Do I need to? Yup!
There are a handful of credit reporting agencies keeping profiles of our creditworthiness.
When you want to open a new line of credit (take out a loan, obtain a credit card), instead of just trusting you, the creditor/bank/business checks a credit reporting agency to see if your credit history says you are trustworthy. Freezing your credit report prevents you from being a victim of someone else taking out credit in your name.
Breaches Happen
and your info is out there for the taking.
Of the “big three” credit bureaus (TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax) you might remember Equifax famously leaked data on 100+ million Americans in a 2017 data breach. Data breaches like these expose our information more often than you might think, and there is a lot of stolen personal information floating around that can easily be used to impersonate you. Especially since the 2024 breach of the background check company “National Public Data” that included billions of American’s names, Social Security numbers, as well as current and past addresses.
When a nefarious human attempts to open a line of credit in your name, the bank will request a report from one of the agencies. If the account is frozen, the request is denied and your credit is saved. Hooray!
If the bank/creditor cannot vet your creditworthiness, they simply won’t issue a line of credit.
If a freeze is not in place, the impersonator will successfully take out credit in your name and likely spend as much of your credit as they can. Something you might only discover when debt collectors come to you for their unpaid bills.
How do I freeze my accounts?
The specific method for placing a freeze varies slightly between agency and you’ll have to request one for each agency individually. Generally the process involves authenticating who you are via a series of questions or though a service like id.me, creating an account, then setting a PIN that will be required to unfreeze the account.
Side note: if managing a bunch of accounts and PIN numbers sounds daunting, using a password manager makes managing accounts much easier and safer. See my article on password managers here (coming soon).. s
Freezing these services is always free. Some may try to push similar sounding “credit protection” or “credit lock” services. Don’t be fooled and don’t pay!
See the list below of agencies
The “Big Three”
These Credit Bureaus track credit accounts, loans, credit card activity, payment history, and credit inquiries.
TransUnion ( transunion.com )
🧊 Freeze it: https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze
Equifax ( equifax.com )
Experian ( experian.com )
🧊 Freeze it: https://www.experian.com/help/credit-freeze
Other Reporting Agencies
Innovis ( innovis.com )
Often considered the "fourth" major credit bureau. Collects information on consumer credit and is often used by companies for fraud detection and credit scoring.
🧊 Freeze it: https://www.innovis.com/personal/securityFreeze
Chex Systems ( chexsystems.com )
Focuses on your banking behavior and financial transaction history, particularly related to checking and savings accounts (e.g., overdrafts, account closures).
🧊 Freeze it: https://www.chexsystems.com/security-freeze/place-freeze
NCTUE (National Consumer Telecommunications and Utilities Data Exchange) ( nctue.com )
Reports on utility, telecom, and cable TV payment history.
🧊 Freeze it: https://www.exchangeservicecenter.com/Freeze/#/
LexisNexis Risk Solutions (risk.lexisnexis.com)
Maintains public records and provides risk management data for industries like insurance and legal services.
SageStream, ( sagestreamllc.com ) is also part of lexisNexis Risk Solutions. They collect and report information to auto lenders, credit card issuers, retailers, utility companies and mobile phone carriers.
🧊 Freeze it: https://consumer.risk.lexisnexis.com/freeze
Clarity Services ( clarityservices.com )
Specializes in subprime lending and nontraditional credit data.
🧊 Freeze it: https://www.clarityservices.com/support/security-freeze
TeletTrack ( teletrack.com )
TeleTrack specializes in tracking consumer loan activity for credit reporting, especially for subprime or "alternative" credit. It's often used in the context of payday loans, short-term lending, or rent-to-own agreements.
🧊 Freeze it: https://consumers.teletrack.com/freeze
Other notable agencies:
PRBC (Payment Reporting Builds Credit) ( prbc.com )
Alternative credit data reports, such as utility and rent payments.
looks like PBRC Is now “Connect” by Microbilt ( https://microbiltconnect.com )
🧊 Freeze it: https://www.microbiltconnect.com/home/Consumer-affairs
This one in particular requires a bit more digging than the others. You’ll have to scroll to the bottom of the page and click on your state under teh bottom section titled “State Consumer Rights / Security Freeze Information”.
CoreLogic / Credco ( )
CoreLogic primarily tracks mortgage-related information, but it also provides credit reporting services.
If you have a CoreLogic credit or background report, you can contact them directly to request a freeze or a "lock" on your report to prevent unauthorized access.
https://www.corelogic.com/support/credco-consumer-assistance/#/
Unfreezing and “thawing” credit reports
While an account is frozen, credit reports will be unavailable until the account is unfrozen or “thawed”. Temporarily unfreezing or “Thawing” must be done when you legitimately need to apply for credit. The creditor will let you know what agencies they are going to attempt to pull a report from and you’ll need to temporarily unfreeze the account to allow them to pull the report.
Permanently unfreezing the account would leave you vulerable again. Bad idea! Only unfreeze the agencies needed temporarily while applying for credit.
Monitor your credit reports
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), The Big Three are required to provide a free copy of your credit report up to once every 12 months. See https://www.annualcreditreport.com to request your free reports. For companies required to provide the information in your report for free annually upon request, they must do so within fifteen days of receiving your request. s
The CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) is a US governmental agency created to protect consumers. Check their website for official tools, resources, and information to help you make more informed financial decisions: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/how-do-i-get-a-free-copy-of-my-credit-reports-en-5
These resources innclude an extensive list of list of consumer reporting companies. This last can be used to help you take advantage of your right to review the information in your consumer reports, and dispute possible inaccuracies.
Set aside an afternoon and carefully freeze all the accounts you can. While you’re doing that, listen to “IRS” (episode 26) of the excellent Darknet Diaries podcast where you’ll learn why you should use an identity protection PIN to protect your tax return.