"To freeze or not to freeze", that is the question. What does is mean when you freeze your credit report? It means exactly what it implies - It freezes all credit activity. Let's say that again - All Activity. Let's face it, this can be both good and bad. Good for stopping thieves and good for stopping unwanted solicitations for credit such as credit card offers. Bad if you want to apply for credit anywhere. If you want to save 20% on your purchase by applying for the store credit card you can't until you unfreeze your report. If you want to apply online or in person for a new credit card, car loan, mortgage refinance or other you must unfreeze your report first.

According to the Javelin Strategy Research Survey on Identify Theft and Fraud the number of victims decreased from 10.1 million in 2003 to 8.4 million in 2007 out of a US population of 301,139,947. That is roughly 2% of the population.

How easy is it to freeze and unfreeze your report? One thing you must first know is that you do not just have one report. You have multiple reports from the top three national credit bureaus. Depending on whom the specific company is that you are applying for credit with and your zip code, you never really know which bureau is being pulled. The major players in the space are Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. What that means is that you will have to call each of the credit bureaus and pay a fee (estimated to be $10 per Bureau) each time you want to freeze and unfreeze your report.



Whether you decide to freeze your report or not you should keep these tips in mind when applying for credit online.

Tips:

• Do not email or instant message your social security number or other personal information that you would not want broadcast. Only type that information on a secure form. Email can be intercepted if it is not encrypted.  
• Check the web site for a privacy policy. All reputable companies will have a posted privacy policy as to how they handle your personal information.
• Look for a security lock or symbol on the site anytime you are entering information. Verisign and GeoTrust are two large companies that issue security certificates to protect customers. Most reputable sites will have their certificates posted for your review.
• Check the web site for contact information. Do they have a posted phone number, physical address and email? You want to be able to contact them if there are questions. Be wary of any site that does not have contact information at all other than an email address.