Does Opt Out & Credit Freeze Offer Best Protection

[veracious]

 Does opting out and credit freeze offer protection from ID Theft when moving to a

new address?  What I'm trying to accomplish is the prevention of former neighbors, who know I have moved,  from

trying to open credit accounts in my name with a change of address or some other type of fraud.

Is there any chance that they could do this? Opt out & credit freeze offers thee best protection, right?

Thanks for any replies.

ETA:   clarification

[RobertEG]

Opting out is kinda minimal, as it applies only to preventing the CRAs from providing your name for the purpose of their offer of unsolicited, firm offers for credit.  Initial fraud alerts under the FCRA are minimal in effect and last only 90 days.

Credit freezes, depending upon the provisions of the statue statute, are stronger.

Unfortunately, until you have some reason to assert actual identity that warrants filing a police report, the FCRA does not permit conversion of an initial fraud alert into a more comprehensive and long lasting extended fraud alert.  Outside of a credit freeze, monitoring your CR for actual occurance of an event that can be asserted as potential identity theft is necessary to trigger the more substantial provisions of the FCRA.  Catch them early, file a police report, and invoke the numerous provisions of the FCRA.

[Anonymous]

---

@RobertEG wrote:

Opting out is kinda minimal, as it applies only to preventing the CRAs from providing your name for the purpose of their offer of unsolicited, firm offers for credit.  Initial fraud alerts under the FCRA are minimal in effect and last only 90 days.

Credit freezes, depending upon the provisions of the statue statute, are stronger.

Unfortunately, until you have some reason to assert actual identity that warrants filing a police report, the FCRA does not permit conversion of an initial fraud alert into a more comprehensive and long lasting extended fraud alert.  Outside of a credit freeze, monitoring your CR for actual occurance of an event that can be asserted as potential identity theft is necessary to trigger the more substantial provisions of the FCRA.  Catch them early, file a police report, and invoke the numerous provisions of the FCRA.

---

I am the last person to ever disagree with RobertEG and I'm not disagreeing in any way with his reply, but I just wanted to say that, by freezing your reports, it will prevent anyone from being able to apply for new credit under your name and SS# and get approved including you, unless you, yourself provide the PIN and lift the freeze and then apply.

You/They can apply if they have your personal info, but unless they have the PIN to lift the freeze, there's absolutely no way for anyone to open a new account/s under your name and SS# as long as your reports are froze.

Now for example, If they called one of your current creditors who CAN access your report when froze and provide your creditor your account # and answer the security questions in place, and were to, say for instance, request a CLI, and your creditor required a hard pull on your report/s they will be declined, because a lift of the freeze would be required, now another scenerio, if someone called your current creditor and could provide your account # and awswer the security questions, and asked to close the acct or CLD the account, that could be possible, as that has nothing to do with your reports being froze. (I just wanted to throw out a few examples of what a freeze will not protect you from) there are several other examples of what could be done with your current accounts if someone had your account #'s and could answer the security questions etc.....

But as far as opening new accounts with your name and SS#, you're safe with the freeze on your reports.

Opting out has nothing to do with this.

If I am wrong in any way about this, I first would like to apologize in advance, and I would definitely like to know where I am mistaken. (I'm here to learn, as well to pay forward the knowledge I've learned)

[veracious]

Thanks to RobertEG, and Mustanglvr2006.

Both answers were on point for my concerns.

Robert pointed out that opting out offered minimal protection from ID theft,

he also stated that credit freezes are a stronger protection from ID theft before an occurance.

Those words by Robert were assuring and eased  my fears considerably.

Mustang pointed out that the credit reporting and credit card business being as it is, can still be manipulated by a determened thief.

I started thinking about ID theft because DW and I will relocate to another state. So I plan on placing a freeze and opt out well in advance.

Aside from some envious or resentful action by former neighbors, or crooks in general,  I should be OK. 

Thanks guys, for two excellent answers

[MarineVietVet]

I just wanted to add my 2 or 3 cents to the discussion.

With the amount of personal information available these days online and with more and more sophisticated ways of retrieving that data I'm not sure if there is a foolproof system to protect and shield all of it.

But that's not to say we shouldn't try every means at our disposal to protect ourselves.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

[veracious]

---

@MarineVietVet wrote:

I just wanted to add my 2 or 3 cents to the discussion.

With the amount of personal information available these days online and with more and more sophisticated ways of retrieving that data I'm not sure if there is a foolproof system to protect and shield all of it.

But that's not to say we shouldn't try every means at our disposal to protect ourselves.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

---

@MarineVietVet

+1000!!

[Anonymous]

---

@MarineVietVet wrote:

I just wanted to add my 2 or 3 cents to the discussion.

With the amount of personal information available these days online and with more and more sophisticated ways of retrieving that data I'm not sure if there is a foolproof system to protect and shield all of it.

But that's not to say we shouldn't try every means at our disposal to protect ourselves.

---

So very true MVV, it's sad that we really have no way to 100% protect ourselves,

I think veracious is taking the steps necessary to protect his/her self from ID theft by freezing his/her reports, and the opting out really won't protect him in the way a freeze will, but at least it's just another step to help keep his/her personal info from being shared with 3rd parties.

Just an FYI veracious, when you freeze your report with TU, their system allows you to create your own PIN # that will need to be provided if/when you want to either temp lift or permanently remove the freeze on your TU report, try to create a very difficult PIN#, something that no one can guess (highly unlikely someone could guess it anyway) but be as creative as you can when creating the PIN for TU.

When you freeze your report with EX, EX will automatically generate a PIN# for you and send it to you in the mail, so be sure to do this well in advance of moving so you get the letter at your current address (I believe I received my letter with my PIN from EX within 7-10 days after I froze my report) or you can freeze your report after you move, I think you get where I'm going with this.

And EQ, I'm not sure about their process as I have a CMS with EQ called ID Patrol which allows me to lock and unlock my credit report at my discretion just by logging into my EQ account and clicking lock or unlock, no PIN is necessary for me by using this service, but if you call EQ and request to freeze your report, I'm not sure if EQ generates a PIN for you, or if you are able to create your own PIN, I just wanted to throw this info out to you.

I live in NC, so there is no charge for me to freeze or lift the freeze on my reports, the cost of freezing or un-freezing your reports varies from State to State, it all depends on which State you reside.

I Wish you the Best of Luck with your move, and everything else you do

Take care my Friend.

[veracious]

Thanks, Mustanglvr2006.

I appreciate the info you provided and the Good Luck wishes as well.

[Anonymous]

Just to add my $.02 as well--

Opting-out is still a good idea, to limit the amount of promotional offers being mailed to your old or current addresses = the limtation of temptation. To make this most effective, however, you'll have to opt-out with the CRAs, AND your creditors. 

• Prevent your current lenders from mailing courtesy checks (for example)
• Prevent your current lenders from sending offers of new credit
• Prevent your current lenders from having their affiliates from sending offers of new credit

And, if your old neighbors are a true concern, you may want to opt-out of paper statements (assuming you haven't done so already, and at least until you're certain that no more mail will be routed to your old address). I can tell you from personal experience that one of the easiest ways for an identity thief to get info, is to simply open your mailbox, and appropriate your mail.

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Just to add my $.02 as well--

Opting-out is still a good idea, to limit the amount of promotional offers being mailed to your old or current addresses = the limtation of temptation. To make this most effective, however, you'll have to opt-out with the CRAs, AND your creditors. 

• Prevent your current lenders from mailing courtesy checks (for example)
• Prevent your current lenders from sending offers of new credit
• Prevent your current lenders from having their affiliates from sending offers of new credit

And, if your old neighbors are a true concern, you may want to opt-out of paper statements (assuming you haven't done so already, and at least until you're certain that no more mail will be routed to your old address). I can tell you from personal experience that one of the easiest ways for an identity thief to get info, is to simply open your mailbox, and appropriate your mail.

---

Such good advice posted here, and as it seems from 1st hand experience, you can not get any better advice than from someone who has been through the same issues.

Excellent post LilMirth.