{"id":1806,"date":"2023-03-02T15:00:23","date_gmt":"2023-03-02T20:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/resources\/a-quick-guide-to-credit-freezes-and-protecting-yourself-from-identity-theft\/"},"modified":"2023-03-02T15:00:23","modified_gmt":"2023-03-02T20:00:23","slug":"a-quick-guide-to-credit-freezes-and-protecting-yourself-from-identity-theft","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/edfund\/resources\/a-quick-guide-to-credit-freezes-and-protecting-yourself-from-identity-theft\/","title":{"rendered":"A quick guide to credit freezes and protecting yourself from identity theft"},"featured_media":46501,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":false,"_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":""},"campaign_tax":[153],"display_option":[],"issue_tax":[],"resource_type":[67],"region_tax":[],"state":[2],"topic_tax":[124],"class_list":["post-1806","resource","type-resource","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"details":{"helper_taxonomies":{"topics":[124],"collection":false,"press_type":false,"person_type":false,"resource_type":67,"event_type":false,"campaigns":153,"department":false,"level":false,"states":[2],"act_option":false,"display_option":false,"primary":{"topic":124}},"subtitle":"","excerpt":"It can be confusing staying on top of the different ways to protect yourself from identity theft. Our recommendation is simple: get credit freezes.","featured_image":46501,"caption_override":"","updated_on":null,"sidebar_action":"","related_event":"","hide_hero_image":false,"location":"internal","external_link":{"publication_name":"","url":""},"file":null,"sidebar_action_query_string":""},"helper_people_group":{"title":"Authors","entities":[{"type":"dynamic","dynamic_person":{"site":16,"people":"127"},"information":{"name":"","image":null,"role":"","biography":"","contact":{"twitter":"","facebook":"","email":"","phone":""}}}]},"helper_downloads":{"title":"Downloads","files":[{"file":100000000046502,"title":"A quick guide to credit freezes and protecting yourself from identity theft"},{"file":"","title":""}]},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It can be confusing staying on top of the different ways to protect yourself from identity theft.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b>Our recommendation is simple: get credit freezes.<\/b>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Doing so will prevent identity thieves from opening new credit accounts in your name. You will need to place separate credit freezes, also known as security freezes, with all three national credit bureaus - <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.equifax.com\/personal\/credit-report-services\/credit-freeze\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Equifax<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.experian.com\/freeze\/center.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Experian<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transunion.com\/credit-freeze\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TransUnion<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It is completely free to do so, under a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.consumerfinance.gov\/ask-cfpb\/what-does-it-mean-to-put-a-security-freeze-on-my-credit-report-en-1341\/#:~:text=Free%20Security%20Freezes,Experian%2C%20TransUnion%2C%20and%20Equifax.\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">federal law<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that took effect in 2018.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b>How credit freezes work<\/b>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you apply for credit, the business will check your credit score, which is derived from your credit report. If you have a credit freeze in place, the business won\u2019t be able to access your credit report and therefore won\u2019t extend you a line of credit. So if an identity thief uses your stolen Social Security number and birthdate to apply for credit in your name, a freeze will block the account from being created. Since a business might run a credit check with any one of the three national credit bureaus, you\u2019ll need freezes on your credit reports with all three. You can always unfreeze your credit reports when you want to apply for credit. Here's<a href=\"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/edfund\/resources\/identity-theft-is-soaring-reduce-your-risk-dramatically-by-simply-freezing-your-credit-files\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> our guide<\/a> with detailed, step-by-step instructions for placing credit freezes.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b>You have probably heard of credit monitoring<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All that does is let you know about activity on your credit reports <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">after<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> it has taken place. So, at best, you would be alerted to a fraudulent account after it has already been opened. It doesn\u2019t hurt to have credit monitoring if it\u2019s free. But there\u2019s really no need to pay for it with a monthly subscription, especially since you can prevent fraudulent accounts in the first place with free credit freezes. You can also just <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/edfund\/resources\/how-to-find-mistakes-on-your-credit-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">check your credit reports<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> yourself for free and look for mistakes or fraud.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b>The credit bureaus also have something called a \u201ccredit lock.\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It does the same thing as a credit freeze. However, a credit lock is subject to the terms and conditions of the credit bureaus. Whereas everyone has a right to free credit freezes by federal law, no strings attached. We therefore recommend the freeze over the lock.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can check out our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/edfund\/resources\/identity-theft-is-soaring-reduce-your-risk-dramatically-by-simply-freezing-your-credit-files\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">guide<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for detailed instructions for placing credit freezes. <\/span>","":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_large_image","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_large_image":{"width":"wide","image":"","caption_override":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"","":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_featured_action","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_featured_action":{"action":"","action_query_string":""}}],"site_specific_content":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A quick guide to credit freezes and protecting yourself from identity theft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It can be confusing staying on top of the different ways to protect yourself from identity theft. 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