Hello, friends we have some great news to share! Credit freezes and unfreezes with the three major credit bureaus is now free for everyone effective September 21, 2018. A new federal law has been put in place to allow consumers to freeze and unfreeze their credit reports without being charged.

A credit freeze  prevents lenders from being able to pull a person’s credit report. There are many reasons why someone will choose to put a credit freeze on their report. One of the biggest reasons is to essentially prevent fraudulent accounts from being opened in their names.

This law has been put in place more than a year after Equifax database was breached, and millions of Americans personal information was compromised.

This new law also extends the timeframe in which you have on how long a fraud alert remains on your credit report. Previously it was 90 days, now it is one full year. All Existing fraud alerts on Experian reports will automatically be extended.

A Fraud alert on your credit file adds an extra layer of protection which tells lenders that your personal data may have been compromised, and prompts them to take the extra steps needed to verify your identity before making the decisions to approve new credit.

Here are the steps on how to freeze your credit reports. Please note that you will have to do each one separately for each of the three credit bureaus.

step 1: You could go to the credit bureaus website , call or write. You will have to answer some questions to identify yourself.

Step 2: Select the security freeze option. If you already have a freeze in place you can select whether you want to temporarily unfreeze, or permanently have it removed.

Step 3: Write down your pin number. You will need that to change the status of your freeze. For example if you want to apply for credit.

If the credit bureau can not identify you based on the information in which you provided, you will need to mail or fax in copies of your government issued ID, a utility bill, and social security card in order to validate your identity. This extra layer of security is enforced for your protection, not to make it hard for you.