ID Theft
what are the dissadvantages of putting a freeze on your own credit?
My wife and I have two credit cards that are paid in full every month. Our mortgage is a 30 year fixed at 5.75%. We have a heloc with a 0 balance. So we have plenty of credit available and yet we stay out of debt. My wife does child car in our home and must give her clients her Social sec. # for tax purposes. We are considering putting a freeze on her credit to avoid ID theft. I would like to know the disadvantages. would it prevent us from us from refinancing or just make it more difficult.
Public Comments
- Putting an identity theft alert will make getting any new credit complicated...but not impossible. When an ID theft alert is put on your accounts, each and every new application for new credit or a loan under your name is assumed to be fraudulent until proven otherwise. As less drastic alternative is to sign up with a credit monitoring service with Equifax...I think it cost about $10 per month...They would notify you immediately of any changes to your credit status or new attempts to get new credit under your name.
- The only disadvantage is that if/when you apply for any new credit, you have to temporarily unfreeze your record so the creditor can access it. Not a huge deal - just an inconvenience.
- My only problem is that I could not open a Macy's card on the spot when I wanted to get the 30% they were offering that day. They are supposed to call you when you make an attempt to open credit, but they do not. I heard another guy at work wanted to buy a truck. They did not call him either. He had to call from his cell phone the credit bureau. Without a freeze I can go to a store and get the freebies that stores offer by opening accounts. ( I never carry a balance). If your wife can pass the freebies - enjoy your freeze. /
- You don't have to put a freeze on your credit. Just send a request to all credit-reporting agencies (such as TransUnion) to flag your account requesting any lender verify ID before issuing credit. We had a fraudulent use of one of our credit cards, so that is what we did. And potential lender has to call us at our home to verify that we did apply for credit before issuing. It's a hassle, but it hasn't prevented us from getting a loan.
