Fraud Alert or Credit Freeze

[myrdale]

About 5 years ago, for Christmas, I received about 15 credit account acceptances and denials in the mail. My credit had been stolen!!

Other than the head ache of calling each of the companies to tell them it was fraudulent, it was not that painful for me. Additionally everything was shut down before any charges were made.

I filed a police report (useless) and had a 7 year fraud alert issued to my credit bureau accounts.

Every winter when I have the gas turned on, the gas company can not run my credit, so I have to send in a copy of my drivers license and social security card.

I am considering dropping the fraud alert and having my accounts frozen.

Does anyone consider one method to be better than the other? I hear unfreezing is easy, so I could do this on the days I want to sign up for gas, or if I want to apply for some other form of credit.

Any thoughts?

[Thrif-t]

I put freezes on mine and my dh's credit. With a new hack coming down the pipe every other day I just didn't want to keep worrying about my identity being stolen all the time. In our state it costs $5 w/each credit bureau to put the freeze on and $5 to take it off. I think I'm going on year 3 or 4 with the freeze on and so far so good. We don't foresee needing any new credit but when/if we do I'll pay the $15 bucks to unfreeze. Seems cheap enough for peace of mind for me.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I'm with Thrif-t, I put hard freezes on all 3 credit bureaus at $10 each for a total of $30. Not even I can open up new credit in my own name unless I unfreeze it for another $30 but the peace of mind is worth it. $30 is nothing compared to the headache of having to deal with fraud in my opinion. Don't waste your time with fraud alerts unless you intend to open up new credit anytime soon.

[myrdale]

Thanks guys. I am definitely leaning towards the credit freeze. Glad to hear how well it has worked for you!

[awalk123]

The credit freeze definitely seems like the best idea glad you came to that decision!

[rigz]

didnt want to start a new thread so I thought id just piggy back on this one.

I am also looking to freeze credit.

how easy was it? can you do it online or do you need to call it in?

[Thrif-t]

Check out this link http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles...eze-faqs#place

When I did it 3 or 4 years ago i called in. not sure if you can do it online now or not? I had to provide a credit card because there was a $5 charge in my state.

I just read in the paper this morning that the IRS breach was bigger than they thought, I think i'm going to freeze my DD19's credit too to be on the safe side. We'll just have to lift when she wants to get a loan of some type in the future.

[BuckyBadger]

Freezing is very easy and the only real way to protect yourself. Those monthly subscription services to monitor your credit are such scams.

I did it all online. Clark Howard has a section on his website that will walk you through the entire process. I froze my credit and my husband's credit. Had to recently unfreeze to apply for a new credit card we wanted and it was super simple.

Freeze it!

[rigz]

awesome. thanks guys.

just froze our credit on all 3 credit reporting companies.

[GrimJack]

With a police report, a hard freeze is supposed to be free but $10.00 per account is not much. As long as you do not need NEW credit for a couple years, the freeze is the way to go. I recommend it to the victims of ID Theft when I work that line (Thursdays). Recently, the IRS admitted that it lost 10 times more employee records than first reported and yet I have not put a freeze on my accounts yet.