Knowing how to put a freeze on your credit can help individuals to prevent identity theft or obstruct bad actors from taking out new loans or accounts in a borrower’s name.
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a credit freeze, also known as a security freeze, lets individuals limit access to their individual credit report (which differs from a FICO® score).
A “credit freeze” does not actually freeze all outstanding accounts, such as credit cards and loans. Instead, it simply limits others from viewing a person’s credit reports.
Happily, it costs nothing to freeze and unfreeze one’s credit. In 2018, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act , mandated that credit bureaus offer the service for free to everyone.
It’s really up to individual consumers and their own risk tolerance to decide when it’s time to freeze their credit report. However, if a person isn’t actively shopping for a loan or a new credit card it may be a good idea to freeze credit preemptively.
All a consumer has to do is reach out to the credit bureaus by phone or via the internet and plug in that password or the PIN number provided to them when they first froze their credit. Generally, it takes a few minutes for the account to become unfrozen.