4 ms·

Those are actually two separate things - locking your credit and placing a fraud alert on your credit. Locking your credit means that the only people allowed a

Those are actually two separate things - locking your credit and placing a fraud alert on your credit. Locking your credit means that the only people allowed access to your credit file are your current creditors. The fraud alerts means that the only way someone can grant your a new line of credit is by verifying with you personally that you intended to apply for this new credit. Locking your credit is permanent and it needs to be done with all 3 agencies separately and each time you want to unlock your credit, example someone needs to run a credit check or you want a new credit card then you need to phone each of the 3 credit agencies separately and they each charge you 5 dollars for that privilege. The fraud alert doesn't cost anything but can only be done for 90 day increments and then it is automatically revoked. And if there is any glitch in the locking/unlocking or fraud alert, the agencies will resort to snail mail and letter writing to resolve issues. Everything is set up to be maximally inefficient and painful for the consumer to discourage doing so. Also the 3 credit agencies manage a site that was mandated by congress after another scandal that allows consumers to request their own credit file for free once a year [1]. This site in addition to intentionally looking sketchy is also designed to be maximally painful to use. You will be asked things liked exact dates that you lived a certain address 15 years ago. If you fail any of these(which is quite easy to do) you will be instructed to send a letter, along with ID to the agency to request your personal credit report. It is actually much much more difficult for a person to obtain their own credit report from these agencies than it is for a complete stranger to request it. [1] https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action

KGIII 9y ago
Ah, thanks! I thought they were talking about freezing it. The only fraud alert I know of was what was offered to me after the OPM hack. Instead, I just opted to freeze my accounts and they've been frozen ever since.
- bogomipz 9y ago
  I think the whole "credit locking" thing is dubious at best however. For anyone that had their credit locked or frozen previously the hackers would have also gotten access to the pin numbers that permit the unlocking of one's credit file. What's to stop someone from using the PIN to unlock it and create before opening credit in a victims name?
  - KGIII 9y ago
    Not a whole lot can be done to stop it. I'm really not sure what we can do, beyond freezing it. I guess we could add monitoring to it, but I'm not sure that will help. They should absolutely not allow PIN retrieval online and without a whole lot of serious vetting. That they do is yet another metaphorical kick in the teeth. I am just now learning about the PIN retrieval, so this may result in my needing to change strategies. Fortunately, I don't rely on credit. If I need credit, I can easily qualify for a secured loan. It also helps that I sat on the board at my credit union for a while. So, credit isn't a problem. I do feel sorry for those who aren't able to just stop using credit. See, according to what I've heard/read, freezing your credit actually negatively impacts your credit score. If you're freezing it, you must be at risk. Or so they seem to think. So, by defending yourself you are actually potentially harming yourself. It is already eating up your time, perhaps some money, and adding stress to the lives of many innocent people. Then, when you want to alleviate some of that stress, or reduce your risk of harm, it harms you even more. There isn't even a realistic option to opt out of the game. It's pretty horrifying and it is difficult to not be angry about it. I'm fairly well insulated but I can certainly empathize. I wish I had the answers. I wish I had a solution. I don't and I'm not sure anyone does.
    - bogomipz 9y ago
      >"See, according to what I've heard/read, freezing your credit actually negatively impacts your credit score." Do you have a link or some further explanation for this? I don't think this is true. It's actually the opposite - when someone runs your credit which can happen without your knowledge or approval then your credit will get dinged. By freezing it and not allowing anyone but existing creditors to access your profile you prevent this. Not having enough credit will keep you from obtaining a higher FICO score however. For instance you can have perfect credit but if you have to few credit cards your FICO score will be lower than someone who has perfect credit and has more credit cards. It's insane but true, its a metric called "balance to limit ratio": http://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/getting-more-credit-cards-to-help-credit-scores/ http://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/getting-more-cred...
      - 9y ago

KGIII 9y ago

Ah, thanks! I thought they were talking about freezing it. The only fraud alert I know of was what was offered to me after the OPM hack. Instead, I just opted to freeze my accounts and they've been frozen ever since.

bogomipz 9y ago
I think the whole "credit locking" thing is dubious at best however. For anyone that had their credit locked or frozen previously the hackers would have also gotten access to the pin numbers that permit the unlocking of one's credit file. What's to stop someone from using the PIN to unlock it and create before opening credit in a victims name?
- KGIII 9y ago
  Not a whole lot can be done to stop it. I'm really not sure what we can do, beyond freezing it. I guess we could add monitoring to it, but I'm not sure that will help. They should absolutely not allow PIN retrieval online and without a whole lot of serious vetting. That they do is yet another metaphorical kick in the teeth. I am just now learning about the PIN retrieval, so this may result in my needing to change strategies. Fortunately, I don't rely on credit. If I need credit, I can easily qualify for a secured loan. It also helps that I sat on the board at my credit union for a while. So, credit isn't a problem. I do feel sorry for those who aren't able to just stop using credit. See, according to what I've heard/read, freezing your credit actually negatively impacts your credit score. If you're freezing it, you must be at risk. Or so they seem to think. So, by defending yourself you are actually potentially harming yourself. It is already eating up your time, perhaps some money, and adding stress to the lives of many innocent people. Then, when you want to alleviate some of that stress, or reduce your risk of harm, it harms you even more. There isn't even a realistic option to opt out of the game. It's pretty horrifying and it is difficult to not be angry about it. I'm fairly well insulated but I can certainly empathize. I wish I had the answers. I wish I had a solution. I don't and I'm not sure anyone does.
  - bogomipz 9y ago
    >"See, according to what I've heard/read, freezing your credit actually negatively impacts your credit score." Do you have a link or some further explanation for this? I don't think this is true. It's actually the opposite - when someone runs your credit which can happen without your knowledge or approval then your credit will get dinged. By freezing it and not allowing anyone but existing creditors to access your profile you prevent this. Not having enough credit will keep you from obtaining a higher FICO score however. For instance you can have perfect credit but if you have to few credit cards your FICO score will be lower than someone who has perfect credit and has more credit cards. It's insane but true, its a metric called "balance to limit ratio": http://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/getting-more-credit-cards-to-help-credit-scores/ http://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/getting-more-cred...
    - 9y ago