Credit Freeze
Protect Your Credit and Safeguard Your Identity
Placing a “credit freeze” on your credit locks access to your credit unless you have specifically given permission. This can protect you from someone fraudulently opening an account in your name. Everyone can put a credit freeze on their account. This freeze will not interrupt any credit checks by companies you already have a relationship with, such as your mortgage holder, or credit card company. Additionally, certain authorized companies/agencies will still be able to access your credit report, such as debt collectors and courts confirming child support payments. You can also still obtain your annual free credit report! If you apply a credit freeze and then apply for credit during the freeze, the creditor will get a message that your credit is frozen, not that it is rejected!
You can unfreeze your credit at any time. In Maine, the credit freeze is free. In NH, there is a $10 charge unless you have been the victim of identity theft in which case it is free. When I) set out to freeze my own credit, and googled for information, I immediately got information on websites who were willing to do this for me, and to charge me to do it. There is no need to pay a service to do this, and I am not sure I would feel confident that I can trust them! The credit freeze (sometimes called a security freeze) can be initiated online, by phone, or by mail. The contact information for the 3 Credit Reporting agencies is below. You need to do all 3 agencies as they are independent. This link INSERT LINK to PDF goes to a fact sheet produced by the State of Maine on this topic, but I noticed that the email links are old, so here are current links below.
EQUIFAX – www.equifax.com
EXPERIAN – www.experian.com
TRANSUNION - www.transunion.com
You might also want to consider shielding the credit reports of your minor children, or an incapacitated adult that you are responsible for.
In closing, here is one last useful link. www.optoutprescreen.com This will take you to a site where you can “opt out” of all of those offers saying that you have been pre-approved for a credit card, or insurance, or whatever. Stop the junk mail!
