How to Freeze Your Credit

A security freeze, often called a credit freeze, is a restriction you place on your credit file at a nationwide credit reporting company. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, as amended by the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, consumers may place, temporarily lift, or remove a freeze at no charge. While a freeze is active, the company generally will not release your credit report to a lender evaluating a new credit application, so the lender usually cannot see your file until you lift the freeze. A freeze is separate from a fraud alert and from a credit lock, which is a product offered by individual companies under separate terms.

Placing a freeze means contacting each of the three nationwide credit reporting companies separately, because each maintains its own file. Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion each provide an online form, a toll-free phone number, and a mailing address for freeze requests. Expect to provide your full name, current and former addresses, date of birth, Social Security number, and documentation such as a copy of a government-issued identification card and a recent utility bill or bank statement. Timing rules are set by federal law: a company must place a freeze within one business day when the request is made online or by phone, and within three business days when it arrives by mail. The company must also send written confirmation within five business days of placing the freeze.

A freeze is not a blanket block on your credit file. Creditors and debt collectors with an existing relationship may still obtain your report, and the law permits release in certain other circumstances, including some employment, insurance, and government licensing checks. A freeze also does not stop prescreened offers of credit or insurance, which are governed by a separate opt-out. It does not prevent you from obtaining your own reports, and it does not change the information the file contains or how accounts are reported. Because a freeze blocks most new-credit inquiries, most people lift it before submitting a loan or card application and then restore it afterward.

Lifting a freeze is the step that lets a specific lender see your file. You can request a temporary lift for a set window of time or for a named party, or you can remove the freeze permanently. Requests made online or by phone must be honored within one hour, while mailed requests must be honored within three business days. Parents and guardians may place freezes on behalf of children under sixteen, and on behalf of adults under guardianship, using the same company channels. A one-year fraud alert and an extended fraud alert for documented identity theft victims are separate, free options. Recovery guidance for identity theft is available at IdentityTheft.gov.