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How to Freeze Credit Report in 5 Minutes [Easy Online Steps] - YouTube
Channel: Let's Talk Money! with Joseph Hogue, CFA
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Nearly every American with a credit report
had their information hacked last year and
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now your personal information is floating
out there on the net.
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In this video, I鈥檒l show you the only guaranteed
way to protect your credit from being hacked
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- a process that鈥檚 better than credit monitoring
and that will save you hundreds.
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We鈥檙e talking how to freeze your credit
report today on Let鈥檚 talk Money.
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Joseph Hogue here with the Let鈥檚 Talk Money
YouTube channel.
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I want to send a special shout out to everyone
in the community, thank you for taking a part
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of your day to be here.
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If you鈥檙e not part of the community yet,
just click that little red subscribe button.
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Today鈥檚 video is the tenth in our debt payoff
series, an entire series on ditching your
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debt from creating those goals that are going
to motivate you to some tricks I鈥檝e learned
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to pay off debt.
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Think of it like a TV series, at the end of
this season, you will have all the tools you
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need to finally get out from under that crushing
debt.
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Make sure you subscribe so you don鈥檛 miss
any of the episodes and I鈥檒l also be putting
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these videos in a special list in the Playlists
section of the channel and link to it in the
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video description below so you can watch the
series in order.
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We鈥檝e worked through almost everything you
need to know about your credit in the prior
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videos from getting your free report to negotiating
your debt away.
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But I鈥檝e saved one of the most important
subjects for last.
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Last year brought maybe one of the worst hacking
incidents yet.
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Equifax, one of the three credit bureaus - the
people trusted to hold all your credit information,
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announced in September that their system had
been hacked.
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Nearly 150 million Americans had their names,
social security numbers, birth dates, addresses
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- stolen by hackers - basically everything
someone would need to get a credit card or
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loan in your name.
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Even worse though than the company originally
reported, it was later found out that over
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200,000 people had their credit card numbers
stolen and another 182,000 had some other
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information hacked.
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One of the worst parts in all this is that
Equifax was warned in early March by Homeland
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Security, four months before the hack, that
there was a critical weakness in the company鈥檚
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security.
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And they did nothing about it.
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Look folks, these people are either idiots
or criminally negligent or both but they hold
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all your financial information.
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If you鈥檝e ever had your identity stolen,
and I pray that you never do, it can seem
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impossible to come back from.
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Hackers will destroy your credit score, rack
up tens of thousands in debt and it鈥檚 harder
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than hell to get it all removed from your
report.
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I鈥檝e talked to people years after getting
their identity stolen and they still hadn鈥檛
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repaired their credit or gotten out from under
the problems.
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The tragic fact is that in this new online
world, sooner or later, someone is going to
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steal your identity.
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Now there are a lot of services out there
to monitor your credit.
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You鈥檒l get alerts on any credit activity,
but this doesn鈥檛 prevent identity theft,
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it only tells you fast when it happens.
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Plus, these services cost $20 a month or more,
$240 a year to protect yourself from hackers.
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But there鈥檚 actually another way, one that
will guarantee you stay protected and will
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also save you hundreds a year.
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It鈥檚 called freezing your credit.
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Freezing a credit report seals it from creditors
or anyone else trying to see inside.
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While your credit report is frozen, nobody
can create a new credit account in your name.
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This is actually a great way to stop getting
those annoying credit card pre-approval letters
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also because they won鈥檛 be able to access
your report.
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You can temporarily unfreeze your credit if
you need to apply for a new loan and then
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refreeze it.
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Freezing your credit has absolutely no effect
on existing loans or debt.
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You鈥檒l continue to increase your credit
score by building a good payment history on
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your loans.
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It costs between $3 and $10 to free each credit
report, remember you have three reports.
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I鈥檓 going to give you the website links
and contact information for each of the three
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credit bureaus for freezing your report and
then I鈥檒l walk you through the online process
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for each site.
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Here are the websites, phone numbers and mail
addresses you can use to freeze your credit
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at each of the three credit bureaus.
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I鈥檒l leave these links in the video description
below because it really is the easiest way
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to do it.
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I will take less than ten minutes to put a
freeze on all three of your credit reports
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and protect yourself.
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You can also call if you like.
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I used the phone number for Equifax and the
process was fast and easy, basically the same
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as that online but you鈥檒l tell all the information
to customer service rather than enter it onto
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the website.
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Of course, the snail mail option is going
to take the longest.
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If you use this option, I would recommend
going to one of the websites to see what information
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they ask and then using that in your letter
requesting a credit freeze.
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I鈥檒l show you the three websites for freezing
your credit and walk you through the process
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but it really is super-simple.
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It鈥檚 actually a lot like the process we
used in the seventh video to get your free
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credit report.
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This is the first screen you see if you click
through to the Experian link.
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They鈥檝e got some links to useful information
about freezing your credit on the right here
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including fees for your state.
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All the information you need is basic stuff
to identify you and freeze the correct report.
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So you鈥檒l enter your social security number,
date of birth and address.
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If you鈥檝e lived at your current address
for less than two years, you鈥檒l also need
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to list your previous address so they make
sure the get the right report.
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Once you click submit, you鈥檒l see another
box with the state-specific fees and a place
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to put in your credit card information.
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If you don鈥檛 have a credit card, you can
call the credit bureaus and you can pay by
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check or cashier鈥檚 check with snail mail.
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After entering your payment information, you鈥檒l
be given a PIN number.
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You will need this to unfreeze your credit
so make sure you keep it somewhere safe.
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You might want to save the email they send
you or just write it down but don鈥檛 lose
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this number.
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Let鈥檚 look quickly at how to freeze your
credit online with the other two bureaus then
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I鈥檝e got a really important warning that
goes with all of this.
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Clicking through to the Equifax website you鈥檒l
see an almost identical page.
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Some basic information up top and then your
personal info at the bottom.
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Equifax was waiving all the fees through June
2018 and for longer in some states.
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There鈥檚 an important note here, if you are
the victim of identity theft, you can submit
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your credit freeze in writing to the three
bureaus and they鈥檒l waive the fees.
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I guess they figure if you鈥檝e had your identity
stolen, you shouldn鈥檛 have to worry about
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a few more fees.
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TransUnion has one extra, massive step here.
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You鈥檒l first see a screen to either log
in if you鈥檝e already frozen your score or
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to register to freeze your credit.
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After clicking Register, you鈥檒l see a screen
almost identical to the other two bureaus.
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It really is that easy to protect your identity
and your credit report.
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Now there is a downside to this.
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While your credit is frozen, you won鈥檛 be
able to apply for any new loans.
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Creditors won鈥檛 be able to see your report
so they won鈥檛 be able to approve new credit.
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You can temporarily or permanently unfreeze
your credit by going back to the three sites
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above.
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It will cost about the same amount you paid
to freeze it so between $3 to $10 to unfreeze
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each of your three reports.
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Even paying the fees, it鈥檚 still hundreds
less than paying for a year of credit monitoring
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and all those services tell you is if there鈥檚
something crazy going on in your credit.
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Basically credit monitoring is useful to catch
identity theft fast but won鈥檛 protect you
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from it.
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If you haven鈥檛 put a freeze on your credit
yet, I would highly recommend it.
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It takes no time, costs very little and is
just one less thing you have to worry about.
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It鈥檚 not just that massive Equifax hack
where 143 million people got their information
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stolen.
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Sooner or later, there鈥檚 a good chance that
someone will try to hack your credit.
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Having a freeze on your reports is the only
way to make sure they can鈥檛 get in.
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Make sure you click on that subscribe button
so you don鈥檛 miss the rest of the videos.
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Click on the link just below this video to
watch the entire debt payoff plan and get
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out from under your debt.
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