Anyone Kept Their Credit Frozen?

[phdhorn 6224]

I did this a few years back during the "Equifax Oops We Fucked Up And Gave Your Credit Shit To E'Rrybody" episode.  I've put temp unfreezes on it from time to time, but now it seems like I need to have my credit run more than I thought.  Don't want to keep paying the $ to (I believe) at least 2 of the 3 bureaus, so I'm thinking about just restoring it.

Anyone else thawed it out and got rid of the indefinite freeze?  If I unfreeze it for any weird reason will it affect credit score or any similar shit?  Thanks.

[tokamak 6431]

I keep ours frozen. Yes, it is a pain in the ass to remember to unfreeze it and pay the extortionists their $10.

Don't think there's any effect on your credit score one way or another.

[SimonBolivar 10958]

I've run a lot of credit for people that forget to unfreeze then unfreeze their credit. I havent seen it make a difference in score.

[BottleRocket 647]

I keep mine frozen.  I've paid the $10 twice in ten years or so.  No biggie for peace of mind. 

[happyfunball 481]

+ 1 on keeping it frozen

[Liquor and Poker 3659]

I do

[Lazarus Bocanegra 305]

what's cooler than being cool

Edited December 11, 2018 by Lazarus Bocanegra

[mdmost 43004]

I keep mine frozen and then forget about it till I need to do something like change energy providers. Then I just lazily use my wife's number as she didn't get screwed over by the data breaches.

[Telegraph_it 3358]

The perk of having a credit score of 300 is you don't need to worry about data breaches. I'm pretty sure you get 300 for having a name. Abdce or Squire Sebastian Senator may not qualify but they probably have other things to worry about.  

[Godzillatron 292]

Had someone walk into my credit union about a year ago with an ID with my info and their picture trying to get a loan. Frozen ever since. Yes, it’s a pain when you actually need a credit check. Still the right answer.


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[NBMisha 224]

Had it frozen now for 6 years.  Learned to live with that.  Did one HELOC during that period, and had to turn it off and back on.  Keeps you disciplilned.  And cuts down on the worry.

[phdhorn 6224]

Thx for the responses.

Went ahead and only temporarily unfroze again.  Learned 2 things:

1) Equi-fucks (the reason for this shit) and TransUnion have shiny, really, really easy new web sites where you can do this.  They took away all the pins and shit and made a Teletubbies level easy-step process, which makes it much faster.  (Experian still uses the old pin system but it's quick and works great).  So now it's much easier, you just have to remember your username and password.

2) No one charged me anything (or at least didn't warn me on the site nor ask for CC# etc.).  So now it appears to be free(?).  That's good.

[tokamak 6431]

You usually don't even have to do all three. I just ask the bank or whoever which one they're going to use and unfreeze that one.

[Leamas 29]

It's free. I unfroze mine a few weeks ago. This thread reminds me that I need to freeze it again.

[William_Cannon 86]

Yes, after the equifax breech Congress passes a law prohibiting the bureaus from charging you to feeeze/unfreeze your credit.

I keep my credit frozen too. It’s the lesser of the two pain in the asses.

[retread 2951]

Is Credit Karma as effective as Lifelock? I've had Lifelock for quite a while, but it seems extraneous if Credit Karma is enough protection.

[tucker 238]

3 minutes ago, retread said:

Is Credit Karma as effective as Lifelock? I've had Lifelock for quite a while, but it seems extraneous if Credit Karma is enough protection.

What protections do either provide if you have your credit frozen? Seems like pointless service. 

I check creditkarma every year or so to see if there are any major mistakes in my credit report.

[retread 2951]

I have the fraud alert on, but I don't have my credit frozen.

[Liquor and Poker 3659]

Mine has been frozen since Equifax.  It's kind of a pain in the ass, but it helps me ferret out shitty companies. 

For example, I was trying to get internet to my beach house, which has no cable run to it, and the dormant landline phone is too far away from the substation to be DSL-capable (remember that?)  So I looked at the web page for HughesNet satellite.  Before they would tell me the actual total price I would be paying per month, they tried to do an undisclosed credit check on me and came back asking me to unfreeze my credit "so they can pick the best package for my needs." 

Fuck that.

[Parliament 14261]

I never heard of this. What's the cheapest way to put a permanent freeze on?

[UTPhil2006 3807]

1 hour ago, Liquor and Poker said:

Mine has been frozen since Equifax.  It's kind of a pain in the ass, but it helps me ferret out shitty companies. 

For example, I was trying to get internet to my beach house, which has no cable run to it, and the dormant landline phone is too far away from the substation to be DSL-capable (remember that?)  So I looked at the web page for HughesNet satellite.  Before they would tell me the actual total price I would be paying per month, they tried to do an undisclosed credit check on me and came back asking me to unfreeze my credit "so they can pick the best package for my needs." 

Fuck that.

Wow. Pretty sure you have to have authorization to pull credit. 

[Liquor and Poker 3659]

3 minutes ago, UTPhil2006 said:

Wow. Pretty sure you have to have authorization to pull credit. 

There was a ton of 4-point font at the bottom of the page, and I can't swear it didn't say something like "clicking 'Continue' authorizes us to check your credit" in there somewhere, but it was certainly not made clear and it was totally unexpected.

[NBMisha 224]

 

About 5 years now.  The experian bill is now up to $50 a month for the two of us, so at some point the risk vs cost will become a thought.   In the meantime I have not missed monitoring our credit reports

But we don't need new credit.  Might do a refi someday and its ez to unwind the freeze.  

[HRSchenker 2271]

I learned a few years ago that freezing your credit does nothing if the credit bureaus have documented someone else using your social security number. When I got my first job out of school, company HR called me up to ask me if I go by a different name. Never been asked this before but they said they ran my SSN and someone else's credit report popped up. Turns out the bureaus don't store your name and within your name is the SSN, it's actually the other way around. They store the SSN and within that number are the names associated with it. Someone in Odessa used my social security number on their apartment application but did not use my name so Equifax had 2 files under my number. I had to go to the social security office and get a document stating that the number belongs to only me for them to delete this guy.

[Sbbruin 21861]

I just pay for lifelock and credit karma and monitor wtf is going on.

[BillyGoatHill 4312]

Mine is frozen due to and since the Equifax fiasco ( I'm one of the lucky ones that had their data released). Hasn't really been a problem as we don't have to apply or need new credit that often. Had to get the wife a new vehicle last year and just recently switched phone carriers, which needed a credit check and unfreezing to do so.. Just find out beforehand which of the 3 credit bureaus are to be used (both times for us it was Transunion), simple phone call to unlock for said bank, business, or card, or you can do it for a time period. Automatically freeze is put back on.

[bigcigar 1164]

I froze my reports after reading this. It was about 4 months too late. I’m dealing with an account in collections for an Apple Watch that’s an absolute beating. In addition to having my name, social, etc, they used my email + 2 additional #s at the end (a utexas email at that), and my cell with the last 2 digits changed. They also delivered the damn watch to a house I owned 6 years ago.
 

Nothing like knowing for certain all your personal shit is floating out there for anyone to use. Thanks Equifax. They should be fucking shut down for the breach.