Hold it Right There

If you've been a victim of identity theft, or are worried about becoming one, you can put a freeze on your credit report. A freeze is like a padlock. It blocks creditors from accessing your credit history. Without a credit check, you can't get a credit card or a loan. This also means that someone who's pretending to be you also can't borrow money in your name.

This may seem like a great way to protect yourself from identity theft, but it comes at a price. Unless you've been a victim of identity theft, you will have to pay all three credit bureaus to put a freeze on your report. You will also need to pay to have the freeze temporarily lifted each time you actually need a credit check. You'd be surprised how often this can be, even if you don't plan to apply for credit cards and loans in the near future. An employer may want to run a credit check before they hire you. Many landlords run credit checks before taking on tenants, as do insurance companies, utility providers, and cell phone providers.

If you do decide to put a freeze on your credit, you will need to contact each of the three credit bureaus individually. The three bureaus are Experian (www.experian.com), TransUnion (www.transunion.com) and Equifax (www.equifax.com). You can submit the request online, over the phone or by mail. You will need you name, address, date of birth and Social Security number. There is also a fee to pay. It's usually $10, though different states have different rules and fees. The credit bureaus will give you a PIN that you can use to temporarily lift the freeze.

Under a credit freeze, creditors won't have access to your credit report or your credit score.

If you don't want to pay for a credit freeze, you can request a fraud alert on your account. You'll be notified every time someone runs a credit check on you. You can get a fraud alert free of charge for 90 days without having to show that you were a victim of identity fraud. After that, you'll need a letter from the police. Because fraud alerts are free, many people use them even when there was no fraud involved. Consequently, creditors take them less seriously than a full credit freeze.