The bottom line is that the fewer accounts you unfreeze, the better. It won’t always be possible, but it’s worth checking. It would have been easier if I could have thawed my credit at one bureau. When I was at the Apple store, the representative helping me had no clue which credit bureau Citizen’s Bank would use and a quick Google search didn’t point to a clear answer.

Sadly, companies won’t always be willing or able to share this information. Not only is this less work for you, but it also reduces the probability that someone will pounce on one of your unfrozen accounts. If you know which credit bureau-Equifax, Experian, Transunion-a lender is using, only unfreeze your credit at that particular bureau. credit in your name DepositPhotos/johnkwanĤ) Don’t Unfreeze More Accounts Than You Need To One the most important steps you should take to prevent identity thieves from opening a new line of. Stick with the safer and clearer freeze/unfreeze option. “With locks it’s not clear who would be liable.” “Because security freezes are covered by state law, if something goes wrong-for example, if credit accounts are fraudulently accessed anyway-consumers will be protected from any financial liability,” she explains. Credit freezes, on the other hand, are regulated, which means there are processes and procedures in place to protect consumers.Īs Consumer Reports puts it: “In most cases a credit freeze offers better protections against fraud and can be cheaper, making it the best option.”Ĭhi Chi Wu of the National Consumer Law Center agrees. What the bureaus don’t tell you is that locking your credit is an arbitrary feature that they created, one that isn’t regulated by states or the federal government. It’s like a freeze, but you have much more control since you can lock and unlock online.” Ironically, I’d just unfroze my credit with them online. When I unfroze my credit with TransUnion last December, the receipt included this post script: “With TransUnion Credit Monitoring, you can lock and unlock your TransUnion & Equifax credit reports.

Stick with the safer and clearer freeze/unfreeze option Shahar Ziv

Lift equifax credit freeze with pin