I recently posted this as a LPT and then realized it might be more relevant and appreciated over here. If this doesn't belong here I'll take it down.
I discovered recently that not everyone knows what a credit freeze is or what the benefits are. Putting a freeze on your score wont stop it from changing, but will prevent random companies from pulling your credit score until you unfreeze it. Doing this puts a stop to 99% of junk mail including credit card, loan and cable offers. It also prevents anyone who stole your identity from opening up an account in your name because you're required to provide a password when lifting the freeze.
When you need to have your credit score pulled by a service provider for a loan or other things you can ask them who they use for credit reporting and then call and have it lifted temporarily for that provider only.
There is a small fee (like $10 or $20) but I highly recommend this to everyone including those who are debt free with a 0 credit score.
You will need to add a freeze on all 3 of the major credit reporting agencies. Here are the links to each of them. You will need to sign up for an account and provide identification for obvious reason.
Experian
Visit: http://ift.tt/19xfN1S
TransUnion
Visit: http://ift.tt/2sDtf1i
Then: Click TU Credit Lock
Equifax
Visit: http://ift.tt/2s8W0PE
Cheers.
Edit: Relevant article from /u/falkata
Submitted June 24, 2017 at 08:20PM by MrPlazmaDude http://ift.tt/2sOpsg0
