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I am new to all of this still but I have a question. I have read all about people "freezing" their reports, but I am not doing that. I do have a question though. I have had someone try to open accounts in my name and social so I have a "Fraud Alert" on all bureaus. That is not the same thing, right? Thanks in advance for any answers. And thanks for all the great advice!
@Anonymous wrote:I am new to all of this still but I have a question. I have read all about people "freezing" their reports, but I am not doing that. I do have a question though. I have had someone try to open accounts in my name and social so I have a "Fraud Alert" on all bureaus. That is not the same thing, right? Thanks in advance for any answers. And thanks for all the great advice!
Fraud Alerts
Do not prevent third parties from viewing your credit file; however third parties are required to take certain steps to verify that you have authorized the activity on your account if they see a fraud alert on the credit file.
Still provide lenders with access to credit files and the ability to give credit to anyone they wish.
Security Freezes
Block your credit file from being disclosed to third parties (except as noted above). Should you wish to apply for a loan or service you must be proactive in requesting a lift in the security freeze so that the necessary third parties will be able to view the credit file if the file is frozen (except those exempted by law).
Remain on your credit file until you decide to remove or lift it.
Give you more control over who looks at your credit file.
May require a payment, based on the state in which you reside, to place and/or lift the freeze.
Are an effective way to prevent an identity thief from opening most new accounts in your name. However, a Security Freeze cannot prevent all types of identity theft. For example, a Security Freeze will not prevent an identity thief from using your existing credit cards or other accounts.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I am new to all of this still but I have a question. I have read all about people "freezing" their reports, but I am not doing that. I do have a question though. I have had someone try to open accounts in my name and social so I have a "Fraud Alert" on all bureaus. That is not the same thing, right? Thanks in advance for any answers. And thanks for all the great advice!
Fraud Alerts
Do not prevent third parties from viewing your credit file; however third parties are required to take certain steps to verify that you have authorized the activity on your account if they see a fraud alert on the credit file.
Still provide lenders with access to credit files and the ability to give credit to anyone they wish.
Security Freezes
Block your credit file from being disclosed to third parties (except as noted above). Should you wish to apply for a loan or service you must be proactive in requesting a lift in the security freeze so that the necessary third parties will be able to view the credit file if the file is frozen (except those exempted by law).
Remain on your credit file until you decide to remove or lift it.
Give you more control over who looks at your credit file.
May require a payment, based on the state in which you reside, to place and/or lift the freeze.
Are an effective way to prevent an identity thief from opening most new accounts in your name. However, a Security Freeze cannot prevent all types of identity theft. For example, a Security Freeze will not prevent an identity thief from using your existing credit cards or other accounts.
Thanks for the definitions.
@Anonymous wrote:
However, a Security Freeze cannot prevent all types of identity theft. For example, a Security Freeze will not prevent an identity thief from using your existing credit cards or other accounts.
Really liked your post, Shawn. Just to be 100% clear, though, you mean above that the freeze won't stop a bad guy from using your credit cards if he already has them -- right?
The freeze would prevent an ID thief from seeing your reports, however, so if all he has is your social and birthdate and first name and last name (etc.) then he'll be blocked from seeing your report and therefore from seeing what's on your report. The only people who can bypass the freeze are you (with your PIN) and existing creditors (e.g. if you have a Chase Freedom card, then Chase will still be able to do soft pulls of your reports to track how miuch of a risk you are.
Does that sound right?
The bad guys aren't trying to "see" your reports. The bad guys want to open credit card accounts in your name and buy stuff that you will have to pay for. They apply online to banks for those credit cards, pretending to be you. The credit freeze will keep the banks from pulling your credit. They will tell the applicant that his (really your) credit reports are frozen and that he will need to lift the freeze before they can finish processing the application. The bad guy won't be able to lift the freeze because you are the only one with the secret code that lifts the freeze.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
However, a Security Freeze cannot prevent all types of identity theft. For example, a Security Freeze will not prevent an identity thief from using your existing credit cards or other accounts.Really liked your post, Shawn. Just to be 100% clear, though, you mean above that the freeze won't stop a bad guy from using your credit cards if he already has them -- right?
Your credit reports do not contain the credit card info required to use a credit card (account number, expiration, etc). So, fraud on your existing credit cards has nothing to do with credit reports and, therefore, nothing to do with freezes. Freezes are designed to mitigate the damages caused by identity theft.
Credit card fraud is not identity theft.
Credit card fraud involves getting your existing credit card info (number, expiration, etc) through social engineering, mail theft, data breaches, etc and then using that credit card to make fraudulent purchases.
Ientity theft involves getting enough of someone's personal information (through social engineering, mail theft, accessing credit reports, etc) and then using that personal information to make new accounts that the victim does not even know about.
To add to that,
Fraud on existing accounts (credit cards or even bank accounts) is solved by: closing the account, reissuing new account numbers. It's a pain to update payment information, but it 100% shuts off the source of the fraud. The crook no longer has access to your money.
Identity theft is trickier. They have access to your SSN/DOB and your name/home address and possibly other information necessary to open accounts in your name. This means that you might shut down one account (as above)... but they might open another one. Or three. And if you don't have credit monitoring or don't check your reports regularly (the vast majority of people in the US, I suspect), you might not know until the consequences start to hit. And once you have this problem... congratulations!, it's yours forever.
And that's not mentioning the other forms of identity theft that don't involve credit accounts. Claiming your tax return is becoming much more common. Medical identity theft. Criminal. Etc.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
However, a Security Freeze cannot prevent all types of identity theft. For example, a Security Freeze will not prevent an identity thief from using your existing credit cards or other accounts.Really liked your post, Shawn. Just to be 100% clear, though, you mean above that the freeze won't stop a bad guy from using your credit cards if he already has them -- right?
The freeze would prevent an ID thief from seeing your reports, however, so if all he has is your social and birthdate and first name and last name (etc.) then he'll be blocked from seeing your report and therefore from seeing what's on your report. The only people who can bypass the freeze are you (with your PIN) and existing creditors (e.g. if you have a Chase Freedom card, then Chase will still be able to do soft pulls of your reports to track how miuch of a risk you are.
Does that sound right?
RIGHT! If someone is already using your credit cards or opend up accounts in your name then a Security Freezes will not stop the harm.. You would need to get with the lenders close the accounts and file a police report and continue to press charges on said person..
People stilling your identity will almost never try to pull your credit file. They will just use your name SS# and that kind of info to open new accounts in your name.
A Security Freezes will just stop lenders like a car loan or car dealership from pulling your credit reports and placing a HP on your file.. Stuff Like That... So you would need to lift the Security Freezes before you try to apply for a loan otherwise they wont be able to help you.
Sorry for the late reply i had to make that oh so painful trip to walmart.
Hope this helps.
~ Shawn