topic Re: Lock credit reports in General Credit Topics

Lock credit reports

Howaboutthat — Sat, 07 May 2022 16:19:32 GMT

I was wondering which apps are used to lock credit reports. I can get Complete ID(Experian) from Costco which includes Credit Lock for $13.99 per month. What apps are available for Trans Union & Equifax. Are there any free or cheaper ones available.

I imagine $167.88 is a small price to pay for ID Protection.

Re: Lock credit reports

Cowboys4Life — Sat, 07 May 2022 17:21:10 GMT

@Howaboutthat wrote:
I was wondering which apps are used to lock credit reports. I can get Complete ID(Experian) from Costco which includes Credit Lock for $13.99 per month. What apps are available for Trans Union & Equifax. Are there any free or cheaper ones available.

I imagine $167.88 is a small price to pay for ID Protection.

Why on Earth would you pay for freezing your credit reports? It is free through each bureau. Just go to each site and freeze your reports.

Re: Lock credit reports

SoCalGardener — Sat, 07 May 2022 21:41:45 GMT

@Cowboys4Life wrote:
@Howaboutthat wrote:
I was wondering which apps are used to lock credit reports. I can get Complete ID(Experian) from Costco which includes Credit Lock for $13.99 per month. What apps are available for Trans Union & Equifax. Are there any free or cheaper ones available.

I imagine $167.88 is a small price to pay for ID Protection.
Why on Earth would you pay for freezing your credit reports? It is free through each bureau. Just go to each site and freeze your reports.

^^ This, unless we're misunderstanding the OP! I know that there are assorted terms used, which mean different things. I think it's Experian where doing a credit LOCK costs money, while doing a credit FREEZE does not. I have all of my reports frozen, and haven't seen any reason to change that to locked, but maybe the OP has specific reasons for wanting locked versus frozen.

OP, what is your intent? Putting a freeze on all of your credit bureau reports will prevent anyone from doing a hard pull and therefore getting credit fraudulently under your name. Is that what you want, or something else?

Re: Lock credit reports

Howaboutthat — Sun, 08 May 2022 05:16:12 GMT

@SoCalGardener wrote:
OP, what is your intent? Putting a freeze on all of your credit bureau reports will prevent anyone from doing a hard pull and therefore getting credit fraudulently under your name. Is that what you want, or something else?

Yes that's what I want but I've read some can lock and unlock their reports. Open when applying for credit and closed any other time.

Re: Lock credit reports

Howaboutthat — Sat, 07 May 2022 23:09:27 GMT

@Cowboys4Life wrote:
@Howaboutthat wrote:
I was wondering which apps are used to lock credit reports. I can get Complete ID(Experian) from Costco which includes Credit Lock for $13.99 per month. What apps are available for Trans Union & Equifax. Are there any free or cheaper ones available.

I imagine $167.88 is a small price to pay for ID Protection.
Why on Earth would you pay for freezing your credit reports? It is free through each bureau. Just go to each site and freeze your reports.

Well now that changes things, I didn't know one could do that. I know you can put fraud alerts.

Re: Lock credit reports

FireMedic1 — Sun, 08 May 2022 09:37:00 GMT

@HowaboutthatFreezing reports or locking them is the same thing. No one can HP your credit either way. A freeze is free. The CRA's apps you can thaw "Unfrozen" you file anytime and program the freeze to return the next day in the same move. Another way to charge for a service from the CRA's. Save your $.

Re: Lock credit reports

DJRobbieD — Sun, 08 May 2022 12:52:49 GMT

@Howaboutthat both Equifax and TransUnion have free services for locking/unlocking your credit reports on demand.

Equifax's free service is called Lock & Alert which can be accessed via their website or iOS app (https://www.equifax.com/personal/products/credit/credit-lock-alert/)

TransUnion's free services is called True Identity which can be accessed via their website only (https://www.trueidentity.com).

Unfortunately, Experian requires you to pay for one of their services to lock/unlock your credit report on demand. I use CreditWorks and spend $99.99/year (or $9.99/month). Yeah, it sucks to pay, but I'm also getting daily credit score updates from the service.

Re: Lock credit reports

SoCalGardener — Sun, 08 May 2022 18:08:02 GMT

@Howaboutthat wrote:
@SoCalGardener wrote:
OP, what is your intent? Putting a freeze on all of your credit bureau reports will prevent anyone from doing a hard pull and therefore getting credit fraudulently under your name. Is that what you want, or something else?
Yes that's what I want but I've read some can lock and unlock their reports. Open when applying for credit and closed any other time.

You're getting slightly conflicting information in this thread. I always thought 'lock' and 'freeze' credit reports meant the same thing, until noticing Experian's *paid* lock service, versus their *free* freeze service. I do not know what the difference is, as FREEZE has accomplished what I want--which is the same thing you want.

With my reports frozen, no one can do a hard pull, hence no one can open a new line of credit in my name. I did this as a direct result of fraud back in 2015(?), when someone opened a ton of CCs in my name, including an Amex Platinum. Luckily, these were REALLY stupid thieves! Anyway, if *I* legitimately want someone to run a hard pull, I temporarily unfreeze whichever credit report(s) they need to access. As soon as they're done I re-freeze them. Unless someone can spell out the benefits of paying to *lock* your reports, I believe *freezing* them will suffice.

Re: Lock credit reports

coldfusion — Sun, 08 May 2022 21:39:15 GMT

While both a credit lock and a credit freeze each allow you to place restrictions on access to your credit reports they are not synonymous with each other.

There are some procedural and timing diffefrences with lifting and then reimposing the restrictions - for example it can take longer to thaw a file than it would to unlock it - but a big and relevant difference is that a lock is a private agreement between you and the credit bureau whereas the credit freeze is a function by the federal government. If a CRA screws up and releases a locked file when the recipient didn't have permissible purpose it's a private matter between you and the CRA to resolve, whereas if they screwed up and released a frozen file the stakes are potentially higher for the CRA as it's a case of regulatory non-compliance.

Re: Lock credit reports

coldfusion — Sun, 08 May 2022 21:43:31 GMT

Sigh. Skipped a couple of words in my prior post; a credit freeze is a function mandated and regulated by the federal government.

Re: Lock credit reports

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Sun, 08 May 2022 21:50:08 GMT

Locks are immediate. Freezes and thawing can be delayed. I thawed my tu last month and it wasn't available for almost a week despite the 15 minute promise time.

Re: Lock credit reports

Howaboutthat — Sun, 08 May 2022 23:51:34 GMT

I'm leaning towards locking not freezing as I can lock & unlock at will with the touch of a button. Good to know about the free apps.

Re: Lock credit reports

Yasselife — Mon, 09 May 2022 02:04:38 GMT

@Howaboutthat I personally use these to lock my reports:

trueidentity for TU (free).

Lock and Alert(app) for EQ (free).

Experian app ($9.99).

Re: Lock credit reports

RobynJ — Mon, 09 May 2022 03:54:12 GMT

I believe the credit freeze can often take longer to unfreeze and credit lock can be locked and unlocked instantly.