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Request a credit freeze on the three major reporting agencies. https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0497-credit-freeze-faqs#place https://www.consumer.ftc.gov

• volkk 9y ago
  Are there any downsides to doing this? Aside from not being able to get credit when you need it ASAP
  • luddit3 9y ago
    Usually costs money to freeze and unfreeze (might be free or reduced depending on state).
  • dwyerm 9y ago
    My experience was that any "Instant Qualification!!" fails instantly, and then you can't unlock it. After Equifax lost my data in the last (T-Mobile) breach, I locked all three providers. Each of the places charged me $10 for the privilege. I still claim that Equifax should have covered if not for all providers, at least themselves, instead of providing me with worthless credit monitoring. But that's a whole other rant. I was applying for a credit card. The bank then followed up with, "We killed this because we asked Equifax, and they said no. If you still want a card, you can apply a temporary unlock for us." The problem is, as is clear from all the other posts here, Equifax is terrible. You need to send your super-secret unlock pin via mail to somewhere and link it up with something and blah blah blah... It was more trouble than it was worth. I asked the bank if they would consider switching to another reporting agency because Equifax was demonstrably terrible, but they said that once they select an agency for a transaction, they're locked into it. So, I let that request die. I can try again some time, and there's a 1:3 chance that I'll get screwed all over again, and a 3:3 chance that I'll have to unlock something, and a 100% chance that I will get angry.