With the rise in security breaches, protecting your credit from identity theft is more essential than ever. Readers of this blog know that I use CreditKarma to monitor my credit scores for free. However, in 2017 I decided it was time to up my defensive game and place a security freeze on accounts with the three credit reporting companies. A security freeze is a step I took to prevent credit, loans, and services from being opened in my name without my permission. You may refer to this link for further explanation of the pros and cons of freezing credit reports. Please follow the three steps below to protect your identity.

1. Get Free Credit Reports:  I went to annualcreditreport.com to get my free reports from all three credit companies—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. You’re allowed one free report each year from each of the companies. This is a yearly ritual that I highly recommend, as it helps you catch signs of identity theft early. Review each report once generated for accuracy and notify them of any errors. The only errors I noticed on mine were outdated personal information, which I was able to dispute following the prompts on the credit reports.
2. Freeze Your Credit Reports:  If you don’t foresee applying for credit, getting a new job, or moving to a new rental unit in the near future—since those actions may require businesses to check your credit report—you can go ahead and place a security freeze on your accounts. You may also place a temporary unfreeze on your credit account for a chosen duration of time. After getting married in 2016 I changed my name, refinanced my home, and pared down my outstanding credit cards, but since I didn’t expect any other changes, I felt comfortable with the freeze. Each freeze only took about 5-10 minutes. Since 2018, it is now free to freeze and unfreeze your credit. This link to the FTC's website provides further explanation on the law.

            Below is a link to each credit company to place a freeze:

                    Equifax – https://www.freeze.equifax.com

                    Experian­ – https://freeze.experian.com

                    TransUnion – https://freeze.transunion.com

3. Sign Up At CreditKarma or WalletHub:  This will allow you to get regular updates of your credit scores with TransUnion or Equifax, so you can monitor any drastic changes that could be an indication of identity theft.

Bankrate.com wrote an article that you may find useful if/when you choose to unfreeze your credit. Here's the link to "How to thaw a credit freeze".

In today’s digital world, taking control of your credit security is crucial. Spending a little time now could save you a lot of trouble later, and it’s easier than you may think!

Also, if you're as fed-up as I am with solicitations in the mail for new credit cards, you'll be as thrilled with finding the website www.optoutprescreen.com as I was. It only took me a minute to opt out of receiving these annoying offers for new credit.