What exactly does it mean to lock one’s credit?
Comment on Wayfair's call center insists you give them your SSN before they'll file a report for credit fraud
OtisRamflow@lemm.ee 7 months ago
Just a friendly reminder to lock your credit.
intensely_human@lemm.ee 7 months ago
teamevil@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Prevents anyone from opening shit with out you very specific pin number…keep that shit in fort knox
ShepherdPie@midwest.social 7 months ago
Mine is so secret that even I don’t remember what it is, which will be fun when I need to thaw it out.
OtisRamflow@lemm.ee 7 months ago
I meant freeze, which you should do.
gregorum@lemm.ee 7 months ago
I would, but mine’s on an upswing right now.
ryathal@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
Locking credit doesn’t prevent it from changing, it just makes it so no one can get your report until you unlock it. This should be the default behavior, but it would prevent these companies from making as much money.
gregorum@lemm.ee 7 months ago
Oh! Thanks!
OtisRamflow@lemm.ee 7 months ago
Yeah locking it just means nobody can open new lines of credit on the social security number. Then you can use multi factor authentication on the different bureau sites. You’ll need to lock it on all three… Which sucks.
It’s annoying, it’s stupid that we have to do this. But you gotta look out for yourself.
mariahale342@literature.cafe 2 months ago
intensely_human@lemm.ee 7 months ago
Why can’t a scammer who can get your credit report, also unlock your credit?
LifeOfChance@lemmy.world 7 months ago
There is a randomly generated password you get when you freeze it. DONT LOSE IT!! Its a bitch to recover if you do. One of them gives you a list of like 25 different ones you can use (you just type one of the 25 from the list)
CrayonRosary@lemmy.world 7 months ago
“I got to 800. Time to lock it in, go on a spending spree, and not pay anything back!”
Illogicalbit@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Worth noting, there is a difference between lock and freeze. See this article for the difference but I believe freezing is preferable krebsonsecurity.com/…/credit-freezes-are-free-let…
macaro@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 months ago
I’ve had all my credit frozen for several years, ever since I got a call from Best Buy about someone trying to setup a credit card in my name. I since had a report that my credit line at sprint was declined because my credit was frozen. It’s no big deal to freeze and thaw.