@Budoka wrote:With the recent spate of data breaches and leaks, I plan on freezing my credit reports. Quick question(s)?
If I lock my reports does that mean any service that monitors or provides either FICO or FAKO score will no longer be able to do so? eg: Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, etc. and free real fico scores provided by the banks.
I understand I will have to unlock the reports every time I apply for new credit and it seems ridiculous that we the consumer have to pay to "unlock" them when necessary given what is going on but...at this point I think there isn't any choice.
Budoka, After careful consideration I decided to lock all of my reports not freeze and I'm able to unlock them at anytime. My understanding from reading before I locked my reports only lenders, banks you have relationships with can still see your credit reports however anyone new it must be unlocked I wouldn't worry much about this hope I could help. 
@Anonymous wrote:
@Budoka wrote:With the recent spate of data breaches and leaks, I plan on freezing my credit reports. Quick question(s)?
If I lock my reports does that mean any service that monitors or provides either FICO or FAKO score will no longer be able to do so? eg: Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, etc. and free real fico scores provided by the banks.
I understand I will have to unlock the reports every time I apply for new credit and it seems ridiculous that we the consumer have to pay to "unlock" them when necessary given what is going on but...at this point I think there isn't any choice.
Budoka, After careful consideration I decided to lock all of my reports not freeze and I'm able to unlock them at anytime. My understanding from reading before I locked my reports only lenders, banks you have relationships with can still see your credit reports however anyone new it must be unlocked I wouldn't worry much about this hope I could help.
Thank you for the reply. I guess I misunderstood what could be done. I thought freezing was locking the accounts. Are they two different services?
@Budoka wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Budoka wrote:With the recent spate of data breaches and leaks, I plan on freezing my credit reports. Quick question(s)?
If I lock my reports does that mean any service that monitors or provides either FICO or FAKO score will no longer be able to do so? eg: Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, etc. and free real fico scores provided by the banks.
I understand I will have to unlock the reports every time I apply for new credit and it seems ridiculous that we the consumer have to pay to "unlock" them when necessary given what is going on but...at this point I think there isn't any choice.
Budoka, After careful consideration I decided to lock all of my reports not freeze and I'm able to unlock them at anytime. My understanding from reading before I locked my reports only lenders, banks you have relationships with can still see your credit reports however anyone new it must be unlocked I wouldn't worry much about this hope I could help.
Thank you for the reply. I guess I misunderstood what could be done. I thought freezing was locking the accounts. Are they two different services?
Good question! Not sure but the lock is effective in most cases TrueIdenity from TU and TrustedID from EQ seem to provide a way to lock your credit reports for free however EX charges for something called CreditLock as part of a membership with CreditLock it would be a monthly service. If you do a freeze it's a one time fee then if you want to unfreeze pay the fee again.