CLEVELAND — With news of a hacking group saying they’ve stolen most, if not all, of American’s Social Security numbers, people online are saying everyone should freeze their credit report.
THE QUESTION
So let’s VERIFY: Does freezing your credit report protect you from unauthorized accounts being opened in your name?
SOURCES
Our sources for this are the three major credit reporting agencies:
- TransUnion,
- Equifax and
- Experian.
EXPLANATION
A blog post from TransUnion says that a credit freeze will block access to your credit report and prevent anyone from opening a new account in your name, such as a credit card or loan.
But my question was whether anyone with your Social Security number can unfreeze your credit report.
I tested this out myself, and I needed to submit either my full Social Security number, or the last 4 digits, to freeze my credit report in the first place, with each of TransUnion, Equifax and Experian.
To make accounts with each of these companies, I got confirmation texts to my cell phone from each organization.
So I needed access to my personal cell phone in order to unfreeze my credit report.. once I’d put the freezes in place. An Experian representative told me:
"Credit freezes are free and can be managed with a free Experian membership. This membership requires consumers to create an account with a username and passcode. There are also other layers of security."
ANSWER
So we can VERIFY that yes, freezing your credit report does protect you from unauthorized accounts being opened in your name.
There are additional layers of protection in place with each company to unfreeze your credit report, so a thief won’t be able to unfreeze your credit report with your Social Security number, alone.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
You can go a step further with a credit lock if you want to, but unlike a credit freeze, that often costs money because it can include extra services you may not want or need.
The Experian representative added:
"The Experian CreditLock feature is similar to a credit freeze, however it also notifies you when someone has requested access to your Experian credit report. CreditLock from Experian comes as part of a premium paid membership, which includes other features as well."
If you're not comfortable doing these things online, you can freeze or lock your credit report over the phone or by mail, as well.
If you're opting for a credit freeze, you must do that with each individual credit reporting bureau.