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- Jul 2, 2007
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Originally Posted By: mehullica
How did you"lock down" your credit? Did you call each agency, or did one report to another when you you locked them?
You have to do each one for each bureau yourself. All four let you do it online. Easiest way to get to the page of each agency where you do the lock is to google " security freeze." Ensure that any hit google gives is to the legit site for that credit bureau before you input your name, birthday, and social security number plus address. All of which you have to provide to lock your credit file. Make sure the first part of the internet address is https ... the s suffix on http denotes a secure encrypted connection.
Be advised, some states allow the credit bureaus to charge you a fee to lock your credit file if you're not a victim of ID Theft yet and only doing as a preventative or preemptive measure as we are recommending here. It depends on your state. My state doesn't let them charge for preemptive credit locks, but our neighboring state lets them charge you as fee to put a PIN lock on your file. Our state legislature gave the credit bureau bean counters the middle finger and said "you're not going to charge fees to our residents who're trying to protect their credit !!"
List of states and any fees allowed, here:
http://consumersunion.org/research/consumers-unions-guide-to-security-freeze-protection/
How did you"lock down" your credit? Did you call each agency, or did one report to another when you you locked them?
You have to do each one for each bureau yourself. All four let you do it online. Easiest way to get to the page of each agency where you do the lock is to google " security freeze." Ensure that any hit google gives is to the legit site for that credit bureau before you input your name, birthday, and social security number plus address. All of which you have to provide to lock your credit file. Make sure the first part of the internet address is https ... the s suffix on http denotes a secure encrypted connection.
Be advised, some states allow the credit bureaus to charge you a fee to lock your credit file if you're not a victim of ID Theft yet and only doing as a preventative or preemptive measure as we are recommending here. It depends on your state. My state doesn't let them charge for preemptive credit locks, but our neighboring state lets them charge you as fee to put a PIN lock on your file. Our state legislature gave the credit bureau bean counters the middle finger and said "you're not going to charge fees to our residents who're trying to protect their credit !!"
List of states and any fees allowed, here:
http://consumersunion.org/research/consumers-unions-guide-to-security-freeze-protection/