@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.
@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?
@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 $.
@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.
@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.
