Tuesday, October 30, 2012 - 4:15 PM

Preemptive Credit Freeze To Prepare For Future Database Breaches

In Clark Howard show notes, Clark mentions how those affected by the recent South Carolina database breach should consider a credit freeze. He even implies that people should consider freezing their credit files even before a database breach:

It's very simple to do when you follow my step-by-step guide. You'll need about 10 minutes to do it and it will cost you anywhere from zero to $30 depending on your state. That's money well spent when you consider the time you'd have to spend to clean up a full-blown incidence of identity theft!

Has anyone done a preemptive credit freeze? Any issues thawing your credit reports when applying for new credit cards or bank accounts?

KenBDG5,178 posts since
Nov 29, 2009
Rep Points: 117,676

1. Friday, November 2, 2012 - 8:13 AM

I know someone who did put a credit freeze on their accounts. They have to pay a fee to unlock them everytime they need a loan, however, that isn't very often for them. They did this after a credit card was stolen and used.

They did have problems opening an online money market account. I believe the bank was trying to do a hard credit pull. I think they ended up opening up the account manually over the phone. I'm not sure if a soft pull would be a problem or not.

ChrisCD35 posts since
Nov 18, 2010
Rep Points: 222