Getting your identity stolen can be a gigantic mess. And sometimes you may not even realize it until a long time later! A bad guy can apply for a loan or credit card in your name, borrow a bunch of money, and essentially ruin your credit. You might only find out when you go to buy a house and see that your credit has been ruined. Digging your way out of that can be a mess that takes months or years to clean up.

Freezing your credit is one way to protect against that! It’s really easy to do. You just head to each of the three websites listed, verify your identity, then click the “freeze” button. All three of the credit bureaus operate independently. So if you want to freeze or unfreeze your credit, you have to go to each one to complete the task. This service is totally free and regulated by the federal government.

Note that this can make your life SLIGHTLY more complicated when you do actually want to apply for credit. For example, if you’re applying for a credit card or car loan, your application will get rejected while your credit is frozen. You’ll have to head back to the bureau websites to unfreeze your credit before a new legitimate loan can be approved.

Keeping your credit frozen until you want to apply for a loan is a nice way to protect yourself and provide some more awareness about when and how often your credit report is being accessed.

As always, reminding you to build wealth by following the two PFC rules: 1.) Live below your means and 2.) Invest early and often.

-Jeremy