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

[OneEyedDiva]

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.

Over the past couple of years, I have temporarily unfrozen my credit a few times to take advantage of bonus card offerings. Since approval happens so quickly now, I usually set the re-freeze date for the next day. Yes, please get the organizing of your passwords done ASAP for the sake of your loved ones' sanity. But stick around here for many, many more years.

 

[OneEyedDiva]

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.

How often would your car insure check your credit after you've already signed up for your policy? Since data breaches are so commonplace these days I would think that in itself would be enough to make you take extra precautions.

Having someone open fraudulent accounts in your name would wind up being much more inconvenien, time consuming and frustrating. It literally only takes a few minutes to freeze and unfreeze your credit.

 

[dilettante]

How much of this is probing or "pinging" you to reveal more information?

Maybe they have a name, email address, etc. and want to link it to more such as your address or other things on a credit report soft inquiry.

So they send out the ping email and watch to see whether you tag the credit history they suspect to be yours by placing a "hold" on it. Once they see the hold they can tie together the credit report of one Fannie Farkle they have with a specific Fannie Farkle's email address and anything tied to that like memberships on web sites, banks, who knows?

 

[MACKTEXAS]

How often would your car insure check your credit after you've already signed up for your policy? Since data breaches are so commonplace these days I would think that in itself would be enough to make you take extra precautions.

Having someone open fraudulent accounts in your name would wind up being much more inconvenien, time consuming and frustrating. It literally only takes a few minutes to freeze and unfreeze your credit.

State Farm checks my credit every 6 months for auto and home insurance. You make a good point, but I've had no fraudulent accounts opened in my name except once some years ago when I lost my wallet. I called the company and it was resolved within minutes. I guess I devote my present energies to other things.

 

[David777]

I just posted yesterday in @hollydolly daily thread how BofA warned me via text email messaging, of possible fraudulent activity on my Visa credit card. A bogus Uber fare and magazine subscription. So froze my account and will receive a new card by mid week.

 

[spookycat]

Just received my "monthly" debit card alert with an odd charge, asking if it was mine. So, I'll be getting my 4th new card in three months soon.

Seriously considering going back to cash, and when I order car parts, getting a banker's check for those purposes. I'm so sick of modern "convenience" to give equal opportunity to the crooked and lazy/mischievous.

 

[seadoug]

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.

Same here. I was the victim of identity theft when I was in my early 30's. That was before the internet. I started receiving bills from jewelers, appliance companies and the like. The two guys who scammed me had set up a dummy company and had even purchased a car!

I put a lock on my credit at the time and it soon became impossible to even write a check, and when I went to renew my FL driver's license I had to correspond with Tallahassee to renew it. This was in the 90's, so I'm sure things have changed.

These days I receive credit reports from my credit card company and another company that monitors activity. Like @Nathan, I consistently look at my credit card and bank statements to make sure nothing looks suspicious.