Why I'm Not Going to Freeze My Credit and What I Will Do Instead

Do you know you can put an almost indefinite freeze or fraud alert on your credit record if you are in the military? In most states, you have to be a victim of fraud, and show proof or pay $10 to freeze and unfreeze your credit. Many credit freezes are only authorized for 90 days and then automatically unfreeze. Why would you want to freeze your credit? Because you are afraid of identity theft and don't want others to open up credit accounts in your name. It happens all the time, and many don't notice there is anything wrong until they themselves try to get credit or a mortgage or other financial product. At first, I thought, let's do it. It'll be peace of mind, right? No one would be able to open an account in my name, so I wouldn't have to worry about any unauthorized cards or illegal activity in my name. I've come to find out it would be more of a hassle and not only because I'd have to unfreeze our accounts if we wanted to refinance one of our mortgages or open another credit card, but for another reason I hadn't thought of.

We typically buy a certificate of deposit (CD) every few months. I also like to shop around mutual funds. If I freeze our credit record, I won't be able to do that. You would only be able to purchase financial products at a bank you already do business with. Well, that would defeat the purpose of shopping around! So I decided against it. Instead, I will follow these tips to keep a close hold on our credit:

• I will get a free credit report every three months.

• I will never answer any emails asking for personal information, and if I have an account with a financial company, I will always access my account by visiting their site directly (I type it in the browser window).

• I will not put any personal information on any networking site, to include my name, address, phone number or birthday. I will use a fake name and fake birthday information if asked.
  

• I will shred all outgoing paper that has our name, address or any personal information on it.

• I will not put outgoing mail in our mailbox, and especially not anything with personal information or checks inside. That's just asking for it right there!

• I will not log into banking or personal sites on hotel computers. Many hotel computers are infected with key logging software that records your keystrokes. Many hotel personnel are unaware of this and frankly, it's so easy for these thieves to upload one of these programs and then download the information later. Don't risk it.

• I will not transmit passwords or personal information over any WIFI networks. Thieves regularly sit and intercept these transmissions, especially at airports. I once saw a documentary where thieves drove around your neighborhood, looking for unsecured home networks to log on. Don't leave your home network unsecured and make sure it has the latest security technology (thieves regularly defeat some of the older ones, making them useless).

What do you do to try to protect your identity? I realize nothing is fool-proof, but if there is a way to make it harder on the thief, they will move onto someone or something else.