It’s Not the Weather Report; It’s Your Credit Report
A‘freeze’. It sounds like something straight from Doppler radar.
Surprise, it’s not. It’s one of the better tools consumers in Washington State have to protect themselves from identity theft.
It seems like every time we turn around identity thieves have found another trick to help them access our personal information for their personal financial gain. While focusing on prevention can help keep us safe from identity thieves, trying to insulate our families from these criminals can feel like a daunting and unending process.
Luckily, our Attorney General is on the side of the consumer in Washington State. In the war against America’s fastest growing financial crime we’ve got another weapon in our arsenal of identity theft prevention resources: The ‘security freeze’.
Most of us have long known about the pre-existing fraud alert afforded to victims of identity theft. If your identity is stolen you can contact each of the three credit bureaus and place the fraud alert on each of your three credit reports. This alert serves as a red flag to potential creditors that the person applying for credit might actually be an identity thief instead of you.
While a good protective measure, creditors can opt to disregard a fraud alert and choose to issue credit if they want to. The absence of a guarantee can be frustrating to victims who want to prevent further damage to their credit scores by trying to limit access to their credit reports.
The security freeze picks up where the alert leaves off. While it’s been around for a while, some changes to the rules around a security freeze in late 2008 make this a valuable tool for all of us.
When you place a Security Freeze on your credit report it means that your credit report can’t be shared with any creditors or insurance companies. Since the majority of creditors won’t issue credit without being able to review your credit report, it drastically reduces the likelihood of you becoming a victim of identity theft. If you have been a victim, this can prevent further accounts from being opened in your name.
Who can get a security freeze? Anyone. The catch is that it might cost you; the security freeze isn’t always free. As of September 2008, victims of identity theft (police report required) and adults age 65 and older are able to freeze on their credit report for free. All other consumers will pay up to $10 per credit bureau. Sure, it will cost you $30 to place the security freeze on each of your credit reports, but many will feel it’s worth the peace of mind.
You can place a security freeze on each of your credit reports by contacting the credit bureaus directly at Equifax, Experian, and Transunion.
Alicia Diefenbach is a former financial crime-fighter for the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions. After spending nearly a decade helping fraud victims seek restitution and educating consumers about various aspects of personal financial management, she went into business for herself.
Alicia now designs fun, non-commercial presentations and materials that help people make financial decisions that lead to success. She is a published consumer writer and speaks on topics that educate women, teens, adults, and seniors on various aspects of fraud awareness, and successful personal financial management.
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said on June 18th, 2009 07:00 AM
KonstantinMiller says: