There are three credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.  You should make sure to freeze all your credit reports at all of them.  Why?  Identity theft and/or fraud.  Scammers can’t get credit in your name using your personal information if your reports are frozen.  And as we all know, fraudsters seem to have all our information from various sources.  The purpose of a credit freeze to to stop lenders from gaining access to a credit report.  If lenders can’t see your reports, they won’t give out new loans, credit cards, or mortgages in your name.  Having said this, you should still get copies of your free credit reports every year.  I’ll discuss this in an upcoming post.

I have my credit reports frozen at all three agencies.  Why?  So that nobody, including me, can use them to get credit in my name without proper identification.  It also prevents me from doing something impulsive without forethought and planning.  There is no longer any charge to freeze and/or unfreeze your credit reports .  If you have questions about this process, please review the “How to place or lift a security freeze on your credit report” site.

What do I do if I need to get a loan?  I always ask the business which credit reporting agency are they using?  If it’s a mortgage, they will use all three.  If it’s a car dealer or other retailer, they usually will only use one.  I will unfreeze only the one the retailer is using and all three if it’s a mortgage.  I limit the time the reports are unfrozen for 24 hours.  That usually allows enough time for a lender to check my credit.  You can set an automatic “refreeze” by setting a time frame when you unfreeze.  

Moral of the story:

Freeze your credit reports!  Make sure you freeze all three of them.  It’s an essential tool to prevent identity theft and/or fraud.