Credit Freeze to Help Prevent Identity Theft

The credit freeze is one of the best tools you can use to help prevent identity theft. A credit freeze allows you to lock the data in your credit report at the credit reporting agency until you give them permission to release it. Without access to your credit report, an identity thief will have a lot of trouble gaining credit in your name.

Until recently, a credit freeze could only be made possible by state law, and you could not block your credit report if you did not live in a state that allowed it. However, starting in October, two of the big three credit reporting agencies will allow you to freeze your credit report no matter what state you live in. TransUnion and Equifax will let you obtain a credit freeze, and you don't have to be an identity theft victim to do so. But you will have to pay for it.

This is definitely a great way to help prevent identity theft, but it will only be effective if Experian offers a similar credit freeze service. In the mean time, if you live in one of the states that allows a credit freeze, you can have a credit freeze if you are a victim of identity theft or if your information has been compromised. This will give you control over who can access your credit report at all three agencies and will help you prevent identity theft if it hasn't already happened.