Have You Frozen Your Credit and/or Initiated A Fraud Alert?

OneEyedDiva

OneEyedDiva

SF VIP
Location
New Jersey
I received an email from Discover saying my SS had been found on the Dark Web. Discover sends out monthly emails, that up until the last one, said my number was not found on any dark web sites. The advice was to freeze my credit, which I had done years ago and to initiate a fraud alert with Experian. I wondered why they didn't say to also do it with Trans Union and Equifax. I found out when I added the fraud alert, that Experian sends the request to the other two agencies. Still I did it on Trans Union myself. My Equifax account is a PITA to get into; they want me to jump through hoops, mail information to them, etc. so I didn't bother.

What is the difference between a credit freeze and fraud alert. A credit freeze is supposed to stop anyone from being able to obtain credit in your name. I have lifted the freezes on mine for one day each time I applied for a new credit card. The purpose of a fraud alert is explained below, I received this along with a letter from Experian. I never informed them that I was the victim of identity theft but with our SS numbers out there and now mine being on the dark web, it's a possibility.

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I also was alerted by one of my credit card providers that I had made the 'Dark Web', I immediately froze my accounts until the alerts cleared. I then went further & closed all but one of my cards. Was thinking about it, just needed the motivation.
 
I put a fraud alert on my Experian. Supposed to be good for a year. Were I an actual victim of identity theft, there was another option for a longer period of time but I can't remember the details.

With the fraud alert, hoops will have to be jumped through for anyone that applies for credit in my name and with my personal information ... including me. For example, if I apply for a loan from my bank, they would be blocked from checking my Experian (and other agencies) credit records as I understand it. I would have to jump through hoops and some kind of rigamarole to make it so any loan application I might make is allowed to check my credit.

Not exactly sure how that works because I haven't applied for credit since putting the fraud alert out, earlier this year when I was informed about being on the dark web.

Coincidentally perhaps, after putting the fraud alert out there, my credit score dropped slightly. My credit score hasn't been below 800 for 20+yrs but it did drop near 800 temporarily after using the fraud alert option. Since then, the credit score has risen back but not near to what it was. Not sure if or why the fraud alert has or had anything to do with it.

My understanding is that I can rescind the fraud alert if I so chose, but would have to notify Experian by mail.

Bottom line is that from what I wrote, you can tell I don't know much about it but did put a fraud alert on Experian.
 

I froze all three bureaus after the major Experian breach several years ago.

As far as I know they are permanently frozen until I unlock them.

My debit and credit cards also allow me to turn them off but I haven’t experimented with that option.

My credit score stays in the low 800s.

I’ve received notices about data breaches that included credit monitoring for a period of time but nothing has ever surfaced.
 
I get different notices such as that from time to time. The most recent came in September from "Change Healthcare", a healthcare technology company connecting patients, providers, and payers in the U.S. healthcare system. Several Medicare Advantage Plans use them. The warning was about a data breach, advising everyone to monitor their credit, freeze credit, etc. I got another one from AT&T.

Maybe this is wrong of me, but it's all becoming so commonplace that I just do nothing. Otherwise, I'd have to constantly be taking action. And there are some inconveniences with credit frozen. For example, my car insurer checks credit, and my rating is a factor in calculating my premium. I'm not sure they could even check it if I put restrictions on my credit.
 
MACKTEXAS said:
I get different notices such as that from time to time. The most recent came in September from "Change Healthcare", a healthcare technology company connecting patients, providers, and payers in the U.S. healthcare system. Several Medicare Advantage Plans use them. The warning was about a data breach, advising everyone to monitor their credit, freeze credit, etc. I got another one from AT&T.

Maybe this is wrong of me, but it's all becoming so commonplace that I just do nothing. Otherwise, I'd have to constantly be taking action. And there are some inconveniences with credit frozen. For example, my car insurer checks credit, and my rating is a factor in calculating my premium. I'm not sure they could even check it if I put restrictions on my credit.
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I don't do anything, either, except monitor the activity on my accounts, checking at least once a month for a few months or so. I've yet to see any activity that wasn't mine.
 
Naturally said:
I put a fraud alert on my Experian. Supposed to be good for a year. Were I an actual victim of identity theft, there was another option for a longer period of time but I can't remember the details.

With the fraud alert, hoops will have to be jumped through for anyone that applies for credit in my name and with my personal information ... including me. For example, if I apply for a loan from my bank, they would be blocked from checking my Experian (and other agencies) credit records as I understand it. I would have to jump through hoops and some kind of rigamarole to make it so any loan application I might make is allowed to check my credit.

Not exactly sure how that works because I haven't applied for credit since putting the fraud alert out, earlier this year when I was informed about being on the dark web.

Coincidentally perhaps, after putting the fraud alert out there, my credit score dropped slightly. My credit score hasn't been below 800 for 20+yrs but it did drop near 800 temporarily after using the fraud alert option. Since then, the credit score has risen back but not near to what it was. Not sure if or why the fraud alert has or had anything to do with it.

My understanding is that I can rescind the fraud alert if I so chose, but would have to notify Experian by mail.

Bottom line is that from what I wrote, you can tell I don't know much about it but did put a fraud alert on Experian.
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The details of an extended fraud alert are in the document I posted in the OP, but perhaps, according to the device you're using, it's hard for you to read. The extended one stays on file for 7 years and yes, you are correct, it's for people who have been a victim of identity theft. That must be proven with a report from a federal, state or local police agency.

I'm not planning to have to apply for credit again anytime soon, so I'm not concerned about having to remove a fraud alert. But for those who are or those of us who are just curious, keep scrolling in this linked article to find out the steps for removing a fraud alert.
https://www.identityguard.com/news/remove-fraud-alert
 
OneEyedDiva said:
The details of an extended fraud alert are in the document I posted in the OP, but perhaps, according to the device you're using, it's hard for you to read. The extended one stays on file for 7 years and yes, you are correct, it's for people who have been a victim of identity theft. That must be proven with a report from a federal, state or local police agency.

I'm not planning to have to apply for credit again anytime soon, so I'm not concerned about having to remove a fraud alert. But for those who are or those of us who are just curious, keep scrolling in this linked article to find out the steps for removing a fraud alert.
https://www.identityguard.com/news/remove-fraud-alert
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Just out of curiosity, one of the ways it's been said to remove an Experian fraud alert is to do it online. SOooo ... I went to the Experian site, logged on, and tried to remove the fraud alert and it wouldn't let me. It redirected to a form to be filled out and mailed in.

The fraud alert I placed is only good for a year and will expire in about September 2025 I think.

Because of previous data breaches, I've been given two monitoring services ... free. I think I'd know if anything funny was going on with my personal data.

The thing is about a one year fraud alert ... what it basically does is raise a red flag with any loan agency if I or someone tries to get credit using my credentials and the loan agency would then ask for verifying identity.

Well the way I see it, if all my personal data is "out there", the verifying identity shouldn't be much problem for the bad guys to come up with.

The fraud alert doesn't notify me as I understand it, it notifies loan agencies to be on the look out and if a bad guy can come up verifying identity information, they're in like flint and unknown to me unless I'm monitoring all the financial stuff and credit agencies. So I'm not 100% convinced a fraud alert is the best course of action and certainly not a be all to end all. Maybe it's just one brick in the wall.
 
Aunt Bea said:
I froze all three bureaus after the major Experian breach several years ago.

As far as I know they are permanently frozen until I unlock them.

My debit and credit cards also allow me to turn them off but I haven’t experimented with that option.

My credit score stays in the low 800s.

I’ve received notices about data breaches that included credit monitoring for a period of time but nothing has ever surfaced.
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I did the same years ago. There are times when I've needed to unfreeze for a day. But other than that, they stay frozen.
 
Naturally said:
Just out of curiosity, one of the ways it's been said to remove an Experian fraud alert is to do it online. SOooo ... I went to the Experian site, logged on, and tried to remove the fraud alert and it wouldn't let me. It redirected to a form to be filled out and mailed in.

The fraud alert I placed is only good for a year and will expire in about September 2025 I think.

Because of previous data breaches, I've been given two monitoring services ... free. I think I'd know if anything funny was going on with my personal data.

The thing is about a one year fraud alert ... what it basically does is raise a red flag with any loan agency if I or someone tries to get credit using my credentials and the loan agency would then ask for verifying identity.

Well the way I see it, if all my personal data is "out there", the verifying identity shouldn't be much problem for the bad guys to come up with.

The fraud alert doesn't notify me as I understand it, it notifies loan agencies to be on the look out and if a bad guy can come up verifying identity information, they're in like flint and unknown to me unless I'm monitoring all the financial stuff and credit agencies. So I'm not 100% convinced a fraud alert is the best course of action and certainly not a be all to end all. Maybe it's just one brick in the wall.
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When I clicked on the article link then the form to fill out for Experian, I saw that there's a "complete form" link that had a field for email address. Assuming they mean the one connected to your account, that's the only thing I think a fraudster may not necessarily know. Otherwise, you're right, all the other information is already out there. So requesting just those things makes no sense to me. :unsure: I also don't like the idea of having to mail something with my SS number on it. It would be better if they allowed people to upload that form to their site, like is available with other forms. My fraud alert expires in Dec 1, 2025.
 
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Everybody should freeze their credit bureau accounts. Not just the lock, but the actual freeze. Yes, it can be a pain. But, it‘s no nearly as painful as find out some crook has taken out a credit card in your name and run up $20,000 in purchases. That happened to my grandmother years ago. Thanks to the police and the district attorney, the culprit was caught. That give us proof that the charges were illegitimate. Otherwise, it would have be heck to clear up.
 
Brookswood said:
Everybody should freeze their credit bureau accounts. Not just the lock, but the actual freeze. Yes, it can be a pain. But, it‘s no nearly as painful as find out some crook has taken out a credit card in your name and run up $20,000 in purchases. That happened to my grandmother years ago. Thanks to the police and the district attorney, the culprit was caught. That give us proof that the charges were illegitimate. Otherwise, it would have be heck to clear up.
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Exactly!
 
Murrmurr said:
I don't do anything, either, except monitor the activity on my accounts, checking at least once a month for a few months or so. I've yet to see any activity that wasn't mine.
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Same here. My information was leaked on the dark web, too, but as far as I know it was passwords, not my SSN. I keep a very close eye on my bank and credit accounts and have mandated a verification for any charges over a certain amount (I can't recall the exact amount: $500 or so, I think).
 
KSav said:
Same here. My information was leaked on the dark web, too, but as far as I know it was passwords, not my SSN. I keep a very close eye on my bank and credit accounts and have mandated a verification for any charges over a certain amount (I can't recall the exact amount: $500 or so, I think).
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Monitoring and having alerts sent to you are fine, but won't do much good after the fact if someone is able to open account(s) in your name. I've read horror stories about how the aftermath is very frustrating and very time consuming. I would hope you at least have two factor identification on all your accounts. That should help. @Murrmurr
 
MACKTEXAS said:
I get different notices such as that from time to time. The most recent came in September from "Change Healthcare", a healthcare technology company connecting patients, providers, and payers in the U.S. healthcare system. Several Medicare Advantage Plans use them. The warning was about a data breach, advising everyone to monitor their credit, freeze credit, etc. I got another one from AT&T.

Maybe this is wrong of me, but it's all becoming so commonplace that I just do nothing. Otherwise, I'd have to constantly be taking action. And there are some inconveniences with credit frozen. For example, my car insurer checks credit, and my rating is a factor in calculating my premium. I'm not sure they could even check it if I put restrictions on my credit.
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Freezing your credit record DOES NOT prevent businesses from checking your credit. It has no bearing whatsoever on your credit rating. Ours did not change, although our credit rating has risen slightly over the years.

We froze our credit records long ago - literally, it's been at least a decade or more.

Yes, it can sometimes be a pain to "unfreeze". You have to lift the freeze on all three credit agencies (there are actually 4 agencies, but the 4th is small and doesn't seem to be utilized much by companies) if you apply for any type of credit or loan; we were informed (3x, over the years) that the business cannot specify which credit agency is to be used; it is a random choice.

However, we don't regret doing it and since we seldom apply for new loans, the small hassle has not prevented us from getting approved after the delay of making some extra phone calls to the credit agencies to tell them, "Hey, that 'lifting of our freeze' you said would take 5 minutes still hasn't happened and it's been 15 minutes!"

In the most recent instance - buying our SUV - they lifted Spouse's freeze but not mine, despite additional phone calls. We and the dealer reps finally said "Screw this," and just put the car (which is actually mine, since I picked it and drive it 99.9% of the time) under his name instead of both our names, LOL.

Actually, freezing credit more recently has become more efficient, as I believe they give you a PIN #. Our freezes are so old, we don't have one, and I think that actually works against us, LOL.
 
gilead said:
I also was alerted by one of my credit card providers that I had made the 'Dark Web', I immediately froze my accounts until the alerts cleared. I then went further & closed all but one of my cards. Was thinking about it, just needed the motivation.
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My thought is its all total B.S. Scams. Ignore all threatening / promising stuff.
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Today I saw that the Demo Congress (Chucks a piece of work) : intends to give / government employees - people who never paid SS: $$$ 200 Billion in benefits anyway. More scams.
 
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I've only had to freeze an account a few times when I lost a few cards in the past. Every now and then I get a dark web alert but don't have any problems. I'm pretty good at updating and changing my information often.
 
I get those sometimes and its usually information from the credit card company letting me know they have already dealt with it basically. I never have problems with the card or my information.
 
papa tiger said:
>> Today I saw that the Demo Congress (Chucks a piece of work) : intends to give / government employees - people who never paid SS: $$$ 200 Billion in benefits anyway. More scams. >>
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If you are talking about the Social Security Fairness Act, you are incorrect in your assumption that these "people who never paid SS."

This bill, which was passed by the GOP majority in a rare partisan support movement in the US House of Representatives, was sent to the Senate in Nov 2024 and now has 62 senators on both sides of the aisle supporting passage.

This bill eliminates what is known as the WEP - Windfall Elimination Provision, which affects ONLY federal, state, and municipal workers who HAVE worked long enough at other jobs to qualify for SocSec with 40 quarters of SS payments withheld from those paychecks, and have ALSO worked at a government job long enough to receive a pension from whatever agency they worked for.

IOW, people who have changed jobs/careers over the years - which many people have, of course. The average "government worker" is seldom a "lifer"; many people who work government jobs get those jobs in middle age, and choose to work only until they qualify for a pension (usually 10 yrs, at most agencies; but it differs).

My Spouse, for example, worked 42 years for the same state agency - BUT, for the first 24 yrs, that agency DID participate in SocSec and did withhold SS taxes from employee paychecks. Thus, Spouse has 40 full quarters paid into SS, albeit at ridiculously low wages (his first year he made a grand total of $3,200!).

After that, the union and the state agency chose to withdraw from SS and establish their own 403(b) retirement plan. But because Spouse drew a state pension upon his retirement, the WEP penalty applied, and he gets only 40% of what would have been his SocSec payment.

In case you think this is unfair, I will say that there are many people who have pensions - I have 3 small ones myself from various employers - and who still collect full SocSec. WEP also penalized spouses - for example, if I died, he could not claim the 50% spousal benefit for my SS check without still having to pay the full WEP penalty.

This bill has strong support from both Democrats and GOP, including Donald Trump. To claim that it is Schumer's doing is completely erroneous; he was never a sponsor of the original legislation which is being voted on.
 
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Lethe200 said:
If you are talking about the Social Security Fairness Act, you are incorrect in your assumption that these "people who never paid SS."

This bill, which was passed by the GOP majority in a rare partisan support movement in the US House of Representatives, was sent to the Senate in Nov 2024 and now has 62 senators on both sides of the aisle supporting passage.

This bill eliminates what is known as the WEP - Windfall Elimination Provision, which affects ONLY federal, state, and municipal workers who HAVE worked long enough at other jobs to qualify for SocSec with 40 quarters of SS payments withheld from those paychecks, and have ALSO worked at a government job long enough to receive a pension from whatever agency they worked for.

IOW, people who have changed jobs/careers over the years - which many people have, of course. The average "government worker" is seldom a "lifer"; many people who work government jobs get those jobs in middle age, and choose to work only until they qualify for a pension (usually 10 yrs, at most agencies; but it differs).

My Spouse, for example, worked 42 years for the same state agency - BUT, for the first 24 yrs, that agency DID participate in SocSec and did withhold SS taxes from employee paychecks. Thus, Spouse has 40 full quarters paid into SS, albeit at ridiculously low wages (his first year he made a grand total of $3,200!).

After that, the union and the state agency chose to withdraw from SS and establish their own 403(b) retirement plan. But because Spouse drew a state pension upon his retirement, the WEP penalty applied, and he gets only 40% of what would have been his SocSec payment.

In case you think this is unfair, I will say that there are many people who have pensions - I have 3 small ones myself from various employers - and who still collect full SocSec. WEP also penalized spouses - for example, if I died, he could not claim the 50% spousal benefit for my SS check without still having to pay the full WEP penalty.

This bill has strong support from both Democrats and GOP, including Donald Trump. To claim that it is Schumer's doing is completely erroneous; he was never a sponsor of the original legislation which is being voted on.
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Thank you for your explanation answered question I had about it. I'm all for the fairness act. I have a cousin who taught school for decades and she was affected by WEP, as was our @Teacher Terry. I worked for municipal and state agencies (same office) and blessedly, they both contributed to the same N.J. pension plan. They also both took out SS the entire time I worked (14 years each), so I get the amount I'm entitled to. Being I retired so early though (age 50) and started collecting at age 62, I don't get my estimated benefits the SS statements had forecast, but upon reading an article about the average amounts if taken at age 62, I'm not far from that figure.
 
I haven't but my credit card did. It was something related to my Paypal account. This was many years ago. I don't use my credit card much. I got a letter from them stating they had noted suspicious activity and were issuing me a new card and to expect it in the mail. I was extremely impressed how they were on it.

I have used my credit card to order from foreign countries with no problem. The credit card company appears to know what is a legit business and what is not. After that I got another major credit card through my bank. My thought was if this happens again, I don't want to be without a major credit card. Even for a short time.
 
Aunt Bea said:
I froze all three bureaus after the major Experian breach several years ago.

As far as I know they are permanently frozen until I unlock them.

My debit and credit cards also allow me to turn them off but I haven’t experimented with that option.

My credit score stays in the low 800s.

I’ve received notices about data breaches that included credit monitoring for a period of time but nothing has ever surfaced.
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My freeze is still working.

I applied for a new rewards card and received a message that my report was frozen.

I went to the bureau and removed the hold, completed the application, and locked the bureau without issue.

I need to get all of these oddball user/password things into a more organized file to help the poor folks that will need them to tidy things up after I’m gone.
 

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