Post by smsmith on Apr 18, 2022 18:33:36 GMT -6
Just figured I'd share something I learned today. I normally do monthly credit checks via Credit Karma, but hadn't done so for a few months. Today I logged into our online credit card company and noticed I had an alert. I checked it out and found that my SSN had been found on the dark web back in January. There have been no attempts to get credit/steal my identity using the SSN so my credit score hasn't been impacted at all.
I learned that you can freeze your credit with Transunion, Equifax, and Experian. No new credit cards or loans can be taken out using your info once you freeze your accounts. You also probably can't increase your credit card line of credit without unfreezing your accounts. Freezing costs nothing, you can do it pretty easily online, and you can "unfreeze" it whenever you want. From what I can tell, the only reason to not have your credit frozen is if you plan to take out a new loan, line of credit, or increase your credit card limit. I have no intention of doing any of that anytime soon, if ever...so all of my credit is frozen now.
I learned that you can freeze your credit with Transunion, Equifax, and Experian. No new credit cards or loans can be taken out using your info once you freeze your accounts. You also probably can't increase your credit card line of credit without unfreezing your accounts. Freezing costs nothing, you can do it pretty easily online, and you can "unfreeze" it whenever you want. From what I can tell, the only reason to not have your credit frozen is if you plan to take out a new loan, line of credit, or increase your credit card limit. I have no intention of doing any of that anytime soon, if ever...so all of my credit is frozen now.
