Locking Your Credit Reports – Is It Beneficial?
Identity theft continues to grow at alarming rates and so it’s important that you do whatever you can to protect yourself. One tool is locking your credit reports. But is it as beneficial as some would have you belief. As a matter of fact it is.
Think of it as putting a great big padlock on your credit information, making it far less likely that criminals will gain access and turn your life upside down by stealing your identity. It is called both a credit lock and a security freeze but the service is the same.
Just recently all three of the major credit agencies provided the ability for individuals to lock their credit reports providing limited access to the information in their credit report. This proactive measure isn’t free. But then can you put a price on your protecting your identification. Anyone that has had their stolen can tell you the cost to restore things to normal can be substantial. Services like TrustedID and Lifelock offer credit lock as part of their services.
Although a credit freeze provides superior protection, nothing is fool proof and this is no different. It cannot halt duplications of ID that’s not related to your credit. So for example, if someone fraudulently creates a drivers license or social security card it can’t do anything to protect you from those fraudulent activities.
It also doesn’t stop all companies from accessing your credit information. Credit companies and lending institutes that you have or have had business with will still have access to your credit report, however new companies won’t be able to access it.
You will continue to get those pre-approved credit card notices in the mail because the credit bureaus can legally continue to sell your name and address to credit card companies. The only way to stop this is to visit http://optoutprescreen.com.
Collection agencies that are acting on behalf of the financial institutes you have existing contracts with, child support agencies, government, or law enforcement will continue to have access to your information.
One draw back to the credit lock is the amount of time it takes to fill out the paperwork plus it requires certified letters. You also have to remove the freeze to allow access and then put it back on. It doesn’t protect your identity to just freeze a couple of reports. It’s all or nothing. So if you put the freeze on and then want to apply for a new car loan you will need to lift the freeze to the credit bureaus and then put it back on. The cost varies but it’s about $10 each time. That compared to the cost of getting your identity back is really peanuts.
You might consider one of the services like Lifelock or TrustedID, which offer it as part of their package. It can save you a bundle and you get other services to increase your protection a little more. And in today’s world of white collar, educated criminals we need all the help we can get to keep our identity safe.
