Personal Financial Focus - Thawing a Security Freeze - An Update

June 15, 2017 By Kim Cox, CFP®

In 2014, I wrote an article on how to freeze your credit union reports as a way to protect not only your credit, but your privacy. Placing a security freeze at the three credit reporting companies—Equifax, TransUnion and Experian—prevents any person or organization, including lenders, from accessing your credit information. This freeze prevents any new loans, credit and/or services from being approved in your name. The downside of freezing your credit report information is that you cannot refinance your mortgage, open a home equity line-of-credit, sign up for a new credit card, etc., unless you un-freeze your frozen reports.

As a follow up to my initial article, I wanted to find out how difficult it is to un-freeze an existing security freeze. The answer turns out the be—not difficult at all.

Although there is a fee to freeze your information at all three credit bureaus, there is no fee to un-freeze the reports. When the initial security freeze is established, a PIN is assigned to the accounts to be used for future access. Reversing the security freeze at Experian and Equifax can be done online using this PIN and answering a number of security questions. TransUnion required a phone call to lift the freeze, although the process was quick and simple. You can choose the length of time that you wish the freeze to be lifted—one day, one week, one month or indefinitely.

If you decide to put a security freeze on your accounts, or to lift the security freeze, contact information for the three credit bureaus is as follows:

Equifax Security
www.equifax.com
1-800-680-7289

Freeze Experian Security
www.experian.com

Freeze TransUnion
www.transunion.com

 


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