Protect Your Credit

Credit card fraud is one of the most common types of identity theft. And while a credit freeze is one of the best preventive measures you can take, it may not always be necessary. What is a credit freeze and how does it work? Read on.

A credit freeze simply restricts access to your credit report. Since anyone approving a loan (either via a new credit card or a mortgage) will want to check your credit history and score, this effectively blocks someone from opening new lines of credit under your name.

To freeze your credit, send separate requests to each of the three major U.S. credit bureaus—Experian, Equifax and TransUnion—online or by mail or phone. They will freeze your credit reports and give you a personal identification number (PIN). Existing creditors will still have access to your credit reports, but new creditors cannot view them unless you contact the credit bureau and use the PIN to either permanently or temporarily unfreeze them.

Freezing your credit does not lower your credit score, but it does make applying for a new loan or credit line more challenging, so here are a few things to in mind:

• A freeze isn’t complete protection. It may not stop identity thieves—yes, it will prevent a thief from opening new accounts under your name, but it won’t prevent fraud on current accounts. If your existing credit card information gets stolen, the thief can still run up new charges. A credit freeze is not a substitute for regularly monitoring your credit card activity.
• Act fast. If you suspect you’ve been a victim of a widespread data breach or if you notice fraudulent or suspicious activity on your account, consider freezing your credit before the problem snowballs.
• Preventive measures. Monitor your credit card activity and remain wary of suspicious phishing emails that ask for personal data or credit card information. We also recommend requesting your free credit report once a year from each of the three major credit bureaus so that you are aware of any irregular activity.
• Alternatives to a freeze. Many incidences of theft are minor and can be handled without freezing your credit—a credit lock or a fraud alert are other less involved solutions. A credit lock still prevents creditors from gaining access to your credit report, but it is less onerous to unlock your credit than it is to unfreeze it. But locking your credit is not necessarily free and it is not government-regulated. Putting a fraud alert on your credit report will alert creditors to take additional steps to verify your identity before approving anything. Among its benefits, a fraud alert doesn’t require you to remember a PIN or take additional steps to lift it—the alert expires after 90 days and can be renewed.

Click here for more advice on how to keep your financial information secure. If you have any questions about credit card fraud or how to best keep a vigilant watch, please contact your portfolio team. We’re here for you.

About Adviser Investments

Adviser is a full-service wealth management firm, offering investment management, financial and tax planning, managed individual bond portfolios, and 401(k) advisory services. We’ve been helping individuals, trustsA legal document that functions as an instruction manual to how you want your money managed and spent in your later years as well as how your assets should be distributed after your death. Assets placed in a trust are generally safe from creditors and can be sold by the trustee in short order, avoiding the lengthy and costly probate process., institutions and foundations since 1994. Adviser Investments and its subsidiaries have over 5,000 clients across the country and over $8 billion in assets under management. Our portfolios encompass actively managed funds, ETFsA type of security which allows investors to indirectly invest in an underlying basket of financial instruments (these may include stocks, bonds, commodities or other types of instruments). Shares in an ETF are publicly traded on an exchange, and the price of an ETF’s shares will fluctuate throughout the trading day (traditional mutual funds trade only once a day). For example, one popular ETF tracks the companies in the S&P 500, so buying a share of the ETF gets an investor exposure to all 500 companies in the index., socially responsible investments and tactical asset allocation strategies, and we’re experts on Fidelity and Vanguard mutual funds. We take pride in being The Adviser You Can Talk To. To see a full list of our awards and recognitions, click here, and for more information, please visit www.adviserinvestments.com or call 800-492-6868.