Being a victim of credit fraud is a stressful and extremely inconvenient experience. It feels very invasive to have your personal information available to strangers and subject to abuse.
Credit reporting errors are one of the clear indicators that someone has or had access to your information and has potentially abused credit in your name. Up to 34% of people have an error in at least one credit report, and some errors are serious enough to stop you from getting credit. Not all credit reporting errors indicate fraud or identity theft, but it’s critical to investigate the errors as soon as they are detected. When credit fraud or identity theft is confirmed, it’s critical to contact a credit report lawyer and freeze your account.
What is a Security Freeze?
A credit security freeze blocks access to your credit reports. When this happens, even a card issuer can’t access your information; this is done to prevent identity theft and fraudulent activity from continuing in your name and making matters worse.
While it won’t affect your credit score, the trade-off with a credit freeze is that no one, including yourself, will be able to access your live credit score, and you most likely won’t be able to open any new lines of credit so long as the freeze is in place.
The most common hassle/obstacle that comes with a security freeze is depositing or writing authorized checks – anything that requires a credit report is likely to be blocked by a security freeze. This includes new loans and credit cards. However, you can unfreeze your reports at any time, then re-freeze them when your transaction is complete.
When Should I Freeze My Credit?
A credit freeze is necessary if nefarious activity is happening. If you’ve been the victim of identity fraud, you should freeze your account immediately. If you are concerned about the risk of identity theft, due to a data breach or the loss of personal identity information, you may want to freeze your reports. To avoid the risk of negatively affecting your credit score further, freeze your credit the moment you find out about any of the following:
- New, unauthorized credit accounts appear on your report
- Your bank contacts you about fraudulent activity on your account
- Suspicious collection notices or bills appear at your address
- You receive a data breach notification
Proceed With Caution
If you ever need to freeze your credit, it’s important to contact a credit report lawyer immediately.
Sorting out the mess of identity theft and credit fraud is nothing anyone wants to go through or should have to go through, but it’s a reality and risk consumers must deal with today.
Thankfully, a helpful identity theft lawyer and credit report lawyer will help guide you through the processes and challenges of getting your name cleared and credit report accurate.
Please, contact us today to start getting your name cleared and credit back on track!