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It's a massive pain in the ass, but every American should freeze their credit with the 3 agencies. Their websites are shit, they will sign you up for credit card ads no matter what you click, and every bit of the process will make you seethe with rage at how fucked and incompetent the whole system is. But go do it anyway.
I did it last year after the state DMV was hacked and lost every personal detail for basically everyone in the state who drives. It was real nice not having a loan taken out in my name a few months later when Experien called me out of the blue to ask if I really wanted to unfreeze.
I also did have to legit take out a loan later and it was easy. Just call one of the agencies and do a temporary unfreeze for 24 hours. Amazingly, they let you unfreeze to take out more loans very simply. Wonder why it's so hard to freeze in the first place? Almost like they don't give a shit who's creating the debts as long as some poor somewhere can be held to account for it.
And the "Experian Alerts - Your Monthly Account Statement is here!" e-mails that you can't disable, because they, and others, figured out how to get around the CAN-SPAM act by claiming the spam is "alerts related to your account" and not just advertising covered in pig lipstick.
Places to remove yourself from, including the big three:
And Innovis
It’s so incompetent because they are federally required to offer the freeze service for free. They all also offer a paid subscription freezing service that’s much more convenient, and they are trying to frustrate you into paying for what they are required to offer for free.
It's like the coin-operated tire pumps at convenience stores that have a switch on the back that will turn them on for nothing - since in many states tire pumps are required to be offered free of charge.
Holy shit I didn’t know that
I just asked ChatGPT. It said only California and Connecticut.
But some local governments too.
Found the CT resident
100% this.
Freeze credit on the big 3 websites. I unfreeze when needed like when I financed my car, then lock them up again.
It is a pain, and be sure not to lose the passwords. Turn on MFA where ever possible. Do not use correct answers for secret questions, use made up answers and keep track with a pw manager.
Check your credit every year for mistakes or oddities.
If you live in California, contact data brokers like Lexus Nexus or Red Violet and have them delete your profile.
God I hate modern society.
What's to stop someone from in unfreezing your credit if they literally know everything about you and have all the info at their fingertips
It's like running away from a bear... you don't have to outrun the bear, just the other people running from the bear. If someone wants your identity, they're probably gonna get it if they're determined enough. The way these hacks usually work, though, is you just buy a chunk of the data, maybe 10k records. Then, they use automated tools to try and open accounts under those ID records. If it fails, no biggie, they just move on to the next record.
There's no such thing as perfect security of course, but in this case it's because having my phone number and address isn't the same as having my phone. So short of a SIM clone or something like that, the MFA on those accounts still adds one layer of protection. There's also "security" questions and, protip, the answer to what high school I went to is not which high school I went to. It's just another, different pass phrase.
I'm just not worth the trouble to beat all the extra layers of security when there's millions of people who's money is far easier to get at.
The pyramid of pain.
Make it hair pullingly difficult to find the good stuff.
You want my name? Fine.
My number? Here's my google voice digits.
My email? I've got dozens.
My home address? I'm gonna need something from you.
The above leaked current and previous addresses tho
They have to know to unfreeze. It's an extra step, and unless you're a particularly juicy target, it's easier to move onto the next one.
/guess
Unfreeze also generally requires a PIN or tied to a login/accessible email. So not only would they need your info, they’d also need your credentials.
Defense in depth. More layers = more hurdles = deterrence.
Does anybody know the process to unfreeze? I froze mine years and years ago but I don't recall setting a pin or even remember what it was if I did. It's going to be a huge PITA next time I need a loan for something. I've nearly almost signed up for a new credit card before remembering that I froze all my accounts and abandoning the process because if the aforementioned PITA.
They may have sent you an email with the PIN but if you weren't paying close attention you could have missed it. If you save your emails it may be worth doing a search.
All the more reason to do it yourself, they all mostly require accounts with 2FA now. Until you set that up, a bad actor could. Once set up, they would have to compromise your second factor as well.
It's considerably easier using the websites vs. their apps. Don't forget to enable 2FA!
It’s not that big of a pain. It took me just a few minutes to make the accounts and then freeze everything. I already get credit card ads in the mail, so what else is new, and everything in my email goes to the spam folder.
I’ve had three security breaches in the last year or so. I think of you have any sort of accounts anywhere at this point part, or all, of your identity is out there.
Is there no chance if this gets bad enough it could kill credit scores as a thing?
Absolutely none.