze provides. Freezing your credit allows you to restrict access to your credit report, making it almost impossible for identity thieves to open new accounts in your name. If you haven’t heard of a credit freeze before, let me explain how it works. I don’t want to incite a panic, but when the solution to protecting yourself is so simple, there’s no reason not to shield your credit from potential mayhem. At this point I believe that everyone should be freezing their credit. This drove home the massive importance of a credit freeze. 148 million social security numbers were compromised in the process. Just four years ago one of the largest credit bureaus, Equifax, had its systems breached. And I would have been inclined to agree with you – until 2017 that is. You might think that you don’t have anything to worry about when it comes to your credit being stolen. Yet the mechanism for ID theft prevention is as elementary a solution as my cheapo lock – and the answer is freezing your credit. It can become a new part-time job getting things sorted out. Having your identity stolen by an identity thief can cause untold harm and difficulty. It’s amazing how just one little $6 lock can keep expensive possessions like my treasured Radwagon safe and secure. That’s close to $2500 worth of two-wheeled goodies I’ve got locked away in there! And I do mean locked away. We have them all stored in the shed in our backyard. Our family has six bicycles that we love to ride together. ![]()
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