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Credit Freeze or Lock?

2,211 Views | 14 Replies | Last: 1 mo ago by fourth deck
jsc8116
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AG
My MIL got a notice of a data breach from a health provider. I went over her credit report with her online, nothing out of the ordinary. Also utilized a credit monitoring service on her credit card and there were a few "alerts" of her SS# being exposed on the Dark Web. She is a widower and tends to worry about these sort of things to the point of panic.

Would a credit freeze or lock be a better option to try to appease her worries? She has a steady stream of pension income and doesn't finance anything so access to credit really isn't a need at this point. TIA
TxAG#2011
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Everyone's data is everywhere at this point, but at least AT&T gave us a free $10 gift card for the trouble.

There's no reason not to freeze credit reports:

Experian
Transunion
Equifax

I also do NCTUE (telecom & utilities)

Once you freeze them they'll send you a document you basically just have to call a # to unfreeze and refreeze them. Super easy. You can freeze them by calling a # on each one, should be on their website.


Troglodyte
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AG
I use LifeLock and gives me some piece of mind and is cheap. The elderly are more likely to get scammed with their cash vs credit, but if it helps calm her nerves, a credit monitoring system is worth it.
Bassmaster
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AG
Lifelock is a waste of money. Freeze your credit. There is no reason for anyone not to do that.
fourth deck
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AG
I'll second Lifelock being a waste of money. They'll inform you of a change in credit after-the-fact but won't be able to stop something up front like a freeze can. Freezes and thaws have been free for awhile now (by law) and can even be managed online instead of having to call in each time for a thaw. For example, when I financed a portion of my last vehicle, I logged in to Experian's website to unthaw my credit while I had finance on the phone, once the credit check was done I refroze my credit. When financing it simply requires you to ask up front which bureau they use for credit checks. As stated above and with some additional ones, it's a good idea to freeze:

  • Experian
  • Transunion
  • Equifax
  • Innovis - lesser known credit bureau
  • NCTUE - for cell carriers
  • ChexSystems - bureau checked when opening new bank accounts

And where possible, plant your flag and create an online account with any bureau to manage freezes before someone else can.
LOYAL AG
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AG
Second the "ditch lifelock and freeze your credit" crowd. We just bought a house and had our company line of credit renew at roughly the same time. I unfroze all three for about two weeks so the banks could do their thing and they refroze automatically last week after both had closed. I've had lots of applications fail over the years due to frozen credit so it definitely works.
A fearful society is a compliant society. That's why Democrats and criminals prefer their victims to be unarmed. Gun Control is not about guns, it's about control.
AtlAg05
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AG
TxAG#2011 said:

Everyone's data is everywhere at this point, but at least AT&T gave us a free $10 gift card for the trouble.

There's no reason not to freeze credit reports:

Experian
Transunion
Equifax

I also do NCTUE (telecom & utilities)

Once you freeze them they'll send you a document you basically just have to call a # to unfreeze and refreeze them. Super easy. You can freeze them by calling a # on each one, should be on their website.





Freezing is easy and easy to thaw for any credit checks.

Now in regards to your AT&T comment, yeah $10 credit and then raised my monthly bill to cover it.
rathAG05
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AG
Bassmaster said:

Lifelock is a waste of money. Freeze your credit. There is no reason for anyone not to do that.


I had lifelock for years and ultimately came to the same conclusion. Just freeze your credit.
MsDoubleD81
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AG
Agree. I bought a new car and didn't hear a peep from them. Canceled next renewal period.
SnowboardAg
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AG
Freeze them all and add 1 year of fraud alerts (also free) on all of them.
Iowaggie
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AG
Besides the credit freeze at each agency, I'll do a free credit report for one of the big 3 agencies every 4 months for me and every 4 months for my wife, so basically every other month I'm looking at credit activity for either my wife or me. I think I got in that schedule when you could only look at them once a year for free. Since COVID, I think you can check them more often but with the freeze, I'm not sure if you need to do that.
northeastag
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AG
Gotta say. Best thread on Texags I've read in quite a while.

Useful information, and no whining.
Tumble Weed
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Received an alert that my info was on the dark web.

Just froze the big 3.
After reading this thread, I froze all the others listed as well; Innovis, NCTUE, and ChexSystems.

Would never have known about those if it weren't for this thread. Many Thanks!
Medaggie
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Anyone who do not freeze all 3 credit reports are just waiting until something bad happens.

Getting people's personal info is very easy.

Someone tried to file taxes for me years ago. Credit card fraud all the time. Someone got access to my credit card online portal and tried to pull out $$$.

I put my 3 credit bureau on freeze. When someone needs to pull my report, I thaw all 3 taking about 5 minutes online. Log onto each bureau and a few clicks to thaw it for a few weeks.

I feel super safe now that no one can open any accounts without my knowledge.

Also, everyone needs to put all of their important financial logins through 2 factor authentication. Even if someone gets my login/password, they need codes sent to my phone.

Do both of this and you should be safe.
fourth deck
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AG
You don't need to thaw all 3 major bureaus every time you open a new line of credit. Having to have all 3 thawed at once usually is only needed for something like a mortgage. I find asking ahead for the bureau they use works nearly every time, that way you only have to thaw one.
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