How To Put A Lock On Your Credit File

A credit freeze keeps the sensitive data in your credit files from being accessed without your specific consent. That tin protect you from fraudulent credit applications, even if a criminal has primal information such as your birthdate and Social Security number.

Key takeaways:

A freeze blocks admission to your credit reports, protecting against scammers' attempts to open up fraudulent accounts.
You take to contact each of the three credit bureaus individually.
Placing a credit freeze is free for y'all and your children, every bit is lifting it when you lot desire to apply for new credit.

How a credit freeze works

A credit freeze protects you lot by blocking access to your credit reports . When someone applies for credit using your personal information, a lender or card issuer typically checks your credit before making a decision.

If your credit is frozen, the potential creditor cannot encounter the data required to approve the application.

How to freeze your credit

Contact each of the 3 major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — individually to freeze your credit:

You tin can also freeze your credit study at ii bottom-known credit bureaus that may have data well-nigh y'all:

Innovis: Call 800-540-2505 or go online .
National Consumer Telecom & Utilities Exchange: Telephone call 866-343-2821 or go online .

Information y'all need to freeze your credit at all 3 bureaus

It's a good thought to gather all the documents you will need before initiating a credit freeze. While all three credit bureaus have slightly unlike requirements, here is the data you will generally demand to provide:

Social Security number.
Engagement of birth.
Address.

Depending on how y'all initiate the credit freeze — online, by phone, or past mail — you might too demand:

Re-create of your passport, driver's license or military ID.
Copy of tax documents, bank statements or utility bills.
Proof of address, like a utility bill.

Notation: If you freeze your credit past phone, be prepared to answer some hallmark questions, besides.

Once a credit freeze is in place, information technology secures your credit file until you lot elevator the freeze. You tin can unfreeze credit temporarily when yous want to apply for new credit.

How to unfreeze your credit

Become to the credit bureau website and use the PIN or countersign you used to freeze your credit to unfreeze your credit . You can also unfreeze your credit by phone or postal mail if you tin provide the Pivot established when the freeze was set. Unless you use postal mail service, unfreezing takes outcome inside minutes of requesting it.

When yous are applying for credit, you tin ask the creditor which credit bureau it volition utilize to check your credit and unfreeze only that 1. Or, if you're shopping for a loan and may brand several applications in a short period, you may choose to lift the freeze at all three major credit bureaus.

You lot can choose to unfreeze for a specified time period, after which the freeze automatically resumes.

How to freeze your child'southward credit

Parents and guardians can freeze the credit of a child under 16.

If you request a freeze for your child, the credit bureau must create a credit file for the kid, so freeze it. In addition to supplying the data required for an developed credit freeze, yous'll also demand the kid'southward birth document and proof that you have standing to freeze the child's credit .

Frequently asked questions

Is freezing credit a good idea?

Yeah. Placing a freeze on your credit reports can protect you from fraudulent credit applications. Unfreezing your credit is typically quick when y'all need to apply for credit.

Is there a downside to freezing your credit?

There are some downsides to freezing your credit. You may exist susceptible to scams involving your Social Security number and your insurance rate could increase if your state allows insurers to utilise credit data to set rates.

What is the difference between a credit freeze and a credit lock?

Credit freeze services are mandated past federal police and are costless. A credit lock is an optional service a credit agency may offer you for a fee, but information technology offers fewer legal protections than a freeze.

How does a credit freeze affect credit monitoring services?

When your credit is frozen, your credit monitoring service can still access your credit reports and will still alert you about changes and suspicious activeness.

Considering you accept your credit frozen, attempts to open new accounts in your name should not become through. You tin retrieve of a credit freeze and credit monitoring services as a double layer of protection.

If you have a credit freeze and are because adding a credit monitoring service, y'all will probable have to contact each credit bureau to lift the freeze. Once you add the monitoring service, you lot'll demand to refreeze your credit.

Is freezing credit a good thought?

Yeah. Placing a freeze on your credit reports tin can protect yous from fraudulent credit applications.

Unfreezing your credit

is typically quick when you need to apply for credit.

Is there a downside to freezing your credit?

There are some downsides to freezing your credit. Yous may be susceptible to scams involving your Social Security number and your insurance rate could increase if your state allows insurers to use credit information to set rates.

What is the difference betwixt a credit freeze and a credit lock?

Credit freeze services are mandated past federal law and are gratuitous.

A credit lock

is an optional service a credit agency may offer you for a fee, but it offers fewer legal protections than a freeze.

How does a credit freeze affect credit monitoring services?

When your credit is frozen, your credit monitoring service can still access your credit reports and volition notwithstanding alert you nearly changes and suspicious activity.

Considering you take your credit frozen, attempts to open new accounts in your name should not get through. You lot can remember of a credit freeze and credit monitoring services equally a double layer of protection.

If you have a credit freeze and are considering adding a credit monitoring service, you will probable have to contact each credit bureau to lift the freeze. Once you add the monitoring service, you'll demand to refreeze your credit.

When to get a credit freeze

If you're not actively shopping for a credit card or loan, freezing your credit is wise. Now that freezing credit and unfreezing credit are gratuitous, NerdWallet recommends that all consumers protect themselves in this manner.

If you think your data may take been compromised, for instance in a data breach, get a credit freeze. It's peculiarly key if your all-of import Social Security number may have been disclosed.

Cons of a credit freeze

There are a few, potentially:

A freeze can give y'all a false sense of security — you may even so be susceptible to fraudulent charges on an existing credit business relationship if it's been compromised, or wellness intendance or taxation refund scams involving your Social Security number. It's all the same of import to cheque monthly statements carefully for signs of fraudulent activity.
It tin complicate creating a mySocialSecurity account (to track earnings, guess future benefits, etc.). You can practice and then with a credit freeze or fraud alert in place, merely yous'll have to go in person to a Social Security office.
Your insurance rate could increase if your land allows the apply of credit information to set rates. In some cases, insurers can't admission your frozen file and might not give y'all a disbelieve a good score entitles y'all to. If that happens, y'all can call your agent to find out if you demand to unfreeze your credit .
It can exist somewhat inconvenient, considering you demand to retrieve to lift the freeze when y'all desire to apply for credit. That inconvenience pales in comparison to having to unwind fraud or identity theft, though.

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Credit freeze or credit lock?

Both a credit freeze and a credit lock block access to your credit reports. Even so, a credit lock is a production offered voluntarily by a credit bureau, which may accuse a fee. Equifax's credit lock is free; TransUnion offers a gratuitous lock through its TrueIdentity product or as part of a broader paid subscription; Experian's lock is bachelor only as part of a paid subscription packet.

Credit freeze services are mandated by federal law and are free.

Credit locks may offer convenience — such as being opened and closed with a finger swipe on an app — merely they offer fewer legal protections than a freeze.

Who can access frozen credit reports?

A credit freeze makes your credit reports inaccessible to nigh people, with a few exceptions:

You can admission your own records, including getting your free annual credit reports . Yous tin as well bank check your free credit report summary and score from NerdWallet while your credit reports are frozen.
Your electric current creditors nevertheless have access, as do debt collectors.
Marketers can run across your credit reports for the purpose of sending yous offers.
In certain circumstances, government or child support agencies tin can run across them.
You can still give permission to an employer or potential employer to check your credit (though the version they see omits certain details).

What'southward next?

Sign up to get your gratis credit score and study from NerdWallet. Information is updated weekly, and the factors affecting your score are broken out to brand them easier to understand.