If you are worried because some of the fraudsters who call you can recite part of your social security
number, address or other personal information correctly then do what I did & put a FREEZE on all 3
of your credit reports. Just go to transunion.com, experian.com, & equifax.com. Look for "how to
place a credit freeze" or similar phrase, click on it, & follow the instructions. It takes about 10 minutes
per website. Two of the 3 sites allowed me to place a freeze FREE OF CHARGE & the one that did
charge only cost a few dollars. It only takes a few minutes to suspend your credit freeze when you
need to apply for credit (or you need to give someone access to your credit report, like a potential
employer) & you can set the freeze to resume on the date of your choice (or not at all). While your
credit freeze is active, your current creditors will be able to report your payments as usual but NO
ONE WILL BE ABLE TO (1) ACCESS YOUR REPORT OR (2) OPEN NEW CREDIT ACCOUNTS IN
YOUR NAME if a credit check is required to open the new account. Your credit score won’t be
effected. This is what credit ”locking” agencies that you see advertised on TV (the one that comes to
mind has the initials LL) do for you but they charge you monthly. Why pay them to do what you can
easily do for yourself? Just remember 2 things: (1) You want to place a credit FREEZE & NOT a
fraud alert, & (2) Keep the password each credit agency gives you (or the ones you choose) when
you place the freeze in a safe place because you will need them when you want to suspend this
service. If you apply for credit really frequently, then a credit freeze may not be for you. But, if you
are like me & only apply for credit occasionally, then a credit freeze can help prevent your identity
from being stolen & used to open credit accounts in your name even if they have your complete
social security number. I put a freeze on my children’s & grandparent’s credit reports to protect them.