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It wasn’t until November in 2007 that people were allowed to put freezes on their credit reports.
All of the three major credit bureaus have to place a freeze on your credit report if you ask them
to. But in what circumstances would you really need to place a credit report freeze on your details?
Why freeze your account
The point of freezing your credit account is simple. It is to stop any fraudsters who have your
personal details starting any new lines of credit and debt on your account without you knowing. So,
if you have had your identity stolen at any time and you think you are at risk, you can put a credit
report freeze on your account quickly.
You may get your credit report regularly and you have may have noticed irregularities on your
account, this is the time you would contact the bureaus and request a freeze on your account. You
can of course freeze your credit report without having to have been a victim of identity theft, but
you would have to carefully consider your options.
Is it free to freeze?
For the most part, no it isn’t free to freeze your credit report. You would have to contact the credit
bureaus for a breakdown of the charges involved and how you go about paying those charges.
Contacting the bureaus
Before requesting the freeze on your account you must have the following information to hand
and ready to give to the credit agencies:
- Name, address and previous addresses
- Social security numbers
- Date of birth
- You may need to provide proof of id such as a utility bill or bank statement for the address,
- drivers license or passport for your personal identification
You may need these and other pieces of information for certain bureaus, it is important to make
sure you have everything ready to hand over to them. If you don’t give them everything they
need at the start, it could delay the process of having your account frozen.
After the account is frozen
If you complete a freeze on your account, you will get certain pieces of security information that
will enable you to lift the freeze later on. It is important that you keep this information safe and
somewhere secure for later on.
Lifting a freeze on your account
If at a later date you find you want or need to apply for credit, you will have to either lift the freeze
completely and permanently, or you can lift it while you apply for credit and then have it refrozen
at a specified date.
So as you can see, placing credit report freeze doesn’t have to be difficult and it can safeguard your
interests and your personal safety.
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