I saw an article that hackers may have stolen all Americans' SSNs and I am wondering how serious it is. It got me thinking that freezing my credit files with the three credit bureaus might be a good way to live regardless. Then I could unfreeze it only if and when I ever need a loan, credit card, or a mortgage or something (which is rare to non-existent).

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2024-08-13/hacker-claims-theft-of-every-american-social-security-number

Males sense to freeze credit and only unfreeze as needed.

Also for elderly people freezing credit is a no brainer. One lees thing to worry about.

Bassmaster said:

---

I have had my credit frozen for years now. It has become easier to unfreeze it as needed for a pre-determined duration. I think everyone should do it.

---

Yeah, there is one bureau that is a little tougher in my experience than the other 2 (can't remember which one it was) but even it is a fairly quick process compared to what it used to be.

Any downsides to freezing your credit?

Just have to contact bureau and unfreeze every time you need to do something requiring your credit to be pulled.
Asking for credit limit raise, new credit card, new loan, etc.

It's not hard anymore, just need some preplanning.

Usually just set a temporary thaw for a set duration of time.

My friends in the industry assure me that literally everyone in the US has had their personal information compromised.

Agree with others to freeze your credit. It's super easy to do.

Other things to do:
- Enable two-factor authentication on anything financial.
- Use a good password manager like LastPass.

Your SS# is everywhere. If a capable hacker somewhere wanted it then they could find it.

I was notified that my SSN was stolen from AT&T. (Thanks, AT&T. Haven't even been a customer of theirs in a decade.)

I went in and locked my SSN. So no one can even attempt to run it. Not sure if it works or not.

It's super cereal

Baby Billy said:

---

Your SS# is everywhere. If a capable hacker somewhere wanted it then they could find it.

---

This!

It seems like foreign hackers are ahead of us here in the US, so if they want it, they will find a way to get it

I think wife and I are to the point where we get at least one letter from various companies that our data has been compromised every other month now. It's all out there for sure.

ETA: freezing your credit doesn't necessarily protect you from people opening up smaller, unsecured loans using your information as they do not always pull a credit check.

how exactly do I freeze my credit? Do I have to go to each one and freeze it?

Say I'm applying for a car loan and need to un-freeze it....would I need to unfreeze each one?

BQ2001 said:

---

bagger05 said:

---

- Use a good password manager like LastPass.

---

LastPass has been breached a couple times because of their crappy security, don't use them. Use any other password manager. 1Password, Bitwarden, Keeper. Next version of iOS has a solid one built in. Works great if you are in the Apple ecosystem.

---

Dashlane is what I use. No issues to date

AgGrad99 said:

---

how exactly do I freeze my credit? Do I have to go to each one and freeze it?

---

Yes. Only one I've had issues with is equifax. About half the time I have tried to unfreeze they have made me call in to verify some information. Experian and Transunion have been pretty damn simple. They'll have you create an account and verify personal information to confirm identity. Then you'll have access to freeze. It doesn't cost anything to freeze/unfreeze or create an account. Experian especially really pushes their pay services on their website.

Quote:

---

Say I'm applying for a car loan and need to un-freeze it....would I need to unfreeze each one?

---

In theory if they're willing to tell you which bureau they pull from, you could just unfreeze that one. My anecdotal evidence is that you usually end up unfreezing all 3.

P.H. Dexippus said:

---

I've had my credit frozen for the past seven, no regrets. You can do temporary "thaws" whenever you need to apply for credit. Leaving your credit unfrozen is just a matter of when, not if, you'll be the victim.

https://texags.com/forums/38/topics/2798438

LexisNexis
TransUnion
Experian
Equifax
Innovis
NCTUE

---

I have always heard of the "three", but is it recommended to freeze across all of these?

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/banking/3-reports-havent-frozen-yet

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2018/05/another-credit-freeze-target-nctue-com/

Brian Earl Spilner said:

---

Any downsides to freezing your credit?

---

It can be a little tricky to unfreeze it when you want to apply for credit (one site tries to confuse you with credit lock vs credit freeze to sell you a different service). All sites let you schedule a credit "thaw" so you can unfreeze it for for a day or two and have it automatically lock after that.

The biggest advantage is when you are at a store and they hit you up for a credit card you call say your credit is your report is locked and it shuts them down pretty fast.

I had my dad's credit frozen as his dementia progressed, yet it didn't stop a shady AC company from opening up an Affirm type credit account in his name. So I question how well the freeze process actually works

I view freezing your credit as pretty much mandatory at this point. It offers some protection and is simple to do.

1) Go on the big 3 credit services (Experian, Equifax, Transunion) and create a free account and freeze your credit

2) If you need to use your credit, you place a "thaw" on it. You select the dates it unfreezes and auto refreezes. It goes into effect almost immediately if you need it to. It takes me about 10 min when I need to thaw both my credit and my wifes.

***Looks like from a post above there are more services to look at. I have only froze the main 3 sites

***I have one time had either experian or equifax want extra verification and actually had to mail a letter. That was several years ago. The last couple of times have all been online and easy.

Fenrir said:

---

AgGrad99 said:

---

how exactly do I freeze my credit? Do I have to go to each one and freeze it?

---

Yes. Only one I've had issues with is equifax. About half the time I have tried to unfreeze they have made me call in to verify some information. Experian and Transunion have been pretty damn simple. They'll have you create an account and verify personal information to confirm identity. Then you'll have access to freeze. It doesn't cost anything to freeze/unfreeze or create an account. Experian especially really pushes their pay services on their website.

Quote:

---

Say I'm applying for a car loan and need to un-freeze it....would I need to unfreeze each one?

---

In theory if they're willing to tell you which bureau they pull from, you could just unfreeze that one. My anecdotal evidence is that you usually end up unfreezing all 3.

---

.

THANKS

DannyDuberstein said:

---

I had my dad's credit frozen as his dementia progressed, yet it didn't stop a shady AC company from opening up an Affirm type credit account in his name. So I question how well the freeze process actually works

---

Unfortunately things like Affirm are buy now pay later products. The media refers to them as phantom debt since they don't show up on your credit report until you start missing payments. The reason this type of debt is concerning is each lender has no idea how much you have already borrowed form other lenders.

Can you create one account for you and your spouse to freeze them both or does it need to be two separate accounts? Would you also freeze kids that are still minors?

I've had mine frozen at the big 3 credit bureaus for the past 8 or 9 years. Originally, it was a little bit of a pain to thaw because the bureaus gave like a 10 digit passcode. In the last few years, as others have mentioned, it has gotten much easier.

The only issue I have had is my uncle tried to add me to his safe deposit box account at Bank of America. BofA claimed they had to run my credit to add me and although I thawed all 3 bureaus for several days, they claimed they could not check my credit. The alternative they offered is that I open an account with them to be added. I declined and simply have a key to the box.

Dumb question incoming, but what exactly stops the scammers with the SSN's from impersonating folks and thawing their credit?

Though I guess it's probably just too much of a hassle when they have hundreds of thousands of other people's data in their possession.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

---

Dumb question incoming, but what exactly stops the scammers with the SSN's from impersonating folks and thawing their credit?

Though I guess it's probably just too much of a hassle when they have hundreds of thousands of other people's data in their possession.

---

They would first have to figure out the password to the account you setup with the credit firm you froze the account with. Some of them offer a service you can call in to unfreeze it but that call has to come from your number (which is easy to spoof) but during the call they text you a code which is harder.

So its not undoable but it requires a lot more. Also anyone who took the time to freeze their credit likely has other free monitoring set up. Every time I apply for a card I get several texts and and emails letting me know someone just pulled my credit. If it wasn't authorized I could immediately contact the bank and let them know it was fraud. So there are so many easy targets out there I would guess a scammer would just move on to the next guy if they ran up against a credit freeze.

Your social security info has been out there for years.

Much of your credit card info is as well.

We hear about the large breaches, but many of these smaller processors/sites get infiltrated fairly regularly but they don't have major reporting requirements.

If you've been buying things online for the last decade and haven't been hit, it's due to luck of the draw.