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What is Identity Theft
Identity theft is when thieves steal your personal information to open new accounts, file tax returns, rent or buy properties, or commit other crimes as if they were you.
Unfortunately, history shows companies are generally terrible at protecting personal information. Freezing your credit is essential because it can protect you even when a company loses your information.
Even your most essential data, called personally identifiable information, or “PII data,” are stolen frequently. Examples of PII data are dates of birth, social security numbers, and many more. An identity thief can use any piece of your personal information against you.
Check if you are at Risk
You can use the free tool called Have I Been Pwned as a fast way to check whether your information was part of a significant data breach. Have I Been Pwned searches your email address against a massive database of compromised records and returns a list of data breaches that includes your email address. If Have I Been Pwned finds your information in several breaches, then you are at a higher risk of identity theft, and we recommend keeping your credit frozen when you don’t need to use it.
Latest Data Breaches:
Freeze Your Credit Often
How many times each year do you apply for a new credit card, auto financing, or another type of loan? Probably not very many, compared to the other days in a year. When you apply for credit is when your files should be thawed so that a lender can approve your new account.
For the other 300+ days of the year that you are not applying for new loans or credit cards, keep your credit frozen. This approach ensures you keep your identity theft risk as low as possible.
Freezing your credit is like putting a lock on your credit report, and only you have the key. Always freeze your credit when you don’t need to use it.
If your credit is already frozen, see Guides to Unfreeze.
