Freezing Your Credit

Freezing Your Credit

Has your personal information or data been stolen in a data breach? A data breach occurs when an organization is hacked and a scammer steals your personal data, such as credit card numbers or social security numbers. Companies are required to inform you if you may have been impacted by a data breach and what information of yours may be at risk. If you have been notified that your information may have been stolen in a data breach, you might consider freezing your credit.

You can temporarily, freeze your credit through each of the three major credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.

• Experian: Visit Website or Call (888) 397-3742
• Equifax: Visit Website or Call (888) 298-0045
• TransUnion: Visit Website or Call (888) 909-8872

A credit freeze won’t impact your score, but it will prevent new credit from being taken out in your name. This will prevent your identity and credit from being used by fraudsters to take out loans or open up credit cards in your name. You can still apply for a job, rent an apartment, purchase insurance, and similar activities while your credit is frozen.

There is no fee to freeze your credit and you can unfreeze it at any time. Each of the three major credit bureaus has a different process for freezing and unfreezing your credit. Some bureaus may give you a PIN that you will need to unfreeze your credit. Make sure to keep this PIN in a safe place until you are ready to unfreeze your credit.

Parents are also able to freeze credit for their children up to 16 years old. More than 1.3 million children are victims of identity theft annually. Often, if a child's social security number is compromised, the fraud can go on for years without being detected. 

Disclaimer: Any reference made in this blog to a specific product, process, or service does not constitute or imply an endorsement by Connected Credit Union of the product, process, or service, or its producer or provider.